Subscriber and contributor Michael Bodenchuk looked into the effects of the 2011 drought on deer populations across the country for us this month. Here's what he says hunters should be prepared for: While much of the US has experienced above-average rainfall this summer, a large part of the south-central and southwest US are experiencing record drought. The NOAA/National Climatic Data Center reports drought conditions for the nation using the Palmer "Z" index for the past 12 months. The index for July, 2011 shows extreme drought for most of Texas, the eastern one-third of New Mexico, most of Oklahoma and southwest Kansas. While most of the extreme drought area in this region hovers around 50 percent of "normal" precipitation, some areas are worse than others.
Drought is also affecting areas of less interest to most traveling hunters, including western New York and northwest Pennsylvania, western Indiana and eastern Kentucky and parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. When you add severe drought (just slightly better than extreme) in southeast Colorado and a large strip along the Appalachians, there will be widespread impacts to wildlife in general and some big game species in particular this year and beyond.....
