[hartman756]

In southwest Michigan, we have a lot of deer. It should be a good deer
season,” DNR biologist John Niewoonder said.


The conditions in the lower part of the state are better than in the Upper
Peninsula. Here, not even the long, hard winter seems to have done much damage
to the deer population.


“The deer are pretty amazing creatures, and what we put them though in a very
harsh winter in this part of the state is nothing compared to what they put up
with in the UP every year,” Niewoonder said. “We had some fawns that did not
make it through the winter, but for the most part they came through pretty
good.”

http://woodtv.com/2014/11/10/dnr-predicts-good-deer-hunting-season/

 

[hartman756]

The archery deer season opened Wednesday, and so far it's looking like a slow
start to the season, despite a deer herd that has done well even with the tough
winter the area experienced last year.
“We were expecting much lower deer
numbers coming out of last year's winter, but we have been pleasantly surprised
to see overall numbers close to last year,” said Ashley Autenrieth, Michigan
Department of Natural Resources deer program biologist. “We've had a
bumper crop of acorns this year. Acorns are like little nuggets of gold
for the deer and have really helped. The beechnut crop has also helped,
and we've seen a lot of twins and healthy fawns.”
Autenrieth added Cheboygan
County areas along the shoreline may experience some impact to the herd from
last year's frigid winter, and antlerless quotas are down this year
slightly.

http://www.cheboygannews.com/article/20141004/NEWS/141009595/10054/NEWS?template=printart

 

[blue ox]

you simply cannot rely on the dnr to manage the herd where you hunt. you have to know your herd and adjust harvest accordingly. my farm experienced ehd in 2011. lost 50 percent at least . we did not shoot a single doe that yr. could have bought tags to shoot many and I was still seeing deer to shoot. next two yrs only shot one doe each yr. now the herd is close to what it was before ehd. last winter I did not find any dead from winter kill. deer struggled but survived. food plots certainly helped. I am going to spend this winter improving browse. my point is if you want a healthy deer herd where you hunt you have to put forth effort for the benefit of the deer.

 

[Radar420]

He /they (the DNR) also downplayed the effects of winter in the NLP although I know of no one from the DNR stepping foot out in the woods to even try and assess the impact

I did some scouting on state land this year during muzzleloader season and came across a CO and we stopped and had a little conversation. We got to talking about deer season and I mentioned all the winter killed deer we found in March/April around our property a few miles down the road. He said that was the first he had heard from anyone about any deer dying from the winter.

The forester that we had out to our property to complete our forest management plan also found a bunch of dead deer on his property located in the same general area.

 

[METTLEFISH]

I did some scouting on state land this year during muzzleloader season and came across a CO and we stopped and had a little conversation. We got to talking about deer season and I mentioned all the winter killed deer we found in March/April around our property a few miles down the road. He said that was the first he had heard from anyone about any deer dying from the winter.

The forester that we had out to our property to complete our forest management plan also found a bunch of dead deer on his property located in the same general area.

Similar to a Tornado that you just saw wipe out your barn and two hundred trees in the wood lot. Until a trained professional sees and confirms it, it just isn't so.....

 

[Scout 2]

I did some scouting on state land this year during muzzleloader season and came across a CO and we stopped and had a little conversation. We got to talking about deer season and I mentioned all the winter killed deer we found in March/April around our property a few miles down the road. He said that was the first he had heard from anyone about any deer dying from the winter.

The forester that we had out to our property to complete our forest management plan also found a bunch of dead deer on his property located in the same general area.

You dpn't really expect the CO's to be walking around in the woods with 2 to 3 foot of snow on the ground and temps in the -20 range do you. But this goes to show you that many from the Dnr traveled thru the area hardest hit. Around here you could make daily trips and see at least a half dozen new dead deer each day, but to many that did not live around here it never happened

 

[Luv2hunteup]

The biologist from the Soo gets out during heavy snow plus he also is out there breaking femur bones of road killed deer looking for fat content in the bone marrow. He even put on a power point presentation for us on what marrow of healthy deer and deer near starvation should look like. I don't think the CO's are out scouting for winter killed deer.

 

[ma1979]

You it the nail squarely on the head chasin.

BTW: Brent was pretty clear when he spoke on the Mike Avery show this spring that there was not any winter kill in zone three............He /they (the DNR) also downplayed the effects of winter in the NLP although I know of no one from the DNR stepping foot out in the woods to even try and assess the impact

Michigans deer herd has always been the DNRs cash cow in this state. And now they make the guys that only deer hunt pay for a small game tag now too. The base license didnt bother me because I'm a duck hunter also so I buy it every year anyways but I know a lot of people that only deer hunt and were not impressed with this. I don't mind paying more for licenses as long as I'm getting something in return as in " the dnr doing there job and taking care of OUR animals! But in return we get nothing, they continue to rape our deer herd by giving out huge numbers of doe tags.

 

[Radar420]

You dpn't really expect the CO's to be walking around in the woods with 2 to 3 foot of snow on the ground and temps in the -20 range do you. But this goes to show you that many from the Dnr traveled thru the area hardest hit. Around here you could make daily trips and see at least a half dozen new dead deer each day, but to many that did not live around here it never happened

Why wouldn't they be out in those conditions? He's checked me ice-fishing as well :lol:

My point was more or less that I'm sure that the CO has contacted many outdoorsmen between March and December and not one hunter mentioned anything about winter kill in that time.