Deer can be found from sections of South America up to Alaska, making them the most ubiquitous big mammal in the Western Hemisphere. However, the same Arctic circumstances that we momentarily experience as a ‘polar vortex’ bears down and bring with it bone-chilling temperatures. Many people wonder whether deer will survive these chilly temperatures.
Deer unable to locate refuge or without enough fat to endure the hard winter can freeze to death. Deer’s physiological adaptations, food preferences, and behaviors, such as yarding and migration, affect how well they survive the winter.
It is possible to ensure their survival throughout the tough winter by learning how to enhance their habitat and offer access to food sources. This article will explore whether deer can freeze to death in extreme weather conditions in detail and also examine several other aspects.
How Deer Prepare for Winter
A deer’s feeding habits in the months preceding up to and throughout the winter and its strategic use of the fat it accumulates from those habits are important winter survival adaptations.
Autumn is when deer put on the most weight by focusing on foods with lots of sugar or carbohydrates. In the winter, they use their fat reserves as a source of energy. Except for hibernation, deer behave similarly to bears in this regard.
Researchers discovered that adult deers could rely more than 50% of their daily nourishment on their fat reserves in the winter. Although bucks might lose up to 30$ of their body weight during the rut, they often had overindulged before, so their fat store serves as a lifetime.
All deer consciously restrict their daily activity after the rut and throughout late winter, including basic movement and even deeding, to slow the burning of those fat reserves until the first-green plants appear in April.
As absurd as it may sound, deer eat less when exposed to harsh winter conditions and after losing weight.
Even caged deer have access to an endless supply of food. Despite this, deer cut short their food intake and continue to lose weight during the winter. It is because relying on the finest winters when temperatures are moderate and food is abundant does not make sense.
These conditions are uncommon occurrences from the perspective of survival and the propagation of the species. Therefore, deer have evolved to survive even the harshest winters. However, this tactic and the availability of fat reserves that help them get through the winter have a limit.
According to studies, a normal healthy doe starts the winter with a 90-day fat reserve. During those three months, deer can withstand anything mother nature may muster. The clock starts ticking in March, which is why March weather patterns frequently have the greatest impact on winter deer mortality.
Watch this video to witness some winter survival strategies of deers:
Whitetails and WINTER Weather Survival Strategies
Deer Behaviors According To Changing Weather Conditions
People simply relocate to avoid harsh winter climates to escape the cold. Deers do the same thing even if they can’t go inside or travel south for a few months.
Deer will typically migrate to and gather in places that offer the most weather protection when unfavorable conditions, such as seeking shade when the temperature rises.
This type of wintertime behavior is referred to as ‘yarding.’ Generally, yarding places are warmer, windier, and more mobile than any other place. Deer may choose to sleep on south-facing hardwood slopes within their home range throughout a large portion of the county to benefit from the direct sunshine.
Alternatively, in colder climes, they might seek out, travel to, and take shelter in ‘deer yards’ far from their usual home area.
These traditional yards are frequently mature, carefully chosen conifer stands with thick canopies, and they may be significant historically since several generations of deer have used the same location.
True, long-distance migrations, which enable entire herds of either species to avoid harsh circumstances at higher latitudes or elections during winter and take advantage of high-quality feed during summer, are less frequent in white-tailor deer but more frequent in mule deer.
Winter Diet Of A Deer
Deer’s reliable winter nutrition mostly comes from fat reserves and water, with seasonal food like buds, twigs, bark, and dead leaves as supplements.
Shoots of woody browse from small trees and shrubs, the same from a few specific coniferous species, and any persisting fruits or leaves are preferred winter forages.
The nutritional value of the foods they eat in the winter does not alter much. Quantity is more crucial. In reality, the real worth is not in the calories but in the heat produced inside the body during digestion.
Deer typically focus on foods closest to the areas where they spend the majority of their time, as stated above; it indicates that the rate of fat loss will be higher than usual if there is not much foraging nearby in certain areas.
Regular habitat management techniques, such as creating more browse and ground cover for upcoming winters, undoubtedly improve the quality of deer habitat over the long term.
But if you are worried about deer survival, cutting down more of the winter food they are used to eating close to where deer spend the coldest months is the best thing you can do to assist them in getting through the crucial last days.
Body Structured For Winters
However, deer’s physiological adaptations may make them the most resistant to harsh winter weather. A deer is more likely to be larger and have more compact appendages than a cousin from a more southern climate. This difference increases depending on how much further North a deer lives.
Second, deer shed and grow two coats each year, and the winter coat, which has vital thermoregulatory properties, is crucial to their capacity to withstand freezing temperatures and precipitation.
For instance, a deer’s winter coat is five to six times thicker than its summer coat and comprises short underfur and long hollow guard hairs.
Deer are so well-insulated because of this combination that snow can be carried on their back without melting due to body heat. Deer’s musculoskeletal adaptation also enables them to stand in heavy snow for days or weeks without experiencing cold toes.
Conclusion
With their physiological adaptations and judicious use of their fat reserves, deer can survive winter circumstances. On the other hand, extreme weather, a shortage of food, or insufficient fat stores might cause deer to freeze to death.
Understanding their feeding patterns, behaviors, and physical characteristics can increase their chances of surviving the hard winter weather. Protecting their habitat and giving them access to food sources is crucial to ensure their survival throughout the winter.
