Winter ice storm causing trouble

S

scott county vizsla

Member
Here in the east-central part of the state we got 10 inches of snow followed up by 8 hours of light rain. The ice crust is up to 2 inches thick, with most places around an inch and I've seen very few birds digging in the fields. We've finally got the bird numbers back up to where I actually expect to get chances each time I go out and it would be depressing to have a major winterkill. I've been driving around a lot the last few days to see where the birds were congregating and marked the locations. I picked up 200lbs of whole corn at theisen's and went around tossing half-full buckets into fence rows and the spots I know birds roost near the road. I've never considered doing this before but with the combination of deep snow, a thick layer of ice, and many of the pheasants I've seen have had ice in their tail, it seemed like the time to help them out a bit. Also, I really like driving around in the winter to view wildlife.
 
There will be bird loss, it sounds like it will be substantial. I hope those conditions you describe are only in a small area, your population might be decimated. I hope the snow wasn't driven by wind, even if not, those will be some tough conditions for the birds. I hope you get some full sun days and above average temps very soon. They can sure use the corn right now. That really stinks. Hope it isn't as bad as I am thinking it could be.
 
Those are the toughest conditions. Better now than late winter however, the birds should be in decent shape now and better able to stand going without for a while. Hopefully the sun takes that ice off this week.

Years ago most corn was taken to town by farmers pulling 260 bushels in a 250 bushel wagon. The birds always lined the roads in winter. Now it’s all pretty much all in covered semis.
 
No, it missed us completely. Have snow cover, enough that only the heavy cover is now usable for cover.
 
Remy - thanks for the update, really appreciate hearing from boots on the ground. I travel from Indiana 3-4 times per year to spend time in NW Iowa, one of my favorite areas of the country (fishing, hunting, people, beauty, etc.)

So overall, you'd say it's been a fairly mild winter thus far in the area? I know we still have to get thru Jan and Feb but based on what I'm hearing it hasn't been too bad.
 
Ya, so far. Getting a little rain today, the amount of snow in the in the forecast seems to have been backed-off.
 
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