Around here we hope and pray March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. I’m not sure where this saying originated from, but last year it may have been more accurate to say March came in like a lion, stuck around until April and left a mess of death and destruction in its wake.

It was brutal for both man and beast.

When I hear complaints about deer and pheasant populations, I’m always reminded how rare deer were when the Lewis and Clark expedition traveled through North Dakota and the explorers documented deer just along the rivers, creeks and wooded corridors. At the turn of the century, North Dakota Agricultural College had penned deer to understand how limited the population was.

Pheasants? They are not even native to North Dakota and don’t have much of a natural defense to combat the often cold, cruel winter weather. Even in the mildest of winters, pheasant and deer die.

In the same conversation we need to imagine North Dakota prior to the advances in agriculture and changes in land use. Prairie land has been grazed and broken. Shelter belts were planted, tree claims established while corn, wheat and soybeans were grown. All of which contributed to the expansion of deer and the production of pheasants. As the trees and grassland grow and expand, we see wildlife respond. Lose habitat. Lose wildlife. A basic equation.

The weather? Nothing we can do about that except hope for the best.

Truth of the matter is in any given winter there are pheasants that die, deer that don’t make it and some lakes suffer winterkill. It’s life (and death) on the Northern Plains.

We’ve related over and over again how wildlife populations are struggling with reduced habitat and need nesting, fawning and rearing cover, along with the right weather on top of it.

As we saw in the winter of 1996-97, all the habitat in the world couldn’t make up for the record snow and cold. Back then we had twice as much CRP and habitat as we had last winter. So, coming off the 2022-23 winter, we felt fortunate to have the deer and pheasants that did survive.

I’ve explained in some parallels wildlife populations can take years to grow and maintain with a few setbacks along the way. It’s similar to watching your stock portfolio or 401k grow over time before declining due to one major event.

While a hail storm or ice storm can impact pheasants in one area while missing others, winters of widespread cold and snow are not easy to overcome. In terms of recovery, it’s not fair to paint pheasants and deer in the same picture because pheasants, with the right nesting and hatching conditions, are able to bounce back a little quicker than deer. (Think pheasants with a handful of chicks and deer with just one or maybe two fawns in the best of circumstances.)

While we spring ahead in the direction of March, change the clocks, prepare for Easter and the spring turkey season, I’d remind you that we were not out of the woods just yet. Those critters that have survived to this point are still susceptible to predators, sickness and any late winter or early spring snowstorm that can deal a deadly blow.

Here’s hoping in like a lion and out like a lamb holds true this year. We’ll soon find out.