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Will flooding impact your deer herd?
The end of December, a major weather system dumped snow on most of the upper Midwest while the middle and southern parts of the US received heavy rainfall. The latest rainfall put most rivers well over flood stage in the middle part of the US. The Mississippi river basin hasn’t seen this much water since the historic floods of 1993.
Here is a graphic from The Weather Channel showing the amount of rain that has fallen in December.
So how does all this rain impact white-tailed deer? In the short term, deer that were living in the river bottoms have been displaced from their home ranges in search of higher ground. The displacement will have a ripple effect because less of the landscape is capable of providing natural forage to deer. The areas that deer move to will have increased browse pressure which has negative effects on long term forest health.
If you live in an area where deer have been displaced by flooding, supplemental feeding can be a great way to keep the deer fed without causing major damage to native browse. Just make sure your feed site isn’t in danger of flood waters. Placing feed in a gravity feeder helps keep feed dry. If you do place feed on the ground, try to find an area that is on top of a ridge in a dry area so the feed doesn’t absorb a lot of moisture.
In most states, the hunting season is still open so you can use the flooding to your advantage. The deer have fewer places to hide, so look for places of cover uphill from a flooded bottomland. Deer will travel up to 15 miles to avoid flooded areas, so you may pick up several bucks that you have never seen before. You should try and harvest them when you can, because typically these roaming bucks will return to their bottomland home range once the flood waters recede.
The good part about a historic flood in December is that there isn’t newborn fawns on the ground. When flooding typically occurs in the springtime, fawns can be swept away from rising flood waters and there may be some effect on recruitment because of it. In this case, last year’s fawns are capable of moving away from flood waters just as much as adult deer. Don’t forget that deer are very capable swimmers and have been known to swim several miles when necessary.
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