Delhi News Bureau

Heavy snow and a prolonged cold winter didn't appear to take as high a toll on deer as was anticipated, according to a state conservation official.

"The perceptions of a lot of deer dying don't match what we have seen so far," said Bill Sharrick, state Department of Environmental Conservation Region 4 wildlife biologist.

Sharrick said DEC staff have been looking at dead deer in the woods and along the highways to determine whether they showed signs of starvation.

"We haven't found a lot of adult deer that exhibited poor condition," Sharrick said. "Most of the adult deer that were dying along the roadways are not that bad. So far, we haven't found as many that were starving as we thought we would."

Sharrick said that, in adult deer, there are changes in the marrow in the femur bone when a deer is malnourished. The same test cannot be used in young deer.

"There are fawn deer we are seeing that are in less-than-great shape," Sharrick said. "A lot of them appear to be skinny. Their hair is sticking up and they have a hollow shape."

Sharrick said this winter was the first in about 15 years that the deer began to gather in areas where they had the best chance for survival.

Deer gathered in herds in areas known for high winter concentrations, including the corridors along state routes 10 and 30, Sharrick said.