The recent snowstorms have been reminders of the days when we had snow stacked everywhere until well past March, when the spring thaw filled trout streams with melted snow.

In those days, I thought more about sled riding than I did about wildlife survival. Driving home from New Castle the other evening, I was surprised to see a nice gobbler perching on a guard rail.

He was reaching for grit off the snow piles and was mighty close to the traffic, which he seemed to be ignoring. I know this because I slowed down and tooted at him to get him out of harm's way.

But in looking the area over even closer, I realized that the heavy snow made it nearly impossible for the turkey to get any grit for digesting whatever food he could locate.

A little later, I watched a late fawn struggle through our yard as she tried to keep up with a group of more mature deer. The energy that doe used just to get places had to deplete any calories she gained while feeding.

A gray squirrel, trying to bound from one tree area to another, landed in the snow and disappeared completely until I saw him swimming to an open area along our driveway. The cleared road appeared to be the main approaches wildlife use to travel in an effort to conserve energy.

We maintain a winter feed station for wildlife that gets major activity from all species of birds and mammals. Hundreds of animals visit the site on any given day and we usually can expect to see deer, turkey, eastern cottontails, several squirrel species, raccoons, opossums, a skunk and, at times, a gray fox or a bear.

The animals that hibernate appear to have it best, as they disappear during the worst of the weather while the others show up earlier and earlier each day. The amount of food consumed varies, but in one day they consumed a 50-pound sack of mixed grain, corn and sunflower seed.

I'm sure the folks at Zanella Milling in West Sunbury are glad to see me pulling into the mill.

Although these are hard times for man and wildlife, there are some things that we can do to help the animals.

• Shoveling a grassy area can help deer as they paw the earth to find grasses and travel to browse areas. I watched deer on their hind legs reaching up to nip off the more tender shoots at the end of the branches and limbs.

• Cutting branches into brush piles is one way to help out the deer.

• Pushing off areas with a plow down to bare ground is another big boost for the animals.

We supplement the animals with vegetable scraps and peelings from apples, carrots and other vegetable materials.

No matter what we put out, we find that one of the wildlife species relishes the unexpected treat. One warning: If you start a feeding program with wildlife, you need to see it through the worst months until they can make it on their own. Otherwise, you will have a deer eating your prize rhododendron and shrubs.

Kudos to Carl Roe and the Game Commission for their effort to be more hunter-friendly by developing a new program for first-time hunters that includes a printable certificate for their first big game harvest.The certificate allows the recipient's name and date to be entered onto the award and then it can be printed right off the PGC website.There is an award for the first wild turkey, whitetail deer, black bear and elk. You can use a nice parchment paper stock and it would be suitable for framing alongside a nice photograph.