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cold nights

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dearjohn

Joined Nov 2010
465 Posts | 0+
Frankfort MI
On bitter cold nights, will deer come in if you leave the barn door open. Northern Mi. gets so d@m cold. I always wonder how they get through it.

Our local deer pop.is down and I think a bad winter 2 years ago ,made the biggest dent . Or was it the coyotes .or was it the block permits.:(
 
My deer prefer to lay outside, even on the coldest of nights. They will lay behind logs, or down off a knoll, even with a shed available. They dont like to be in buildings that limit their view, makes them very insecure. they will lay under a roof, as long as there are no closed in walls. Bottlefeds are different, they lay anywhere, lol.
 
My deer also prefer to lay out in the open rather than go in a shelter. My deer do like a wind break on windy days and if I got a little hay spilled on the snow by the hay bunk they enjoy laying on the hay.

As far as your local deer population being down, I would think the lack of their ability to access their usual food sources because of the snow might be a bigger factor. They also burn more energy tromping through snow looking for food. I would think predators could probably can catch deer easier in the deep snow also.
 
We will break a few bales of hay on the snow just to get em off the cold ground and they love it! I have a Amish friend who closed in his carports on 3 sides with clear panels in the winter and his deer hang out in them alot but they can see thru the plastic panels.
 
We have large round bales in the pens for the deer to eat - alfalfa. They will also lay right up to the bales which breaks the wind. I'm guessing the bales absorb a little heat during the day if the sun is out too. They definitely cluster around the bales.
 
Antlershed said:
My deer prefer to lay outside, even on the coldest of nights. They will lay behind logs, or down off a knoll, even with a shed available. They dont like to be in buildings that limit their view, makes them very insecure. they will lay under a roof, as long as there are no closed in walls. Bottlefeds are different, they lay anywhere, lol.
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yup you hit it dead on , my deer hate sheds, just a roof with some hay stacked to block the wind, again MINE have to see every thing , iv given them the rits and they just lay in the snow ? go fig,:eek:
 
The only time my deer lay in our shed is during summer to get out of the sun and away from the flies!
 
Whitetail Sanctuary said:
We will break a few bales of hay on the snow just to get em off the cold ground and they love it! I have a Amish friend who closed in his carports on 3 sides with clear panels in the winter and his deer hang out in them alot but they can see thru the plastic panels.
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Amish guy with a car port.....what is this world coming to
 
Even with the ice storm we had last week all the deer stayed out of the shelters. When its windy, a few will lay in the sheds, but usually it will only the bucks. The does will lay out in the open and the bucks will be in the shed. Now all my fawns will be in the shed out of the wind together but they are all bottlefed and calm.
 
Whitetail Sanctuary said:
We will break a few bales of hay on the snow just to get em off the cold ground and they love it! I have a Amish friend who closed in his carports on 3 sides with clear panels in the winter and his deer hang out in them alot but they can see thru the plastic panels.
Click to expand...



can you elaborate on what they were, or were made of. The deer didn't destroy them!
 
John, they look like regular panels of metal only clear.they use em around here for skylights in pole barns or panels in greenhouses and no his deer don't bother them at all he just takes em out in the spring.
 
my bottlefed would go into his stall at night on his own and bed down in the hay......but then when he was little in the house he would go into the crate by himself at bedtime and sleep with the cat.:rolleyes:
 
We have found them in the spring. All bedded down ,3 deer curled up and expired. sad Has this ever happened in someones pen. hope not.

Maybe because they are better fed they can keep their body heat up much more.
 
My pens are half woods half pasture and when I cleared the woods of everything but oaks I stacked up the small trees in a V pattern and my deer love them.They lay behind them all the time,and it also helped me out as I didnt have to remove some of the wood I cut down.Don't build them to high though,only go high enough so they can still stick there head up and still see over.
 

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