Here you see a white-tailed deer browsing on the branch tips and terminal buds of a star magnolia bush in freezing temperatures early yesterday. It’s probably not this yearling’s favorite meal, but she can’t be choosy during the kinds of cold winter spells that we’ve been having.
Lately, many of our deer have limited their movement and “yarded up” much of the time in communal deer yards within stands of dense, wind-breaking coniferous trees. We still have somewhat deep, frozen snow that hinders their movement, makes it harder for them to avoid predators, and covers their best food.
Harsh winters often are part of Nature’s way of culling deer herds by causing high mortality rates for fawns and bucks. (Yes, bucks: They lose a lot of their fat reserves during the rigorous rutting season, when their body weight plummets.) Frankly, our white-tail herd appears to have gotten too numerous for the animals’ own good and ours. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on February 9, 2026.)