Bo the brown dog shot through the doorway and raced to the TV room where his cushy bed lay. Abby the Cur dog, his partner in various crimes was right behind him and not a bit bashful about showing she wanted in the house, like now. The temperature on this recent morning was a balmy nine degrees. Besides being cold, everything was covered with a liberal amount of snow and ice, with more in the forecast. The dogs wanted no part of this winter wonderland, and truthfully neither did I. They said it was just too dang cold to get excited about going outside to do anything. I agreed. Both of the canines snuggled back into their beds for a long winters nap. I poured another cup of coffee and grabbed the TV remote.
The terrible weather this time of year is something all sportsmen (and women) deal with. Many states have hunting seasons of one kind or another going through February. But getting out and actually doing something when it is nine degrees, and more snow is coming is easier said than done. It is easy for some of us mighty hunters to make more coffee and look for reruns of Longmire on the tube but what are the animals that we pursue doing in these conditions? Ever think about that?
Turkeys seem to grab our attention first when as hunters we think about how animals can survive in frigid weather. Many of us tend to think as birds, turkeys are more fragile than deer or other mammals. Many wildlife biologists will tell you that the wild turkey is very hardy and will survive most winter conditions. It is amazing to me that we now have turkey populations established in many northern states and Canada where I don’t think they were found originally. These turkeys routinely live through winters that would make some southern turkeys want to fly south. If wild turkeys have sufficient food sources, they will live through most anything winter can throw at them.
The actual conditions during the winter are of course very important. Turkeys seem to be able to deal with a lot of snow as long as they are able to dig through it and get down to the leaf layer on the forest floor. Wild turkeys have powerful legs and can scratch through a lot to get to a food source. Fluffy, powdery snow may not deter them too much. It is when ice starts to enter into the equation that we start to have trouble. A period of thawing and then refreezing can give turkeys (and other animals) a lot of trouble. A hard crust on top of the snow means they may go hungry for a while. It all depends how long the frozen conditions last. Turkeys also exhibit another behavior to get them through long stretches of severe weather. Turkeys have been observed staying in trees for long periods when not a able to feed on the ground. It has been reported they may be able to survive for as long as a month like this.
Besides being able to find food, I often marvel at how animals can live through the frigid temperatures. When you stand on your deck on a winter night, and it is in the single digits think about that. With no shelter and no thought of getting any, wild turkeys are sitting out there on a limb with the wind whistling through the trees. Turkeys have a thick covering of feathers to trap air for insulation, they roost on a limb and squat down so the feathers cover their bare legs and feet. Their largely bare head is tucked under a wing for protection from the cold. Still, nine degrees (or colder) is nine degrees. I don’t know how they do it.
Whitetail deer have a thick winter coat and seem to deal with winter pretty well. Most deer hair is hollow and gives them lot of insulation. Deer have hair, not fur, there is a difference. Animals that have fur wear a thick inner coat of insulation with an outer coat of longer, courser hair (called guard hairs) that actually protects the inner fur. So foxes, bobcats, raccoons, fishers, otters, muskrats, and beavers are furbearers. Squirrels, for example, do not have fur, they have hair and will often stay in a den tree during long periods of bad weather. Raccoons will do this as well but probably stay dormant for short periods because it is hard to forage and find any food. The cold doesn’t faze a big boar raccoon if he wants to go for a walkabout. The water animals like beavers and muskrats possess an inner fur coat so dense that their skin may not even get wet when they swim in icy waters.
It is still amazing to me, but our woodland animals make it through these times of snow and ice and cold.
Gotta go now as Bo and Abby are wanting back in the house, they have been outside for at least four minutes, they don’t have fur. We’ll get through this weather folks, hang in there. Now where did I put that remote?
Larry Case www.gunsandcornbread.com