Maine Deer in Winter Snow“If winter conditions persist we will need to brace ourselves for a large decrease in Any Deer permits as well as a reduced harvest in 2008 in order to compensate for an expected increase in winter mortality,”

Those are the words spoken by Lee Kantar, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife deer biologist when referring to the current winter that has gripped the state of Maine and buried it under record breaking snow falls in some areas and near records in others.

Biologists have been closely monitoring 28 check stations across the state collecting data in order to formulate a “Winter Severity Index”. This is used to help determine estimates of deer mortality as the result of weather. Kantar says this winter is on track to becoming the most severe, in terms of killing deer, in 57 years.

Deer yard up, or congregate in groups in areas of habitat that offers protection from the elements. Food is scarce anyway during winter and deer depend on stored fat supplies to survive. That longer and harsher winter is, the more deer will die from a combination of starvation and the demands Mother Nature places on the deer to use their energy to stay warm and move about in the deep snows.

The kind of snow pack plays an important role as well. Snow depths may be severe but if it packs hard, it helps deer to be able to move around, browse for food and avoid predation. Often deer are relegated to only a small number of trails made by the deer herd.

Biologists are hoping that this ongoing winter, where some areas of northern Maine have witnessed snows of over 170 inches, will break soon.

“The longer that winter stays, and the later it takes for spring to arrive and green up, the harder it will be for deer to hang on,” Kantar said. “Fawns are vey susceptible this time of year because they have not had time in their young lives to maximize body condition and size. They are still growing so they do not have the benefit of putting on much fat for the winter. It will be a brutal year for them.”

MDIFW biologists use the issuance of “Any-Deer Permits” as an extremely important tool in managing statewide deer herd numbers. In short, if deer numbers drop, so do the number of permits issued. On the flip side, if the state determines that certain Wildlife Management Districts have too many deer, more permits are issued. Officials at MDIFW will be meeting soon to been the process of pouring over the data so as to determine the number of permits to be issued for each WMD.

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The MDIFW also released almost completed deer harvest numbers for 2007. 28,884 deer were taken, which is lower than expected numbers but still slightly above the yearly average. Here is a list of harvest numbers for the past 10 years.

2007 – 28,884;
2006 – 29,918;
2005 – 28,148;
2004 – 30,926;
2003 – 30,313;
2002 — 38,153;
2001 — 27,769;
2000 – 36,885;
1999 – 31,473;
1998 – 28,241.

Tom Remington

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