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Old 04-19-2018, 07:59 PM
slough shark slough shark is offline
 
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Default Deer overwintering

Hey guys have you been finding that the deer in your area are wintering well? Kinda curious as we had cold and deep snow throughout much of the province but I haven’t heard if guys are finding a bunch of dead animals like a few years ago. Where I have been the snow at least wasn’t favourable for the predators as it was quite powdery snow.
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Old 04-19-2018, 08:18 PM
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Hunter4ever12 Hunter4ever12 is offline
 
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Same with the area I hunt,lots of snow but none of that hard packed stuff we had years ago. Buddy said he hasn’t found any dead deer yet. That one year he watched groups of 3-4 coyotes taking down deer left and right.
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Old 04-19-2018, 08:51 PM
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alpineguy alpineguy is offline
 
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Lots of whitetail does in my hay the last couple of weeks. They have been feeding in the bush mainly around here since the snow has become too deep in the fields. I walk around the bush and fields fairly regularly and haven't found any dead so far.
Lots of coyotes too so not sure how successful the new crop of fawns will be.

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Old 04-19-2018, 11:51 PM
Sportsman Sportsman is offline
 
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Default Herd health

Deer had a tough winter and I expect a lot of winterkill in the Lac La Biche area. There was over 3’ feet of snow in the fields and a lot of wolf activity here all winter. One rancher counted a pack of 27 wolves in February on his home quarter feeding on a dead bull. Too bad because we were just seeing the 5 year old age class bucks return.
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Old 04-20-2018, 08:47 PM
Salavee Salavee is offline
 
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As I write this I have a Muley Doe and a pair of fawns on the lawn next to my house. The are having a great time on the grass where it's open.
They all seem to be in very good condition in spite of the winter and the Doe appears to be pregnant, which is great. I was thinking many may have aborted.
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Old 04-20-2018, 09:31 PM
honda610 honda610 is offline
 
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Just went for a 25 mile drive through some awsome habitat tonight. No joke over 90 deer spotted small does and the larger heavy pregnant does all bunched up. It was great to see. Lots of Canada geese already in the fields. I had the .223 with me but the coyote's were hiding.
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Old 04-20-2018, 11:29 PM
Bub Bub is offline
 
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I have not been out much, but in my few outings I found two dead moose (one fell off the rock about 15 meters down, circumstances unknown), both very young and one is a calf I used to watch when I went out looking for whitetail last fall, and a couple of deer. I also found a couple of deer skulls and bones here and there, all fresh, one definitely died after the heavy snow (people do not go there once the "drive in" is unavailable). This is in Peace country. Can't say I am exactly looking forward to what I may find in the bush once it all melts and dries up a little. Last time I was in the bush was back in February or beginning March and she was deep, definitely over a meter of snow. My legs were ready to quit when I got back to the vehicle after hiking 8-10 km. And I think we had a couple of snowfalls after that.

On a good note, the amount of snow that melted over the past three days is quite staggering!
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Old 04-21-2018, 12:00 AM
dfrobert dfrobert is offline
 
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Stony plain area snow pack was deep, but not layered and hard packed on top for yotes to run across. We could hardly call a damn yote across the fields once the snow got deep. Even they were hunkered down to game trails. Seems that the deer could paw for most of the winter. Went for a long walk today in a 1/4 section that held around 20-30 deer over the winter. Found 1 dead site about 50 yards in the bush from where they were hammering a bunch of hay bales. I don’t think this winter hurt the deer as hard the hard winters 5-6 years ago.

I would expect the Peace country and other areas with more snow and more and bigger predators that the deer likely had a harder winter.

I’m optimistic for central Alberta though.
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Old 04-21-2018, 12:15 AM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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I spent all winter trapping in WMU 250 and 508 between Morinville to just north of Westlock, East to Redwater and West of Hwy 44. I saw lots of mulies and whitetail as well as moose all with last year’s fawn and calves. All of them looked really healthy and energetic. Strange thing was that there were very few roadkill in comparison to previous years as well. Winter was very good to the deer and moose around here......no worries whatsoever.
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Old 04-21-2018, 12:34 AM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dfrobert View Post
Stony plain area snow pack was deep, but not layered and hard packed on top for yotes to run across. We could hardly call a damn yote across the fields once the snow got deep. Even they were hunkered down to game trails. Seems that the deer could paw for most of the winter. Went for a long walk today in a 1/4 section that held around 20-30 deer over the winter. Found 1 dead site about 50 yards in the bush from where they were hammering a bunch of hay bales. I don’t think this winter hurt the deer as hard the hard winters 5-6 years ago.

I would expect the Peace country and other areas with more snow and more and bigger predators that the deer likely had a harder winter.

I’m optimistic for central Alberta though.
It sounds like you’re describing the winter of 12/13 (I think it was?) when we got that midwinter thaw and then the freeze. I hunted a herd of 13 whitetail near Gunn and shot a dry doe. A young fella shot his first deer, a fawn, leaving 11 deer going into the winter. In the Spring there were 5 left and they were just skin and bone with no fawn that year. I bumped a buck one day and he barely made in over a fence, fell on the other side and had a hard time getting up. I haven’t hunted there since but the population has recovered. Just brutal that winter.
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Old 04-23-2018, 01:26 AM
Jays toyz Jays toyz is offline
 
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I can't fathom how the deer in the GP area could have had a survived this winter. I expect people will be finding yarded groups of 30+ deer starved to death. I watched a cow and calf moose crossing a field in snow above mom's belly in march and looked like the effort was killing mom. Then we got 2 more feet. I fear the worst but recent sightings of large groups of brash deer has me hoping for the best.
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Old 04-23-2018, 02:29 AM
dfrobert dfrobert is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HunterDave View Post
It sounds like you’re describing the winter of 12/13 (I think it was?) when we got that midwinter thaw and then the freeze. I hunted a herd of 13 whitetail near Gunn and shot a dry doe. A young fella shot his first deer, a fawn, leaving 11 deer going into the winter. In the Spring there were 5 left and they were just skin and bone with no fawn that year. I bumped a buck one day and he barely made in over a fence, fell on the other side and had a hard time getting up. I haven’t hunted there since but the population has recovered. Just brutal that winter.
I'm describing that this past winter was unlike 12-13. Deep snow this year but did not get the crust on top of the snow. Yes, the winter of 12-13 was a big kill off of deer.
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Old 04-23-2018, 09:46 PM
sdb8440 sdb8440 is offline
 
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I was out in the foothills on the weekend and encountered a group of 5 whitetails who ran about 1/2 km up the road before heading into the bush as there was too much snow. On another road I saw 100 yards of young poplar trees with the bark striped off starting at 2 feet and all the way up to 7 feet... probably find carcasses as the snow melts, still 2 1/2 feet in many places I went.
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Old 04-24-2018, 02:41 PM
Brock1 Brock1 is offline
 
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i have been out sledding many times this winter and shed hunting. I have found a kill almost every trip where the deer were herded up. almost every single one was a fawn. or a calf moose. but nothing crazy. one of the bale stacks has 70-100 deer and we only found the one dead fawn. last weekend there were over 60 deer at his bales and grainery at 2 pm. looked super healthy
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