North Dakota Outdoors: Life and death of the wild in winter

I quit blaming Mother Nature years ago for nasty weather and started pointing the finger at Old Man Winter. Not that it mattered but it seemed fair, even though we have no control over the weather.

For man and beast on the prairie, a winter that starts late and ends early with a few drifts of life-bearing moisture and short cold snaps mixed in is about as much as we can ask for. Anyone who's grown...