The importance of an easy winter for deer

[blasted_saber]

I took this picture yesterday at my grandparents. Look at the size of these fawns ~ they are TINY. Ive seen fawns in November bigger then these guys. If we didnt have an easy winter here in central ON I doubt these guys make it through the winter.

[Hunter John]

They are the first to die during severe winters and its easy to see why, just not enough body mass to get them through and I am sure they don't gain weight from December onward. Come on spring.

[seabast]

"Still alive!" That's what I thought last Sunday in Muskoka when I found the smallest foam track I ever seen, maybe 1 1/2" wide...... The few years are going to be good until the coyote/wolf population rise again.

Thanks for sharing.

[RHYBAK]

Very good sign. Now just keep giving them the feed until November .

[sawbill]

Getting them 'over the hump' is more important than the harsh winter. It simply means they can survive a harsh winter but they need an early spring to get them past that most dangerous time when they're at the end of their fat supplies. Now is when proper supplementary feeding is important.

[dutchhunter]

There is trade offs to a easy winter. Ticks will be very bad this summer as thy were able to thrive thus winter with out the really long very cold spells.D

[buckchaser]

My rifle hunting area sees a large population of deer move in for the winter. My first spring scouting outing last weekend showed lots of fawns who had survived the winter - almost every doe had a year old fawn or two with her. If we get another mild winter next winter our population will definitely see a big rebound.

[Deerslayer99]

the past 2 winters have been long and cold and the ticks seem to be at an all time high everywhere so i dont believe a cold winter kills them off like people say......as for the pic of the fawns i think they look pretty normal in size after there first winter...

[impact]

I just got off the phone with my wife and she said that 8 of them, all healthy crossed our front lawn last evening at dusk.
The mild winter did not affect them at all this year. They hardly yarded in their traditional Constance lake area.
I recently observed them eating twigs for sustenance. It won't be long before they are in the farmers fields again given the mild weather and rapid snow melt.

[blasted_saber]

the past 2 winters have been long and cold and the ticks seem to be at an all time high everywhere so i dont believe a cold winter kills them off like people say......as for the pic of the fawns i think they look pretty normal in size after there first winter...

They are noticeably smaller then their peers which I do not have a picture of. When with the larger group you can pick these two out easily.