Thanks to the El Nino year, winter is shaping up to be a mild one and had minimal impact on Wisconsin wildlife, especially deer. That’s according to the DNR’s winter severity index.
The index gauges the effects the winter weather has on deer based on mortality rates. 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 the temperature was zero degrees. Biologist Daniel Storm says so far deer mortality rates have been low this year.
“…our biologists right now are looking at road kill deer and assessing their fat reserves. This gives us a good indication of how the deer fared over the winter, and just by looking at the fat, how much fat they have currently tells us how much fat they needed to burn just to survive.”
Storm says an index of less than 50 is considered mild with anything over considered either moderate or severe.
He says the average index through March is 20 and says it will be monitored until the end of April.
