Rain could be a boon for deer

Published 1:00 pm Monday, October 31, 2022

Deer have plenty to eat this fall in Baker County.

But the food isn’t especially nutritious.

That deficiency might yet be corrected, though, at least partially, thanks to the recent dramatic shift in the weather pattern, said Brian Ratliff, district wildlife biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Baker City office.

Rain, which was conspicuous by its absence from the middle of September through the first three weeks of October, returned with the first in a series of Pacific storms arriving Oct. 21.

That moisture could spur a late, but beneficial, flush of fresh green grass on deer winter range, Ratliff said.

Some of the range, anyway.

Ratliff said the lower temperatures that arrived with the rain could keep the soil temperature, at higher elevations and on north-facing slopes, from reaching the 50-degree level that is generally required for grasses to grow.

For that reason, rain tends to be more beneficial if it arrives in early October rather than late in the month, when temperatures begin to drop, he said.

Ratliff is more optimistic, though, about the lower, south-facing winter range where a significant percentage of the county’s deer herds spend the colder months.

Those areas, which include the slopes along the Snake River between Richland and Huntington, and in the hills on the north side of the Keating Valley, could still green up before heavy snow arrives.

“We did get enough rain to potentially see a response with the grass,” Ratliff said. “We’ll just have to see if it happens.”

Prior to the rain, it was extremely dry at all elevations.

Although there was plenty of grass thanks to the damp spring, that grass had cured and wasn’t as nutritious as green foliage, Ratliff said.

With dry grass so ample, deer are generally able to maintain their body weight, he said.

But they need protein-rich green grass to pack on the fat layer that can sustain them through the winter, when they need to burn more calories to maintain their body temperature and, potentially, to dig through snow to reach forage.

Ratliff said that even if the recent rain doesn’t yield a late flush of green grass, he’s optimistic about the prospects for deer to fare well this winter.

“Animals are in great body condition right now,” he said. “I’m not incredibly worried about deer. We’re not going into winter with deer starving.”

Ratliff said fawns and buck deer tend to be most susceptible to the deprivations of winter.

Fawns are vulnerable because they’re small and less able to stay warm.

The issue with bucks is energy — they expend a lot of calories chasing does during the fall breeding season, and as a result enter winter with scantier fat reserves than female deer.

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