I only have a handful of whitetail deer living around my place. I very seldom even see a buck anymore. And if I do its usually a spike. There are so few in recent years that they usually don't survive in hunting season after that first year. I have a bit of woods on my six acre lot. Most of it is softwood, and most of that is large groups of cedar. But each year I lose a few trees due to uprooting by hurricanes and wind storms. If it is a hard winter with a lot of snow, I will sometimes cut a few limbs from those downed or leaning trees to feed the deer. Last year was a good winter for them, fairly warm, with almost no snow at all. Even a little bit of extra food can really help the deer survive. In a winter with deep snow, the dears best friend is the wind. Because it will blow a lot of food off of the trees. So the deer can wade the deep snow, or better yet walk on the frozen crust if there is any. And eat all of the small bits of green cedar boughs and also the lichens (what we call old mans beard).The dry green 'hair like' clumps that grow on older dead or dying tree's, logs and even rocks. I have a few big old growth Spruce and Tamarack that are covered in it, clear to the tops. It is just as valuable for winter deer survival than the cedar. After a storm, the deer will move along the snowy woods like brown vacuum cleaners sucking up all of the browse. Now when I as growing up in the 1970's and 80's there were a fair number of deer here. My father owned 250 acres of land most of it wooded. There were even a few moose here then. Also at that time, (like today) you had your city's, then the towns, then the suburbs, the rural farmland.. and finally the public forest land. Now back in those days there was minimal wood harvesting on 'Crown' forestry land compared to today. This forest land was vast and mostly untouched. Today there a huge areas that have been cut and replanted with softwood species. Not much hardwood was cut back then. There was no market. Fir, Spruce and Pine were the most valuable. Then a market was found for hardwood to be ground up for cloth and paper as well. So now those areas are creating more open space for deer to have to navigate in winter. Whitetail deer here are even becoming few and far between. In my moose filming areas I don't see that many deer and few on my trail cams. What few deer that live there in summer, migrate to the rural farmland in winter. Because with so few deer to help make trails in the snow they can't get around. And the large clear-cuts are impossible to cross alone. But back to the olden days...in the 70's and 80's they used to have maps on the walls of the ranger stations. That would show the locations of the large winter deer yarding areas in the province. So first you have your high ground of hills and mountains. With the large old growth hardwood stands. Where deer spent time in summer. Then lower down you have the Fir, Spruce and Pine forest. And then bordering the lakes, rivers, streams, brooks, bogs and dead-waters you have the cedar. Large areas of it. And this is where all of the whitetail deer would hold up for the winter. They would gather in the hundreds, so that they could all use the same trails to move around and feed on the cedar. It was there lifeline to survival. There were some tough winters back then. And a lot of deer. These deer yards even had names. So my point here is how important cedar is to deer in winter. But just as valuable or perhaps even more so are those lichens. Now I only cut these few cedar boughs for the video. I do not feed them any other feed. I have very few deer that stay around here all winter. And there is 200 acres of woods behind my place. It used to be or family farm and now owned by someone else. I have few trees left to feed deer, unless the rest of them all blow down this winter. This food will only keep them going for a limited time. They need a steady source all winter to survive. Now a lot of people feed deer in winter. I did many years ago. I fed them cracked corn and beef finisher. Its an expensive hobby. I had 32 one year.. all coming to two troughs 'all at once'! One time I was at work and my wife was filming a big buck at a trough. I had put the feed on the ground 'under' the tough, in hopes that the buck would hit his antlers on it when he lifted his head and knock off an antler. My wife is filming and the buck got startled and raised his head up so fast he caught the trough on one antler and turned and ran off carrying it. It was heavy! As he ran he just gave it a toss and threw it off to the side. By the way that antler stayed on, and I never did get even one! Other reasons 'not' to feed deer in winter is that it will make them dependent on you. And are you able to supply the deer with enough food to survive all winter? Other concerns are disease, by bunching deer up and them feeding in close proximity. Auto collision hazards as well, if deer are crossing roads to get to the food. And neighbors.. if your deer eat the their cedar hedge, you got trouble! But the big thing that people don't realize, is that natures way of helping ruminants survive winter. Is slowing down their metabolism. Deer in the winter.. in the wild, will eat when and where they can get food. But their digestive system will slow way down..to conserve and fully utilize those nutrients. They will also rest as much as they can so they don't waste valuable energy and heat production searching for more food. If they have to expend a lot of energy wading snow, crossing a large open cut-over to reach food, then it is counter productive. And the thing about grain based foods for deer in winter, is that it will pass through their digestive system much faster than traditional winter deer food. Pelleted cow feed has binding ingredients such as oils and fats for cattle. Feeding these foods can give deer diarrhea. I know, because I fed deer this feed years ago. This is also caused by them eating more than they need. Forcing it through their systems too quickly to get the nutrients that they need. And there isn't enough time to adsorb it all, so some of it is wasted. Deer also normally re-chew their food, but with grain pellets they don't have to..so once again it upsets the normal function of a four compartment stomach. Now if you feed dried green silage feed such as alfalfa or clover this would be much better. They will regurgitate and re-chew it just like tree boughs. This is just my opinion based on my experiences and common sense thinking. I'm not a biologist. I hope you enjoy the video!
@@HegelianMetaphysics Thank You!...And Your very welcome! Funny...where I state I don't want to talk over it all...and then I talk over most of it!!😊❤🙏
I only have a handful of whitetail deer living around my place. I very seldom even see a buck anymore. And if I do its usually a spike. There are so few in recent years that they usually don't survive in hunting season after that first year. I have a bit of woods on my six acre lot. Most of it is softwood, and most of that is large groups of cedar. But each year I lose a few trees due to uprooting by hurricanes and wind storms. If it is a hard winter with a lot of snow, I will sometimes cut a few limbs from those downed or leaning trees to feed the deer. Last year was a good winter for them, fairly warm, with almost no snow at all. Even a little bit of extra food can really help the deer survive. In a winter with deep snow, the dears best friend is the wind. Because it will blow a lot of food off of the trees. So the deer can wade the deep snow, or better yet walk on the frozen crust if there is any. And eat all of the small bits of green cedar boughs and also the lichens (what we call old mans beard).The dry green 'hair like' clumps that grow on older dead or dying tree's, logs and even rocks. I have a few big old growth Spruce and Tamarack that are covered in it, clear to the tops. It is just as valuable for winter deer survival than the cedar. After a storm, the deer will move along the snowy woods like brown vacuum cleaners sucking up all of the browse.
Now when I as growing up in the 1970's and 80's there were a fair number of deer here. My father owned 250 acres of land most of it wooded. There were even a few moose here then. Also at that time, (like today) you had your city's, then the towns, then the suburbs, the rural farmland.. and finally the public forest land. Now back in those days there was minimal wood harvesting on 'Crown' forestry land compared to today. This forest land was vast and mostly untouched. Today there a huge areas that have been cut and replanted with softwood species. Not much hardwood was cut back then. There was no market. Fir, Spruce and Pine were the most valuable. Then a market was found for hardwood to be ground up for cloth and paper as well. So now those areas are creating more open space for deer to have to navigate in winter. Whitetail deer here are even becoming few and far between. In my moose filming areas I don't see that many deer and few on my trail cams. What few deer that live there in summer, migrate to the rural farmland in winter. Because with so few deer to help make trails in the snow they can't get around. And the large clear-cuts are impossible to cross alone. But back to the olden days...in the 70's and 80's they used to have maps on the walls of the ranger stations. That would show the locations of the large winter deer yarding areas in the province. So first you have your high ground of hills and mountains. With the large old growth hardwood stands. Where deer spent time in summer. Then lower down you have the Fir, Spruce and Pine forest. And then bordering the lakes, rivers, streams, brooks, bogs and dead-waters you have the cedar. Large areas of it. And this is where all of the whitetail deer would hold up for the winter.
They would gather in the hundreds, so that they could all use the same trails to move around and feed on the cedar. It was there lifeline to survival. There were some tough winters back then. And a lot of deer. These deer yards even had names. So my point here is how important cedar is to deer in winter. But just as valuable or perhaps even more so are those lichens. Now I only cut these few cedar boughs for the video. I do not feed them any other feed. I have very few deer that stay around here all winter. And there is 200 acres of woods behind my place. It used to be or family farm and now owned by someone else. I have few trees left to feed deer, unless the rest of them all blow down this winter. This food will only keep them going for a limited time. They need a steady source all winter to survive.
Now a lot of people feed deer in winter. I did many years ago. I fed them cracked corn and beef finisher. Its an expensive hobby. I had 32 one year.. all coming to two troughs 'all at once'! One time I was at work and my wife was filming a big buck at a trough. I had put the feed on the ground 'under' the tough, in hopes that the buck would hit his antlers on it when he lifted his head and knock off an antler. My wife is filming and the buck got startled and raised his head up so fast he caught the trough on one antler and turned and ran off carrying it. It was heavy! As he ran he just gave it a toss and threw it off to the side. By the way that antler stayed on, and I never did get even one!
Other reasons 'not' to feed deer in winter is that it will make them dependent on you. And are you able to supply the deer with enough food to survive all winter? Other concerns are disease, by bunching deer up and them feeding in close proximity. Auto collision hazards as well, if deer are crossing roads to get to the food. And neighbors.. if your deer eat the their cedar hedge, you got trouble! But the big thing that people don't realize, is that natures way of helping ruminants survive winter. Is slowing down their metabolism. Deer in the winter.. in the wild, will eat when and where they can get food. But their digestive system will slow way down..to conserve and fully utilize those nutrients. They will also rest as much as they can so they don't waste valuable energy and heat production searching for more food. If they have to expend a lot of energy wading snow, crossing a large open cut-over to reach food, then it is counter productive. And the thing about grain based foods for deer in winter, is that it will pass through their digestive system much faster than traditional winter deer food. Pelleted cow feed has binding ingredients such as oils and fats for cattle. Feeding these foods can give deer diarrhea. I know, because I fed deer this feed years ago. This is also caused by them eating more than they need. Forcing it through their systems too quickly to get the nutrients that they need. And there isn't enough time to adsorb it all, so some of it is wasted. Deer also normally re-chew their food, but with grain pellets they don't have to..so once again it upsets the normal function of a four compartment stomach. Now if you feed dried green silage feed such as alfalfa or clover this would be much better. They will regurgitate and re-chew it just like tree boughs. This is just my opinion based on my experiences and common sense thinking. I'm not a biologist. I hope you enjoy the video!
Excellent story, thank you for providing us with that bit of wisdom!!
@@HegelianMetaphysics Thank You!...And Your very welcome! Funny...where I state I don't want to talk over it all...and then I talk over most of it!!😊❤🙏