Fearing the worst....

[morewater]

I've posted here in the near past about ice levels on the Lake that I fish near my house (Simcoe). This year I augered through approximately 34" of ice on the Lake.

My pond is about 3.5' deep, and is now partially thawed.

I can see a deader on the bottom, and I'm not sure that I really want to see what's under the rest of the ice that's still on the pond. The troubling part is that the deader in question is only about 3" long. So, when the little ones croak.....that doesn't bode well for the bigger ones.

My feeling is that with the unusually heavy ice depth this year, that there wasn't much free space under the ice for the denizens of the deep, and that they're all now going to end up as fertilizer.

Even with the aerator running all winter long, I think my fish population just took a major hit. C'est la vie, ce n'est pas?

(Chicks dig it when I talk French)

 

[sissy]

may need to invest in a pond heater .I bought one back in 2010

 

[morewater]

I've used a pond heater in the past, but when you have sustained -30C weather for an extended period of time....it's like hunting elephants with a BB gun.

This is the first winter I've experienced here in near 30 years where the ice is still on the Lake mid-April and not a pressure crack to be seen

Mes poissons sont morts......merde........(that's French, too)

 

[sissy]

I know colleen has had success with her heaters .She turns them off during the day when the sun is on the pond .Her pond is not that deep either .It was a bad winter with the polar vortex .The worst I have seen here since I moved here 10 years ago .Even the deer felt it because they have never touched my shrubs but this year they did .I feed them but guess it was not enough .Plus the ate all the crab apples and i have 6 trees of them just for the animals

 

[morewater]

 

[sissy]

now that deer was hungry

 

[haver79]

I hope you have some survivors morewater. Mother nature has been tough on us this winter.

 

[MitchM]

Frikkin deer.
I know when our snow starts to recede, they'll be in here attacking the garden.
It was too deep for the deer to easily find food this year.

 

[Mmathis]

Hopefully, your outcome won't be as bad as you think! I don't think I'll ever have to worry about a problem with ice here, but I feel your pain.

 

[addy1]

Frikkin deer.
I know when our snow starts to recede, they'll be in here attacking the garden.
It was too deep for the deer to easily find food this year.

We didn't even have that deep of snow and they turned my yard into their personnel snack bar, a lot of torn, bare, dead stuff. Lots of trimming to do to try and get the stuff to recover.

 

[MitchM]

We didn't even have that deep of snow and they turned my yard into their personnel snack bar, a lot of torn, bare, dead stuff. Lots of trimming to do to try and get the stuff to recover.

Oh right, I remember seeing those pictures.
I would not be a happy camper if those were my trees.

.

 

[Priscilla]

I don't have anything to add ....... but the French is forcing me to say something ..... since I'm a chick and chicks dig French.

Fingers crossed for you! Hoping its just the one small guy. Hopefully the bigger guys are a bit tougher.

 

[j.w]

Hoping for the best for you MW

Deer are allowed to be in our yard for a few minutes but if they start munching on my trees they are getting chased away by my mean swirling towel.

 

[Big Lou]

My nephew and hi wife live in the deep forest of South Alabama. Their acreage is a perfect habitat for white tail deer. After several years of trying to plant roses and suc they gave up. The pure natural beautiy of their property is so very lovely. No hunting is allowed on their land. A not over bright light comes on at night in the back yard when deer wander in for the wood. The beautiful creatures are accustomed to the light. Such a sight when the deer come in to munch on corn put out for them.

I'm so proud to say our entire family is so nature conscious. It is regretful that many other states are beseighed by deer who have limited wild lands.

 

[addy1]

This was our first bad winter with deer damage, think the poor things were starving. The plants will come back, most of them. The creeping junipers, not sure about they really got stripped. I need to groom the dead off and see if they green up again.