It's 4:20 AM..

[ironglow]

  I'm Sitting here this morning, contemplating the wildlife out in the woods.  How do deer & such do it..with the temperature at -22.5 ?  I can see the coons snuggling even tighter in their dens..same with foxes, rabbits, squirrels, coyotes and bears.  But bigger, ruminant critters such as deer and the buffaloes and elk on a nearby farm.. must just have to "tough it out.
   Likely most deer will get into the thick hemlocks and find very low hanging boughs, and nestle dow with their feet tucked well under, but those buffaloes and elk have little protection, other than some long bare deciduous trees.. 

     It's -22.5 now..and likely to drop even more just before dawn...brrrrr. 

I do recall a day in 1961 when this little hamlet was cited for the national low temp at -41..   I recall it, because although I was living about 7 miles from here, in an effort to get a car started I blew up a battery.   I had to get a new hair cut..just to cover my loss.. .
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  Later added note:
   Well, it's 5:15 AM and the temp is now -25 and it is not daylight yet... no idea just how cold it will get before dawn !

[spruce]

It was -28 here (Mich. UP) yesterday morning, neighbor said he had -31.  Been unseasonably cold here since the start of December. 
 
I think the deer herd is okay so far, but from here to spring is the critical time for them.  If we should have a late spring with late snows they will be hurting because all their fat reserves will be used up.  Happened 5 or 6 years ago, we had a couple heavy snow storms in April and quite a few of them didn't make it.

[dukkillr]

Around here the deer make beds under and around cedar thickets when it gets cold.  They also move around a lot more and, during the day, bed on south facing slopes.  In my entire life I've never found a deer I though froze to death, and I don't think you could freeze a buffalo or elk if you wanted to.  Those guys survive in Alberta and Alaska.

What we do lose in the brutal winters, particularly with the icy and deep snow, is quail.  It's my understanding that they aren't big enough or strong enough to scratch down to the ground like turkeys are.  Sometimes you'll find a little group of feathers where a whole covey died.

This has been the coldest winter I can remember here, but I think the weather man said there was a comparable one in the early 80s when I was a kid...

[BBF]

Our pheasants are taking a beating this year.
Our Club didn't buy and let free any this year which was lucky 'cause I don't think one of them would make it through this winter.

[dukkillr]

Put and take pheasants are some of the least intelligent and least hardy creatures on the planet. 

[guzzijohn]

In the little 4.5 acre pasture area around my house with cut soybean fields on three sides is the home this winter to at least seven roosters and some hens. Still seeing them around as of Monday. Since the pheasant population has been down mainly due to the drought I have left them alone hoping they will repopulate the area. This is in south central Kansas area.
GuzziJohn

[ironglow]

I have heard that pheasants have a difficult time because they are not "native" to North America, but rather China & Korea..  But those countries have very cold weather also..