Weather and wildlife

W

Worth Mathewson

Active member
In watching the evening news for the past few nights, I wonder how various wildlife will hold up due the series of serious storms? Perhaps some people in the worse of the regions hit can state their views. I especially wonder about the pheasants in South Dakota. After that freak snow storm in October, and now the current weather, will there be any left? Best, Worth Mathewson
 
I don't think the october storm in SD had much effect on the pheasants. Most of that was well west of the traditional pheasant habitat. Grouse may have been hurt some, I haven't heard if they were. I have heard that deer were killed but not in the same numbers as cattle and horses.

I don't think this cold snap will do too much. I fear ice storm a lot more then cold weather, as long as the snow isn't too deep. It's going to be a short lived blast here. Tomorrow the high is suppose to be -12 or something like that with very strong winds, by thursday and friday it should be up near 30.

Pheasant have a lot of troubles here right now but this weather shouldn't be too bad on them.

Tim
 
I was always amazed at the places my radio-collared ruffed grouse found to weather (pun intended) winter on the Tug Hill Plateau of New York State. I felt then, and still do today, that NY's grouse season is too long (goes to end of February). Wildlife (at least native wildlife) has evolved to handle the vagaries of weather; humans stomping around at this time of year, pushing them out of those "cozy" little spots, can't be a good thing (an easy juncture to get into the old compensatory vs. additive mortality conversation). I also remember the "convertible" signs around the perimeters of historic deer yards. They could be flipped such that, when the snow got crazy deep (the Tug Hill Plateau receives more annual snowfall than any place east of the Rockies), hunting in them (primarily for snowshoe hare, which at least then went into March), was verboten. No dogs allowed, either. I've seen nothing but ears as whitetails trudged along trails they had made in the 4 and 5 foot deep snow.
There was a BIG winter kill of wild turkeys in Vermont a few years ago. Two years later there was a record harvest. Galliformes, at least, have the ability to bounce back pretty quickly.
Gary
 
Worth,
Here in southern Ohio Quail are starting to make a comeback in some areas. last summer i planted food plots specifically for quail however a freezing rain in front of dropping temperatures and snow is extremely hard on quail. Yesterday i took an old pickup truck cap out and inserted into a brushy area that quail frequent i then put scratch grains into/under the cap hoping the birds will locate it before it is too late. Earlier i made a quail feeder out of a 20 gallon garbage can with cover and filled it with milo, the doves and small birds are making good use of it, i assume the quail are also.
So... i can't speak to pheasants but we are equally concerned about our quail. Didn't mean to hijack your thread,i guess you know what has been on my mind the last few days watching the weather prognosticators.
Bill.
 
Pheasant have been struggling on the Canadian prairies the last few years and I expect the weather this year will aggravate the situation further. Pronghorns are in the same shape. Both species are at the northern end of their range up here and this hard winter weather won't help at all. One can only hope the extremely high winds have stripped some fields bare but flying over a couple of days ago it didn't look like it.
 
I live in NE Ohio. As Bill Clark stated above, the quail here have taken a hit. When I was a kid, I grew up in farm country. We had a population of Bobwhites that numbered somewhere around a hundred. I could usually find a covey whenever I hunted for them. I had so much fun, me and 'Ole reckless, busting a covey, shooting a bird or two, then hunting up the singles. Next week, do it all over again. The winter of 76-77 then especially 77-78 decimated them all. Haven't seen a bird up this way since. I know the division has been trying to reintroduce the little fellas, but it just hasn't worked.


As far as other game, I can't really say. Seems like we'll have an especially bad weather season one year, but then a year or two later, the animals seem to bounce back quickly.


I've always been afraid more of the snow than cold. It seems to me, as long as the animals can find food, they have a much better chance of surviving.


My thoughts,


Jon
 
Right you are John. I clear cut 20 acres in 2010 fall of 2011 i jumped a covey of Quail the first i have seen since 77/78.
Cover is good right now and should be for the next few years that is why i have been planting plots for Quail. One can only hope.
Bill.
 
Gary,
Our Ruffed Grouse population is in serious decline, i haven't jumped one in about 10 years. Deer hunters occasionally report seeing one. Ohio woke up about 2 years ago and cut the season by a month, it now ends the last day of january. I would like to see a moratorium for a couple of years.
Bill.
 
In watching the evening news for the past few nights, I wonder how various wildlife will hold up due the series of serious storms? Perhaps some people in the worse of the regions hit can state their views. I especially wonder about the pheasants in South Dakota. After that freak snow storm in October, and now the current weather, will there be any left? Best, Worth Mathewson
Click to expand...

Over the course of time, wildlife seem to do all right even under adverse circumstances. However, when farming practices cultivate land right to the fence line, things will often change. The pheasants no longer have the 10 to 20 acre plots of woods that were scattered along the terrain as wind breaks or the sloughs that once dotted the landscape which are now a thing of the past ever since they put in the tile and drained it all out so it, too, could produce more corn or maybe beans.
Al
 
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