(Error in scheduling, should have posted early Tuesday morning)

Apparently the ground hogs of the world were split down the middle, with half saying, YES SPRING IS HERE! The other half, those that need to be stewed in a rich wine sauce, say we’ve got six more weeks of winter.

Technically, they’re right of course.

It’s not that winter is a bad thing. A little snow now and then is okay. A bit of chilly weather, too. It would make us appreciate the temperate times so much more, right?

My perfect winter begins on December 21st with some snow, and ends January 30th, with a melt. Sadly, winter here usually starts just before Halloween, and ends some time in April.

Thing is, it’s been a freakishly cold year. We’ve dipped down to -54C when the windchill is factored in, and believe me, this year that wind definitely needs to be factored. Last year, we had a record amount of snow, and I’m sure this year we’re either past that or bordering on it. The drifts behind the neighbor’s house and ours are CRAZY deep.

There’s a bigger problem though, than just the cold. Last year, the young deer were decimated. They’d never had to deal with a harsh winter, and had no idea how to look for food beyond their norm. Those that weren’t weakened and taken down by coyotes and wolves were starved to death. Even with the local farmers trying to help them (we spotted a lot of bales minus their ‘condoms’ sitting on top of fresh snow, rather than being buried under), there were a lot of carcasses on the edges of the woods, and inside the woods.

We saw five fawns all spring/summer. Five. We should have seen at least 100, maybe more. Of the five we were watching, two were hit by vehicles. The majority of the fawns were either miscarried, stillborn, or were too weak, as were their mothers, to survive the first few weeks.

For the six previous winters we’d lived here, there were deer coming into the yard every night, sometimes ten at a time. They foraged through our compost pile, nibbled some apples from the ground, or bark off the trees, and raided the neighbor’s bird feeders. Last year? We saw a couple, but that was early on. This year? None. Not. A. One.

What we did see more of were young-ish bucks, probably four to five years old. They’d come out of the woods to eat. They’re elusive buggers, those bucks… seeing so many of that age as often as we did, was surprising to say the least.

I won’t say where we saw a herd just this past weekend, but my heart soared as Carrie counted them. 42. That’s the largest herd I’ve seen since the days my grandfather and I used to go for drives before I left home. He and I counted over 100 each, in several herds, back then. What a difference 25 years makes.

It’s not just the deer, either. Other wildlife that either don’t or only semi-hibernate were taken down as well. Litters were smaller in spring, and the parents struggled harder to find foods early on. As I posted before, one of our highlights was finding a fox family not too far from here (again, I won’t post where because of the mindset of the locals). Two young adults with three – THREE – healthy and happy kits. A little more than a mile away, there was a young grey fox summering. Perhaps he’d hidden a family away in the corn, but I’m thinking this was his ‘bachelor’ year before the serious courting and procreation begins.

What urbanites and even small-town people (granted a lot of the small-towners here are recently moved from urban areas) seem to forget is, these animals are not pests. They were here first, and for a lot longer than humans have been here. Sure, use the traps, the rifles, the shotguns, the poisons and pesticides. Go ahead. Knock down all those trees, burn them. Make way for more fields and more construction. Genetically modify the corn so the wildlife become sick and die. Gee, what does that do to the livestock and humans that eat it, hmm? Yeah.

Some day, they’ll realize the scale was balanced, and no longer is. Of course, by that time, it’ll be too late.

You can help with this problem. You can choose to plant non-GMO seeds or plants in your gardens. You can plant wildlife-friendly gardens, including bee-gardening. Welcome the wildlife into your yards, even in urban areas. Wildlife doesn’t just mean furry mammals, it can be butterflies, bees, spiders… do something. Take a stand, no matter how small.

’til next week, I’m off the soap-box…maybe.
<3 JL