The storm is here

[Mo wannabe]

Hello folks. Sitting here in southeast mo. Snowed in and wanting to go hunting Oh well it's to cold anyhow U folks that are in northern areas are use to it but its rare here. I was wondering how this effects your hunting or the deer movement. Do they lay up or move more for food ?

[Waif]

Hmmm. There can be a mix,often ahead of foul weather they put on the feed bag,but on occasion they can be seen feeding in a heavy snow fall.
Bitter cold wind usually keeps them trying to stay under it.
Best activity seems to follow the weather breaking after a rough couple days.Kinda like when we want out of the house when it clears.South side of a ridge and soak up some sun.
First snow on the ground, either from lite refraction or knowing their leaving visible tracks seems to make them a little shy too.
Have caught them under pines in heavy snow and following a snowfall.Using trees like umbrellas.A Christmas tree plantation is perfect for winter storm hide out, one let go and over grown gets a nod too,or a cedar swamp.Thermal cover.Security cover,need to leave to feed but that can wait,a little while.Sometimes river bottom areas with heavy cover.Swamps too if thick.

[Lake shooter]

Hey there, I ain't too far south of you. Down here in central Arkansas a good creek bottom thick with honeysuckle is a deer magnet when it's like this. Years back when I was pretty green I went hunting in such a place thinking that it should be good. I REALLY got an education in cold weather deer habits!

As I had reckoned, they were wearing the honeysuckle out, but what opened my eyes was the degree: all of the lower leaves and green twigs were had been eaten away and even though there was a good 4-6" of snow on the ground, the areas under each big honeysuckle vine were bare muddy earth that had been beaten to death by the deer! Most of these vines were old and thick, way up in the trees. I didn't put it all together until the next day when I hunted that same spot and kept hearing this strange sound that kept getting slowly closer as evening came. When I finally saw what was going on I just shook my head and thought "dumby, why didn't you think of that already?"

The deer were standing on their hind legs and reaching as high as they could with theirs mouths, grabbing the honeysuckle (and greenbriar) vines and pulling them down to get to the leaves and green shoots!!!

Since then I head for the honeysuckle in cold weather and even if I see nothing and get no shot, I usually hear them in there pulling the vines down!

[Peacemaker]

I guess the next best thing to having a deer drop on the spot is to follow a blood trail in fresh snow....

[cevans]

the minute this strorm blows out tonite, deer will be out everywhere roaming after dark. So far, we have 10 inches of snow on a dash of ice and still snowing with weather man stating we could get no more than a couple more inches till the next storm Sunday..round 2. I will be out before light in the morning hunting the thickest cover I can find myself with a ML as it is coming in in the morning for 2 weeks. Don't get to hunt in the snow much but its lookin like this stuff is going to hang around for a week or more at least. I intend to enjoy this weather as much as possible.

[Cossack]

Once it gets cold deer tend to move less. When there is a lot of snow, they often yard up in thick cover on south facing hills and move as little as possible to conserve energy. In effect they live off the fact they stored up earlier.
BTW, here in no.MN cold starts south of -15 F. Anything more is a heat wave.
Warmed up to -6 F for a high today; gonna get down to -25 F Sat morning.
Tough hunting but keeps the riffraff out.

[Mo wannabe]

Yep Cossack I bet it does !

[cevans]

Once it gets cold deer tend to move less. When there is a lot of snow, they often yard up in thick cover on south facing hills and move as little as possible to conserve energy. In effect they live off the fact they stored up earlier.
BTW, here in no.MN cold starts south of -15 F. Anything more is a heat wave.
Warmed up to -6 F for a high today; gonna get down to -25 F Sat morning.
Tough hunting but keeps the riffraff out.

Very true! And,,,in the morning,,its going to be 9 degrees here,,and it will def. keep the riffraff out! I will have the woods all to myself for miles.

[Lake shooter]

Once it gets cold deer tend to move less. When there is a lot of snow, they often yard up in thick cover on south facing hills and move as little as possible to conserve energy. In effect they live off the fact they stored up earlier.
BTW, here in no.MN cold starts south of -15 F. Anything more is a heat wave.
Warmed up to -6 F for a high today; gonna get down to -25 F Sat morning.
Tough hunting but keeps the riffraff out.

Everything is relative my friend. Down here, I don't consider it to be hot until it reaches 98-100 and my feet get cold and pretty much stay that way under 68 degrees! Anything under freezing is by golly cold and anything under 20 is nuts! It's getting down to 18 tonight and the roads are covered with black ice, not snow. It's a different world than the sub polar hinterlands where you live!!!

I will totally agree that "cold" relative to one's local keeps the riff riff away!

[Mo wannabe]

I never thought of myself as riffraff but oh well I've been up north as far as northern Wisconsin Been out in the weather when it was 25 below all day up there and it ain't half as cold as it is here in mo when it gets 10 degree and the wind blowin 5 or 10 mph. This wet cold will turn anyone to RIFFRAFF

[Cossack]

Weatherman screwed up...only -20 this AM.

[vixenmaster]

2 degrees this mornin, too cold fer me wid the clothin i have

[Lake shooter]

I never thought of myself as riffraff but oh well I've been up north as far as northern Wisconsin Been out in the weather when it was 25 below all day up there and it ain't half as cold as it is here in mo when it gets 10 degree and the wind blowin 5 or 10 mph. This wet cold will turn anyone to RIFFRAFF

Same here pal! It's 22 degrees with a 14 mph NNE wind and 65% HUMIDITY!!!!!!! As I said early, everything's relative to one's area. For around here that's downright brutal, with that high humidity and wind making for bone chilling conditions!!!

[awshucks]

I survived it. Lost power, phone, ect. Fired up the gen[running now] phones came back on this a.m. Drive way cleared by neighbor yesterday, it was a mess.

Once I got the gen hooked up, I flushed the TV and sat dishes, so they are fine.

My truck is still froze up, like a dummy, I didn't park it in the RV shed.

[Lake shooter]

Man, sorry to hear that, and thanks for the PM! I see the Arkansas location so that answered my question about which state.

We got lucky this time, only light freezing rain and sleet. Still, I have three American Beech trees in my backyard that I dug up around Auburn Alabama and transplanted, and ice is tough on them as they tend to hold their leaves until spring. My biggest is about 30' tall and lost two branches in last year's Christmas icing massacre. Broke my heart as I've been babying it since '98. Went out during the sleet and freezing rain on Friday morning and cut about two feet off the lower hanging branches, then knocked ice off twice with a broom. So far so good. Hope you get your power back soon!