Question for East Coasters

the Ferret · February 15, 2007, 08:06:00 AM

Been watching the news. Reports of 11-12 FEET of snow. When it snows that deep what do the deer and turkeys eat? I assume it's too deep for them to walk in without getting stuck so do you find dead deer and turkeys laying round when it melts?

mich-mtnman · February 15, 2007, 08:42:00 AM

na not realy mickey.
the deer up here tend to 'yard up' and literaly dig throuh the snow and create deffinate yards they hold up in so the can keep eathing the greens.
it seems as if the deer just go into a survival mode and change there habits totaly when the bad weather hits, like traveling many miles to dense swamps and thickets that seem to be close to a food source.
now those crazy turkeys seem to get closer and closer to the man element.
like back yards ,farms, hayfields,cattle pastures and such looking for free handouts.
the turkeys in my neck of the woods are deffinatly adapting and thriving.

BobW · February 15, 2007, 08:50:00 AM

anyone in semi-rural or rural NY with a bird feeder knows what turkeys do when the snow gets deep.

Frenchymanny · February 15, 2007, 08:51:00 AM

There is definitely extra mortality when there is a huge amount of snow.

Deer "pack up" and use their number to psuh the snow away.

F-Manny

dudley152 · February 15, 2007, 03:10:00 PM

I had a flock of 27 turkeys in my yard yesterday. It was snowing hard but it didn't seem to faze them. We ended up getting two feet of snow. I own the 12 acres behind my house where they roost most of the time. I don't think the deep snow seems to bother them much. I make sure my large bird feeders are full for our feathered friends.

George Tsoukalas · February 15, 2007, 05:30:00 PM

Ferret, they are fine now in NH. Plenty of fat reserves on the deer to last until the beginning of April. A gigantic storm in April is another matter. The most snow I remember is 100-120 in for the winter. Jawge

the Ferret · February 15, 2007, 05:49:00 PM

I'm talking about the places that got like 114" of snow in one storm last week that are on the news..Mexico New York etc?

The deer and turkey here are having a hard time. I took these pics today and yesterday (notice the bearded hen, and how puffed the little buck looks..he's already shed his antlers). The snow is about a foot and a half deep but the sleet, rain and then sub zero cold have crusted the top so they can't hardly walk on it and they can't dig thru it for grass. I've put out corn to help get them thru. The song birds and squirrels are feasting too.

dudley152 · February 15, 2007, 06:24:00 PM

My sister lives in Oswego, just west of Mexico. She had 11' at her house at the peak of the storm but when I spoke with her last night, she said the snow had settled to around 4'. That's still a lot of snow for a deer to get through but they'll manage. If the snow was 11' deep all winter, the deer would have a darn difficult time of it. When it gets really deep, I hope the deer start munching on the hundred dollar bushes in some anti-hunter's yard.

Jerry Jeffer · February 15, 2007, 06:30:00 PM

When it snows like that, deer will eat a lot of things they don't usually eat. I've even seen them browse hemlocks. They always seem to make it through. Of course a few die.

Stone Knife · February 15, 2007, 08:26:00 PM

If they can stay up on top of it they have a good supply of browse that they normally couldn't reach. I'm sure some are lost but theses areas experience heavy lake affect snow every year. Nature will find a way to provide. I have been watching deer and turkeys doing most of there eating in a cemetery in town, it looks odd to see the turkeys sitting in real small crab apple trees picking them clean.