Guides/Surviving Winter

For new players, the prospect of Winter can be daunting. The game gets difficult, with all sorts of new dangers, and food and new resources become much scarcer than in Summer (Autumn in RoG.) This guide is based around my own personal experience. It also assumes that you are playing with RoG, but most of the information can be applied to vanilla DS as well.
== Major Changes in Winter ==
The biggest change in Winter is that the temperature drops greatly. Players with no insulation will start to freeze quickly. It's important to always have the means to build a Campfire during winter. 
Another change in Winter is that Ponds freeze over, meaning that you can no longer fish and Frogs stop spawning. Rabbits also turn white, and Redbirds are replaced by Snowbirds.
Winter starts at Day 21 by default, and you can see that it's winter when Snowbirds start landing and the air gets a blue tint. Game sounds will also sound slightly muffled and you will hear cold winds blowing. 
Another change in Winter is that you will get Ice Hounds in your hound attacks. These will freeze nearby players and creatures (including nearby Hounds), so be careful. Deerclops will spawn, and Walrus igloos will open, allowing the McTusk hunting party to come out.
== Equipment ==
Before winter starts, you'll want to start stockpiling. Start gathering wood, cut grass, reeds, rocks, twigs, anything you'll need over the winter. Things like Saplings and Grass don't grow back in the winter. While Rocks can be gathered during the winter, you may have to travel far to get them, depending on your base's location, and you may start to freeze.
You'll also want to start stockpiling food. Berry Bushes stop growing, and Farms will stop working. If you try to fertilize a crop with Rot or Manure, your character will say 'I can't do that,' so stockpile vegetables and fillers beforehand. An Ice Box is key, although food rots more slowly during the winter.
In order to keep warm, there are clothes you'll need to get. A Winter Hat can be made of Beefalo Wool and Silk and will keep you warm for a while. In addition, Wilson and Webber's Beards will keep them warm depending on their lengths. You can kill a Koelephant and use its Trunk to make a Breezy Vest, however it's more efficient to wait until Winter starts to hunt a Koelefant, because a Puffy Vest will keep you warm for longer.
Finally, a Thermal Stone is key. You may want to make more Stones if you're playing DST, as Thermal Stones have durability, unless you're playing with the No Thermal Stone Durability mod. These can be made with Rocks, Flint and a Pickaxe.
== First Few Days ==
The first few days of winter aren't so bad. You're unlikely to freeze, Ponds and Farms will still function for a while, and you're probably doing fine for Hunger. Make sure not to stray too far from your base, and if you think you're up to it, try hunting down the Winter Koelefant before winter gets more severe.
In my experience, Winter Rabbits are a little harder to kill with a weapon than Summer ones are. Try placing traps directly over Rabbit holes, so when the rabbits emerge, they'll fall right into the traps. Killing Beefalo and Pigs if you know how to kite them can be worth it as well, although if you're hunting beefalo, be sure not to kill them all, because they are a renewable source of Meat and Beefalo Wool if you know what you're doing.
Watch out for the McTusks. They will taunt you and eventually attack you. They'll drop Walrus Tusks when killed, which can be used to make a walking cane.
Keep on gathering resources like Wood. Keep a tree farm close to your base, if you haven't already (or if there's a Treeguard near your base. In this case, use Birchnut trees; Evergreen Treeguards won't aggro you if you chop Birchnut trees.)
== After A While... ==
Deerclops doesn't spawn every Winter, but when he does, be prepared. Deerclops usually spawns around 10ish days into Winter. When he's about to spawn, you'll hear a low growling sound. When you hear this, you might want to run away from your base. Deerclops exists simply to destroy any structure he can find. This is how I lost my Spider farms...;(
The growling will get louder, and eventually, your character will make a quote about it. Here's a list of quotes for each character (excluding SW)
Wilson: "That sounded big!"
Willow: "That sounded like a big mean monster man!"
Wolfgang: "Sound like a big strong man coming!"
Wendy: "That could be bad."
WX-78: "WARNING LARGE ATTACKER INCOMING"
Wickerbottom: "That sounds quite large."
Woodie: "What was that?"
Wes: (hand signals)
Maxwell: "I hear one of them coming."
Wigfrid: "A wörthy föe appröaches..."
Webber: "That sounded like a big meanie!"
Deerclops will spawn shortly after your character speaks about it.If you stay in your base, he'll spawn near there and start destroying it, so you can probably kiss it goodbye. (Jk)
You can kite Deerclops very skillfully with a Walking Cane, on a path, or WX-78 on system overload (although you're unlikely to get lightning in winter). If you're not up to kiting, lure Deerclops to anything he'll fight. Spider nests, beefalo, pigs, the swamp, anything. He'll win a fight against most creatures, but eventually he'll be worn down by the battling. Although, you may want to prepare for an extincted Beefalo herd if you decide to lure him there. Deerclops will despawn once he's a certain distance away from the player, or if Winter ends. Deerclops drops 8 meat and a Deerclops Eyeball upon death.
== Day 36 ==
Congratulations! You've survived winter! If you're playing the base game, summer will have started again, things will continue to grow, and all you have to do is stockpile for next winter.
If you're playing RoG or DST, spring will have started, resulting in a lot of rain, angry bees, and the lovely Moose/Goose. I'll be making a guide to surviving spring later!
I hope this helped you! :)