Just over a year ago, in a past column in this publication, I penned a Christmas wish list. Within that wish list was a request for a true Canadian winter with ample amounts of snow to replenish our shrinking water resources in this corner of the province. A number of my friends and readers have reminded me of the request and are not too happy with my plea for the recent blast of arctic bombardment. It is safe to say we are experiencing a serious winter here in Grey-Bruce, especially considering the feeble winter seasons we have become accustomed to over the past decade. A true winter season means plenty of good things in terms of the outdoors, but too much of a good thing can also have a negative effect on nature around us.
In conversation with a number of ardent hunters in the region, as well as a few bird buffs, there is a concern that our local wild turkey population is showing the stresses of winter. Heavy snow fall and a deep encrusted surface atop their preferred winter feeding areas is not good for turkeys. I have witnessed a few flocks around Wiarton that exhibit weight loss and appear fairly weak. The large freezing rain event a few weeks back that devastated the GTA region also had an impact on a local scale, as birds in the southern portion of the Grey-Bruce area would not have faired well on roost during a major freezing rain storm. The turkeys that made it through the freezing rain found their most reliable food sources locked away under a large snow pack covered in ice. However, nature has the ability to deal with population loses on many scales, and turkeys have the ability to rebound with short lifespans and large clutch numbers come spring. A good spring hatch will go a long way to compensate for loss this winter.
Local whitetails seem to be fairing better than our turkey population so far this winter. I visited a couple of deer yards on a cold Saturday last week and observed a number of good looking whitetails in the heavy cedars. Plenty of standing cornfields were left uncut this winter and whitetails feasted on ample apples that rebounded this fall from a poor crop the season before. It is impressive to see how nature can look to find a balance in the system. As the snow continues to pile up the deer will undoubtedly begin to feel the stress as they become further condensed in winter yards.
The latest blast of frigid weather has also had a fairly negative effect on outdoor fanatics. Winter cold is bearable, but consecutive days on end of -25c with heavy winds is excruciating on exposed skin. Attempting to walk out on the frozen lakes to ice fish is nearly impossible. ATVs and snowmobiles freeze up and fail to start, as we have over the past week through various accounts of stranded anglers far offshore on Lake Simcoe standing beside frozen machines. Even an afternoon on snowshoes or skis on a local trail or bushlot is not comfortable when the wind is nearly blowing you over with a frozen body-check.
A local angler noted that they had drilled through 2 feet of ice on a local Bruce Peninsula Lake, far more than this time last year. Plenty of Bruce County lakes are shallow with average depths of only 4 feet. These are fantastic bass fisheries, but after consecutive low water summers and this deepfreeze, the possibility of winter kills of fish populations is a reality.
Shallow lakes with heavy weed growth are susceptible to severely low oxygen levels when deep snow pack covers the lake. Lakes may freeze to bottom over large expanses of the waterbody and decomposition of organic matter starves the oxygen levels of the remaining water. This process stresses gamefish populations and becomes lethal once oxygen drops below species-specific levels. The Rankin River system, including Boat and Isaac Lake were at incredibly low water levels during late summer, only to appear to be somewhat saved by a precipitous fall and early winter. Hopefully all our shallow water fisheries make it through the winter without a loss of fish considering many lakes froze over at the end of November.
On the bright side, all this snow means good things for water levels. Low snow pack in our region over the past few winters has had some negative impact on our watersheds. This dumping of snow will surely help with water concerns. The Lake Superior watershed saw plenty of snow last winter, and this was seen in a rise in Huron levels this fall, coinciding with the heavy precipitation we received locally in October and November. Huron levels reached record lows in 2013, so greater snow fall amounts can only help our most precious resource that seems to be disappearing. Our region saw massive snowfall amounts years ago, and our past decade on record appears to have been mild in terms of annual amounts of the past. Yes it may mean more shoveling and blowing, but at the same time it was something far less shocking years ago when this was the norm.
The most exciting aspect of these extreme and consecutive blasts of cold is the prospect of ice cover on our area of Georgian Bay. Ice cover on Owen Sound and Colpoys Bay is never a sure bet during the wintertime. Fishable ice conditions on the big water have become a rarity over the past ten years and nearly three years have passed since anglers fished solid ice over the deep. However, an Ice Breaker boat was in Owen Sound Bay just yesterday, accompanied by a large ship bound for the inner harbor. This will set back the progress of the ice that anglers have no doubt been awaiting in the Sound. Heavy winds have also prevented thick uniform ice on the bays over the past few weeks, smashing up thin ice formed during calm nights. The same wind is dangerous outside of the hut for anglers on the ice in terms of exposure. Hopefully the wind subsides and the coming weeks provide the opportunity to chase Lake Trout, Whitefish and Salmon on our local bays. I am crossing my fingers in anticipation that it happens.
For the outdoorsman or woman, the past weeks of winter nastiness have been depressing. As I wait out the weather I try to think of the safe ice conditions that lie in the days ahead when weather improves. I think of the influx of water that our watersheds are going to receive this spring. The addition of spawning, nesting and rearing habitats that will grow once the spring thaw arrives is welcomed. The spring steelhead run on our local rivers will surely be a good one to undertake and maybe I will be able to ice a salmon on the bay before spring arrives. Until then, ill be stoking my fire and trying to enjoy cabin fever.