Big Break For Our Deer Herds

[DBHAWTHORNE]

96/97 was a tough one too. There was never a break, cold and deep snow the entire winter, from mid November to March, I assessed about 60% to 80% winter kill in most areas of NE WA after that winter. I can't say what the damage was to other areas.

Another winter with similar effects on our herds was back in 92. And another super bad winter was in 68, I remember 1968 as the worst winter in my lifetime. I can remember 40 below and snow to the top of some fence posts.

Hopefully 2010 will just be another average winter when it is said and done. Our deer do not need another tough one after tough winters back to back in 2007 and 2008.

Dale,
 
Thanks for the reply/insight. From a hunters perspective how long did it take for the herds to recover to reasonable levels after hard winters like those? I know large alfalfa fields where I used to see nearly a hundred deer an evening where now I only have 15-30 on any given day.

[bearpaw]

In my opinion it takes 4 to 6 years to really bring back the deer numbers. One of the reasons it takes so long is that the first year after a tough winter, many of the does have no fawns. So it is the second year after the bad winter before you get a good fawn crop. Then it depends how many predators are impacting an area and how many deer hunters are taking. But it seems that in 4 to 6 years the damage is usually overcome.

[huntnnw]

85 was really bad... alot of records set that Nov in NE WA that are still records today. The winter just 3 years ago in NE WA was devastating.. I had on avg the summer before 70 deer in the field, that following summer maybe 30.

[bearpaw]

Driving around the mountains cat hunting with snow on the ground really tells the story for what the deer numbers are. Right now there are areas that I would say are at 20% of the deer we had 4 years ago. Yes there are a few good bucks, but the deer numbers simply are not there. Even on the private land numbers are down, not as bad as the public ground, but they are much lower than 4 years ago.