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A Little more Frigid or Warm; What is better for Wildlife?

January 30, 2019 by Charlie 10 Comments

The wake-up temperature at my volunteer Wisconsin weather station this morning was -29.5F below zero and the windchill -52. While strolling around watching the sunrise, you could hear the freezing pop sounds inside the trees. Some of these trees will die from the damage. In the pole barn, some frozen mice were laying about on the floor, (no loss felt for them) victims of last night’s low temp. In the north country, it is no secret that cold kills. Throughout the woods and fields, there are most likely a variety of plants, animals, and birds that have perished in the first day of brutal cold.

29 below zero with -52 degree wind chill

As a young man during the early 70’s when fur prices were at their historic highs I ran trap lines in northern Minnesota. In those days there were very few passable remote roads in the winter if a trapper wanted access to prime fur they would snowshoe in with their packs full of equipment and live off the land for weeks. Living like this involved eating the flesh of the furbearers you caught, building a shelter from available materials, and keeping an adequate supply of firewood to make it through a few nights. There was no way to get a weather forecast so getting an unwelcome surprise, i.e. extended severe subzero temps and or blizzard was always possible.

In some ways, you’d hope for some, as it is called today “extreme weather”. Fifty years ago we called it weather and endeavored to survive it. Surviving is what the target animals were striving to do too. During these cold months, the animals are in search of food and shelter making them more responsive to trap sets using bait and/or shelter as a draw. In addition to the trapped critters there would be the occasional lucky finds of frozen animals that had apparently perished due to cold.

Much of my education of wild places took place by the example set by Aldo Leopold; daily observations. Now we have chattering class that constantly pontificates about the nature of things but clearly is unfamiliar with life in the wilds. So many make the claim we and the wild things are going to die by global warming. This hypothesis flys in the face of my half-century of observations. Warmer winter weather does not kill as many creatures as colder winters and the longer the cold lasts the more death results.

Back in the day, our elders taught us to be polite in conversations with strangers. We were instructed to never talk about politics or religion, so the weather was the safe topic. Fast forward to 2019, not so safe. I for one resent the politicization of the climate/weather. Perhaps it is getting warmer, or instead it’s getting colder on average,I do not know. What is very apparent to anyone who does even a little bit of observing of the wild ones, warmer rather than colder is better for survival.

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Filed Under: Think Pieces / Opinion

Comments

  1. FirstBubba says

    January 31, 2019 at 8:17 am

    I have been chastised for my views quite often.
    I do believe that one needs to be as polite as possible.
    But it becomes more and more difficult when politeness is met with hate and vitriole.
    Be nice and polite and your viewed as a doormat that can be steam rolled.
    Stand up vociferously for your rights and you’re criticized as hard core and unbending.
    I have become an advocate of, “All or Nothing”!
    The gun grabbers and tree huggers couldn’t care less about the “rights” of hunters, fishermen and gun owners and are very adamant about our demise.
    Why should we offer them any concessions?
    One blogger tells me we (gun owners) need to seem “more reasonable”!
    If their demands are unreasonable, why be reasonable?

    Reply
    • N.C.L.W. says

      January 31, 2019 at 4:07 pm

      Here, here! I salute you Sir, well said.

      Reply
    • Charlie says

      February 1, 2019 at 9:37 am

      If you compromise on a right, it is not a right at all. Instead, it is just a small momentary point in the larger scheme of politics in the moment of outrage. History has taught the lesson that it’s never wise to compromise your rights for fleeting acceptance.
      I try to disagree without being disagreeable. Moreover, no one should think that attitude in any way means the surrender of a right.

      Reply
  2. N.C.L.W. says

    January 31, 2019 at 4:02 pm

    All the best to yall out East braving the cold! Out my way here in Southeastern BC it’s been quite mild a winter yet is certainly a winter.

    Current government, as of this writing, federal and provincial are crazier than a bag of snakes. They’re using “climate change” as a manipulation tact to increase taxes/create new ones. So while temps are down taxes, expenses and cost of living are way up and rising thanks to evil, lies and alt-left cucks. Climate change is a hustle and scam.

    Before it was very easy to get away with killings and evil is real. It was wise and safe advise not to roll strangers. More wars have been fought through out Human history over politics and religion save most everything except money /resources. Furthermore reputation is very important today as in years long past. Hence being polite is still as great a piece of advice as ever!

    Reply
    • Charlie says

      February 1, 2019 at 9:48 am

      Sadly the political class here is jealous of the population control global warming has provided the ruling class in other countries like yours.
      At this point, no one can determine if the climate is warming or cooling because all of the temperature data has been corrupted to prove the warming side. Personally, I hope it is warmer because all life on this planet will do better with warmth instead of cold.

      Reply
      • N.C.L.W. says

        February 1, 2019 at 7:28 pm

        Great point! Most will (Whitetail Turkey Grouse for a few examples) benefit from increases in temps but big ungulates, say Moose and Muskoxe need real cold and dislike the heat.

        On the climate change manipulated data thing though, I don’t think it matters much what they do. This is as, compared to weather itself, the tech used to measure it way too new for any real trend data to even exist at all.

        Reply
        • Charlie says

          February 2, 2019 at 9:25 am

          Don’t know about Muskox. There are moose that live in states with moderate climates and my experience with northern MN moose also do better during mild winters. There is more browse, open spring fed water providing aquatic vegetation and less snow depth. With less snow, the moose, particularly the calves have an easier time escaping the wolf packs.

          Reply
          • N.C.L.W. says

            February 2, 2019 at 11:10 pm

            True, yet I was meaning to mention no winter (wherein ticks/parasites have thrived to the extent of killing Moose) or drastic summers featuring unheard of heat as opposed to a milder winter devoid of deadly low temps. Mildness and moderation always beneficial in the general way of things. Not saying extremes never help yet for Moose it would be worse to be on the way hot side then that of things being a bit cooler generally

          • Charlie says

            February 12, 2019 at 9:02 am

            I was thinking about the MN moose biologist who blames the sharp decline in the moose population on global warming. No matter the question she responds x,y or z is caused by “climate change.” Sadly this has become the knee jerk response of too many wildlife biologists. In the case of moose, it is a long known fact they cannot coexist with whitetail deer. The deer carry a parasite (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) which is deadly to moose but does infect the deer.
            So, the question I have, are moose stuck in the cold climates due to the temperatures or just areas where whitetails cannot survive?

  3. N.C.L.W. says

    February 12, 2019 at 10:10 am

    I’d have to get to a fair bit of research done before commenting further. First I’ve heard of that infection and particular “Biologist” likewise…

    It does seem that, in British Columbia Moose and Whitetail do share habitat successfully in many areas. First I’ve ever read or heard saying they can’t. Seems like whilst we’re in here typing, they’re out there just doing!
    Plenty of ideas to go around. For Example, largest Whitetail and Moose are each found in some of the coldest places, such as Saskatchewan and Yukon/Alaska for instance. White tails are expanding northward big time!

    Reply

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