Last winter was seen as the toughest one on Wisconsin's deer herd in history. While no piece of cake, to date, a DNR expert says this winter is not nearly as severe.
The DNR takes into account several factors when determining the severity of the winter...says deer research ecologist Daniel Storm...
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"...with the current Winter Severity Index that we are measuring we expect minimal effect on the deer herd. There is two months yet to go so we will have to wait and see..."
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The index is calculated by adding the number of days with 18 inches or more of snow on the ground to the number of days when the minimum temperatures were 0?F or below.
Storm says a couple of areas in the Northwoods have more snow than the rest of the state...
"...most stations are coming in 'mild', but a couple of stations are coming in 'severe' because they have lots of snow, that is Florence and Gile. Otherwise across the north we're getting mild readings...."
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The northern part of the state has depressed numbers of deer due to extreme winter weather. The DNR called off all antlerless permits in 2014 to build the herd numbers back up.
