This is the worst mast year in 40 years, according the West Virginia DNR.
That means that animals are going to be starving this winter. It also means that we might not have many fawns or bear cubs this year.
We had a late spring this year that was followed by a relatively cool and wet summer. That means that many of the nut-bearing trees were unable to produce at the levels needed to feed most wild animal species through the winter.
If this winter is long and snowy like last year, many animals are going to starve.
So did we. Spring started out okay, given the ubiquitous late frost which native plants are used to, but then things went to hell in a hand basket as most of May, June and July into August was rain followed by more rain. Given what’s happened in my flower and vegetable gardens, the wild plants haven’t fared much better and everything has been late. The hay fields by me didn’t get their first cut until August, that’s how bad it’s been. August is late 2nd cut or possibly 3rd in good years. On a stretch of clear days, the ground was still too wet for heavy hay equipment. Now it’s time for intermittent frosts. It’s going to be a hard winter for all of us critters.
No first cutting until July here, and we just had the last cutting. We probably won’t have a frost until the end of the month, which is when it usually comes. The leaves are changing ahead of schedule.