The Downside of Last Winter

[Rusty]

The mild weather and overabundance of acorns this past winter was great for our deer and turkey populations.

 

The downside though is that rodent populations have exploded this year.  Mice have destroyed and made nests in turkey decoys, coils of rope, tarps, and canvas log carriers.  Voles and chipmunks are reeking havoc in the garden.  There's a stretch of trail along the power line that looks like a circus with all the woodland jumping mice bouncing back and forth, which is actually pretty cool.

 

And there's this little guy, but we don't mind him cuz he's kinda cute.  

 

 

 

[Haskell_Hunter]

That means predators and herps should be doing well too.

 

I noticed this weekend that I've swallowed more bugs in two days than in the past decade.  That is another downside.  Definitely an upside to the food chain.

[Rusty]

That means predators and herps should be doing well too.

 

 

Absolutely, the effects will go up through the entire food web.  

 

Wait, does that mean more coyotes next year???  

[BowhunterNJ]

Definitely a lot of bugs.  Tons of acorns burrowed in my lawn and are now sprawling little oak trees.  I won't miss on collecting all them next time we have a bumper crop.  I made the mistake of thinking the deer would eat them all, they didn't.  There were 10,000s in my yard alone...nevermind the woods, was totally insane.  Think everything did pretty well with the mild winter.

[GhostBear]

I'll make the prediction, there will be another bumper crop of acorn this year, it may even surpass the one we just had! But time will tell.