Caribou, Deer, Elk & Moose - Sounds Wild
Deer in Winter

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Deer and winter

Tromping through the winter woods a few years ago, I came across a fallen hemlock tree, blown down in a southeast Alaska windstorm. All around the tree, the snow was trampled and littered with deer pellets. It was a hard winter, and deer were having a hard time moving around in the deep snow and finding food. Snow covered the browse on the ground, and they'd eaten everything they could reach above the snow. This downed tree was a bonanza. Deer had eaten all the young growth off the tips of the branches and all the lichens in the tree, and it was clear they'd yarded up at the site.

I kept walking, and cut across deer tracks and wolf tracks as well. A half an hour later, I came across another fallen tree - same story. I wondered if the local wolves had figured out that these fallen trees might be good places to ambush deer, and I looked around. Sure enough, I found hair, bones and the remains of a recently killed deer.

Deep snow, especially snow that persists into the spring, can wreak havoc on a deer population. March and April can be cruel months for deer in Southeast Alaska - if snow persists into spring, deer can exhaust their reserves and the limited, available winter food supply. Consequently, deer populations fluctuate depending on the severity of winter.

Fortunately, deer have a high reproductive potential, and depending on the level of predation and the quality of habitat, deer populations can quickly rebound.