Another one brewing

[mhall]

This year really has been a bust for me for winter fishing. I almost tried to go yesterday. If another storm comes in this weekend then that will be another weekend I can't fish.

Well I guess the talking heads got this one right. Alot of them predicted a Very cold and bad winter, I think they nailed it at least for me. It's been very cold, January around here averaged almost three degrees below normal for the month, that may not sound like alot but it is when you average 31 days together. December was also quite a bit below average, now Feb looks to be holding course.

[Tim_T]

I have always heard of people predicting a rough winter by things that happen in nature. I am no expert at this, but it got me thinking about something that happened this fall. Between the deer my sond and I killed along with some family members and friends who bring them by for us to help butcher them, we probably butchered 20 deer this year. On every single deer there was much more fat on them than I have ever seen. I mean noticably more fat. I wonder if that was a sign that the deer were feeding up for a rough winter? Just something to think about.

[mhall]

I have always heard of people predicting a rough winter by things that happen in nature. I am no expert at this, but it got me thinking about something that happened this fall. Between the deer my sond and I killed along with some family members and friends who bring them by for us to help butcher them, we probably butchered 20 deer this year. On every single deer there was much more fat on them than I have ever seen. I mean noticably more fat. I wonder if that was a sign that the deer were feeding up for a rough winter? Just something to think about.

Tim me and the boys also use the fat gauge. Ours were the same way, fat galore. Also had you ever seen the squirrels work any harder at hiding nuts, man they was busy. I think like you that it's God's and natures way to prepare them for a harsh season.

[bassin_bug]

Tim me and the boys also use the fat gauge. Ours were the same way, fat galore. Also had you ever seen the squirrels work any harder at hiding nuts, man they was busy. I think like you that it's God's and natures way to prepare them for a harsh season.

You are right about the squirrels working hard. We have a couple of walnut trees that had more nuts that I've ever seen on them; a large limb actually broke off because it was so laden with nuts. They weren't quite mature enough to drop without some help and still had green shells on them. The squirrels started picking them up and burying them. Then they took to the trees and picked them clean. We have 2 large chestnut trees and the squirrels and deer had to wait a while for the chestnuts to open, but when they started falling they cleaned them up. We didn't get any for ourselves. My husband said, "What is going on with the deer and squirrels, they are eating up all the nuts?" I told him we were going to have a rough winter and asked him to look what huge nests the squirrels had built. He laughed at me and said he didn't know we had a weathergirl in the house. When we had the first snowstorm he asked me what I saw in nature that made me say we were going to have a bad winter and I reminded him about our earlier conversation. Then I told him that wasn't the only one; we should prepare for another one or so. We had another snowstorm last weekend and more snow is predicted for later this week.

I believe that if we will just be still and look around us, we can learn a lot from nature.

[redneckshadrap]

I have always heard of people predicting a rough winter by things that happen in nature. I am no expert at this, but it got me thinking about something that happened this fall. Between the deer my sond and I killed along with some family members and friends who bring them by for us to help butcher them, we probably butchered 20 deer this year. On every single deer there was much more fat on them than I have ever seen. I mean noticably more fat. I wonder if that was a sign that the deer were feeding up for a rough winter? Just something to think about.

Better forage this year. Over abundance of rain. Better crops.

[Tim_T]

You offer another very plausible explaination Shad Rap, my only thought would be that there have been other wet years (1997 comes to mind) and I still didn't see the fat on deer like I did this year. It could also be a combination of both cold weather and good food production.

[mhall]

Better forage this year. Over abundance of rain. Better crops.

This is a factor I'm sure. Also what Bug was saying about an abundance of Nuts on the trees is also a sign a a bad and cold winter. It's holding true.