Wednesday, July 12, 2006

WISCONSIN NEWS: High Deer Survival During 05-06 Winter

The 2005-2006 winter weather should have no negative effect on white-tailed deer survival and reproduction in Wisconsin. That's according to the annual Winter Severity Indices report from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The report takes into consideration factors, such as snow depth, minimum temperatures and reproduction the following year at 32 stations across the northern third of Wisconsin.

"This winter ranked as mild with an average severity index of 36," said Brad Koele, assistant DNR big game ecologist. "We had two stations reporting severe conditions and a few recorded moderate conditions. Overall, this index doesn't cause concern about excessive winter mortality or reduced spring reproduction, although we are still in our fawn observation period when field biologists, wardens and foresters are asked to record their daily observations of deer and fawns."

The DNR says roughly 63 percent of the accumulated WSI points for the 2005-06 observation period were 'low temperature' points that occurred sporadically with February being the coldest month.

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