Where did all the whitetails go

[Norwestalta]

I've found whitetail sheds in areas where I was sinking to my waist in snow. They stay quite high sometimes. Gotta wonder if they get stuck up high and succumb to winter's woes. Of course there are predator issues but I personally think that winters of 2016/17 and 17/18 were pretty bad to the point it drove the population down.

Typically what I've found in a high snow level year is that the elk will break trail and the deer will follow. The elk will also bare off some of their feeding areas which help the deer. The worst scenario for deer is a lot of snow then warm weather that'll build a hard crust on the snow. This is real bad in Nov/Dec when the bucks are done the rut and taking on the groceries.