Winter wipes out Mule Deer in British Columbia
Excerpts from 250 News:
Monday, November 05
Farmers and ranchers in the Ft St John, Dawson Creek and Peace River area say this year will go down as one of the worst years in recent memory for the population of deer, moose and elk .
They say the record snow falls last year resulted in the death of an estimated 1,000 animals in the area between the Alaska Highway, and the junction of the Peace and Kiskatinaw River.
Ben Tschetter of the South Peace Colony says “We think that the Elk may have wintered the best, but there is no doubt the deer population was decimated by the snowfall. There were days when we where taking 10 to 12 dead animals away from our cattle feed troughs every single day. We felt so sorry for them but there was nothing we could do. “
Tschetter says the wildlife would eat whatever they could find “The Mule deer and the White tail’s were coming to our yard for feed and while we didn’t want to not let them feed, they were dying with full bellies from eating hay and alfalfa that they were not accustomed to eating.”
Meantime the butcher shops who regularly see a huge increase in their business starting from late August to October 31st, say the season has been a bust.
One butcher reported he normally would cut and wrap about 130 to 140 animals a year. He was down to just 28 this year.
Everyone is hoping this winter won’t be as bad as last year , fearing another heavy snowfall will wipe out the deer, moose and elk population.
