| By Bob Weaver
Deer are having a tough time during this hard winter.
DNR biologist Randy Tucker said this winter's "grocery store [for wildlife] is pretty empty right now."
According to Division of Natural Resources this year's mast crop is the worst in the survey's 40-year history.
Tucker said last fall he wanted to avoid using the term "mast failure," but ended up saying there's no other way to describe the situation.
The DNR says there is a serious shortage of mast - nuts, fruits and other wildlife foods.
Lots of Calhoun residents are feeding the animals, particularly through this spell of super cold weather and frozen snow.
This year, every wildlife food item except dogwood is running below the Mast Survey's long-term average.
Beechnuts are running 46 percent under their long-term average; walnuts, 23 percent; hickory nuts, 22 percent; white oak acorns, 48 percent; chestnut oak acorns, 64 percent; black and red oak acorns, 42 percent; scarlet oak acorns, 32 percent; black cherry, 30 percent; apples, 66 percent; and crab apples, 39 percent.
"Ordinarily, you don't get shortages of hard mast items and soft mast items in the same year," Tucker said. "This year we did. It's kind of a double whammy."
Tucker said, "If we have a really hard winter, some animals won't have the energy reserves they need to survive harsh weather conditions."
We're having a hard winter.
Tucker said if there is a late freeze or a big snowstorm in March or April, a part of the population will die.
There will also be a reduction in breeding.
| 
