White-tailed Deer wading through deep snow. / © Putneypics
This month on Outdoor Radio we visit a winter deeryard. White-tailed Deer use these special woodlands to help them survive Vermont winters. Covering only a few to perhaps as large as 100 acres of forest, they can be used by generations of deer. Hike with us to a small deeryard and learn what makes deeryards and deer winter adaptations special.
Listen to the show
Report Your Sightings
- Add your deer observations to iNaturalist Vermont, a project of the Vermont Atlas of Life, and view a map of all the observations.
Learn More
- Learn more about White-tailed Deer from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.
- Download a Management Guide for Deer Wintering Areas in Vermont.
Images from the Show
White-tailed Deer standing alert just outside a winter deeryard. /© K.P. McFarland
Looking out from a shaded deeryard. /© K.P. McFarland
Deer scat during the winter is a bit like sawdust because they are feeding mostly on twigs. /© K.P. McFarland
Just outside of the deeryard most of the saplings are nipped by deer to what normally would be the top of the snowpack. /© K.P. McFarland
Guard hairs litter a deer bed from the previous night. These are filled with air to help buffer the deer from cold. / © K.P. McFarland
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[…] This winter in central Vermont, it feels like more precipitation has fallen as rain than snow. A severe winter can take a toll on deer, but this year they and some other winter residents have escaped the worst of what a winter can bring. Kent McFarland and Sara Zahendra from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies visit a deeryard on Outdoor Radio, a terrific monthly radio program on ecology broadcast on Vermont Public Radio. Hear it here. […]