Cover All The Bases

Jon Snowdon prepares for the deer season as much as he can in the light of the changing climatic conditions

- Jon Snowdon

December. One of my favorite times of the year, not only to catch up on the doe cull but also just being out there is an absolute pleasure. Cold, frosty days and clear, bright skies and the ground sprinkled with snow. With a bit of luck, we might have had an early week of snow in November …

I woke up this morning to a bright sun and a distinctly late-autumn feel to the air. Perfect for my job as a deer manager. If we do get a fall of snow, the cover from all of that abundant growth during the wet summer will be flattened and all will be revealed. However, in recent years the climate has become warmer and wetter, which has left cover standing into January and that has made my work more difficult.

Sightlines

Stalking deer successfully requires good sightlines through the woods. If the deer can not be seen, the odds of success on each outing diminish markedly. See or be seen is the name of the game for woodland deer control. If the cover is high, everything is in the deer’s favor and more often than not they will be put up before the stalker has a chance of raising their rifle. This summer the cover has been up to the neck in places, providing no sightlines, not to mention audible alerts for the deer.