Severity Index tells tale
So far, winter is shown to be a mild one for deer herds
By DENNIS APRILL,
Outdoors ColumnistLast week, I wrote how the Winter Severity Index (WSI)used by states such as Vermont measures the winter conditions, difficulty-wise, for deer. The New York State system differs from the WSI. It is a little more complicated, but probably more precise.
According to Department of Environmental Conservation Wildlife Biologist Ed Reed in Ray Brook Region 5, the DEC uses four criteria: â 1. Number of days with snow depth over 20 inches â 2. Number of days with snow depth over 15 inches â 3. How far deer sink into the snow â 4. Number of days with temperatures that fall below the long term average Measurements are taken in the larger deer yards, 10-12 of them in Region 5 (northeastern New York), once a month from Jan. 1 until the snow disappears in the spring and after dead deer counts are made in the yards or wintering areas.
Scores for categories 1 through 4 are tab
ulated and a number from 0 to 50 given, 50 being the severest of conditions. Reed says that, for the winter 2000-01, the deer-yard at Upper Chateaugay Lake scored 35, indicating a severe winter with fairly heavy fawn loses and some adult deer die-off.In contrast, the Central Adirondacks Forked Lake yard in Hamilton County scored only 21 points. The reason, Reed says, "The temperatures were not very cold and the deep snow cover came later compared to Upper Chateaugay." This winter, as of now, Reed sees as a good one for deer. In areas he’s checked as of last Wednesday, the deer were not sinking in very far and only a few places had 20 inches or more of snow.
Barring a late burst of snow and cold like last March, this winter will go down as one of our milder ones for both deer and humans.