2019 Saskatchewan Whitetail Forecast

In 2018 the number of young 3 1/2 year old whitetails on our bait sites was nothing shy of amazing. This high number of young up and comers, is the sure sign of a total recovery. Saskatchewan's whitetail population went through a tough time with back to back devastating winters in 2012/2013 and 2013/2014.  These winters did not only see a drop in the population, the reproduction rate of the survivors had also dropped significantly in the springs that followed.
What made these winters tougher on the whitetail population than every other harsh Saskatchewan winter?    
1. They started early, when you compound deep snow with harsh temperatures dipping as low as -40F before the rut had even began. This left it extremely tough for the bucks to feed and recover after burning their fat reserves after the rut marathon had ended.
2. The length of winter, I can think back to the spring of 2013 and recall people ice fishing on May 5th in southern Saskatchewan.  This is the opening day of fishing season which is normally enjoyed fishing open water from a boat rather than drilling holes in the ice. So to say winter was extremely long is no exaggeration. It literally started a month early and ended a month later with extreme conditions throughout.
3. The crust, the harsh winters had deep snow and swinging temperatures which especially with the late spring created a crust on the snow. This crust not only makes it extremely hard for the whitetails to move around and feed, but also extremely easy for the predators to catch the whitetails.
Despite the harsh winters and all odds against the whitetails in 2013 and 2014, several mature bucks still survived. 
Before the winters the number of whitetails in the 150 and larger inch range was astounding.  Although the number of these mature bucks was down from before the winters, there were still some very strong whitetails that made it through, including the whitetail pictured below from one of our baits in 2016.

What will make the 2019 and 2020 season so special at Bone Quest Outfitters in Saskatchewan?
From one end of our 100,000 acre hunting area to the other we saw the same pattern.  A lot of young bucks in 2018. Literally hundreds of different young bucks that just need a little time. Some will be big mature whitetails this season and some will be in the years going forward.  The future is very bright.  
Why is this winter any different from the bad years?
We had a mild fall and mild start to the winter. The bucks were able to finish rutting and have a great opportunity to replenish their much needed fat reserves.  As this winter has progressed the temperatures have dipped as low as -40 F, which is cold.  But this is not out of the normal for Saskatchewan. Any quantity of snow we have accumalated arrived in mid January and later. There is zero crust at the moment and overall survival of our whitetail population is looking great for this winter.  
Join us is 2019 and 2020 for what is sure to be an exiting time to hunt Saskatchewan!
An incredible amount of up and coming giant whitetails, making this your go to hot spot for a Canadian whitetail hunting adventure.
https://youtu.be/eiD5DXwJMx4
Greg Hamm
1-306-227-9637
bonequestoutfitters@gmail.com

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