Winter kill UT/ID/WY

[Buzzard Breath]

More Than 10,000 Antelope Hunting Tags Cut In Wake Of Brutal Wyoming Winterkill

With the ultimate antelope death toll from the worst winter in recent memory still unknown, game managers Tuesday agreed to cut more than 10,000 hunting tags for the struggling herds this fall.

cowboystatedaily.com

 

[tellico4x4]

Not nearly enough, season should have been cancelled imo.

Another concern as well:

After Massive Wyoming Big Game Winterkill, Some Hunters Worry Predators Will Decimate Herds

With big game herds facing huge losses from winterkill, some Wyoming hunters say it’s time to turn up the heat on predators to prevent losing even more antelope, deer and elk.

cowboystatedaily.com

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Let me see if this works. The pdf is Colorado's license summary for 2023. It looks like they're making bigger cuts than WY. They've also bumped up the archery elk tags to make up for the loss of revenue. The success rates for archery elk are so low, it really won't make a difference in overall kill numbers.

 

[LanceS4803]

Talked to my hunting buddy in UT today. He said UT isn't in that bad of shape for deer and elk, as the snows came later that WY and CO, and the herds had already moved to lower elevations.
Still, nothing compared to the winter kill of 82-83. Took many, many years to recover from that one.
Pronghorn in northern UT, on the other hand, took a good whack.

 

[AT Hiker]

Talked to my hunting buddy in UT today. He said UT isn't in that bad of shape for deer and elk, as the snows came later that WY and CO, and the herds had already moved to lower elevations.
Still, nothing compared to the winter kill of 82-83. Took many, many years to recover from that one.
Pronghorn in northern UT, on the other hand, took a good whack.

I just gave UT $207, we shall see how it goes.

FYI...license fee is going up next year.

 

[tellico4x4]

I-80 A Corridor Of Death As Wyoming Wildlife Officials May Not Know Extent Of Winterkill Until July

A Wyoming Game and Fish official says it might be months before the full scope of winter death among some of the state’s premier big game herds is known.

cowboystatedaily.com

 

[LanceS4803]

I just gave UT $207, we shall see how it goes.

FYI...license fee is going up next year.

Same, my annual donation.
Although, I stand a really good chance of pronghorn this year.

 

[AT Hiker]

I finally spoke with a biologist out of Riverton, WY on Tuesday. The insight was meaningful and although its really doom n gloom out there, we do have reason to be optimistic. Mainly from a moisture stand point and the fact that Pronghorn bucks typically hit peak horn growth around 3yrs old.

Part of our conversation was eye opening on how far some of these herds travel. Basically, they will go as far as they can to escape the snow (development aside). Some S. WY herds went in to CO, unfortunately they had hard kills too so its unknown how many will come back. Also, inside certain units that were hit hard, they had pockets of areas that didn't receive as much snow. Hopefully those herds can be "seed" for the future.

He also told me not to feel guilty about shooting a buck, if I do draw a tag. 100% doe protection is what grows those herds, what few bucks hunters take will have little to no impact on population growth as they have cut the tags drastically.

Speaking of doom n gloom, he has spent a lot of time out in the field retrieving collars from dead pronghorn and even flew over I-80 recently, he said you could see the dead animals from the aircraft. Wild.

 

[AT Hiker]

A real world example of what a brutal winter can do.
Check this out, UT bone marrow examples. The southern units have faired well and so far some of the observed road kills have bone marrow/fat like a healthy summer deer. Some northern units, no fat at all.

 

[tellico4x4]

Knew that antelope bounced back quick but had no idea that best horn growth was 3 yrs. Maybe can still squeeze in another goat hunt before too old!
Was reading about losses ranchers are just now discovering. Some of cattle that survived have frozen ears, udders & balls (ouch!). Wonder if that happened to big game too?

 

[tellico4x4]

Read article this morning that not too many years ago WY mule deer population was at 60K. Post 2021 season population was 29K, if winterkill this year is close to the 50% estimate, that only leaves about 15K for entire state! Really wrestling with what to do with my 13 deer pp's, as at nearly 70 yrs old I doubt that I'll be able to make another mule deer hunt, especially if it takes 5-6 years for herds to recover. Antelope will bounce back quicker & elk are hardier so expect to be able to use my points on them. Really thinking about letting my deer points go though. Haven't seen much about whitetail statistics so that might be an option...

 

[Buzzard Breath]

At 52 I'm really putting some heavy thought into making deer points an every other year purchase. I've got 12 and I'm at the point I just want to burn them and be done with WY deer. Maybe just draw a tag with a buddy and go on a fishing trip with our bows, in case we see some deer.

 

[AT Hiker]

At 52 I'm really putting some heavy thought into making deer points an every other year purchase. I've got 12 and I'm at the point I just want to burn them and be done with WY deer. Maybe just draw a tag with a buddy and go on a fishing trip with our bows, in case we see some deer.

IMO, don't change your plan just yet. Hopefully you'll have an insider, sooner than later, to help nail down a unit.
Or, we can burn ours together after we burn these elk points

 

[sneakybow]

That's a good podcast. I know Travis and Robby, those guys eat, sleep, breathe mule deer. I've talked to Travis several times over the last few days, flooding is out of control now and will be for a while. Warmer temps at his place are finally showing up this coming week, that'll speed up the melt and worsen the flooding.

The effects of this winter on mule deer are hard to fathom unless you've driven through the affected areas. I've been in Tennessee for the past month, but met up with Travis on my way out, and drove right through the hardest hit areas. Hundreds of dead and dying deer and antelope everywhere along the roads and the exposed ridges. In central Idaho where I live now we had an above average snowpack as well, but nothing like SE Idaho, N Utah, and SW Wyoming had.

The fish and game departments are going to have to make some hard decisions regarding trying to have both high numbers of deer and elk. Elk are literally out-competing deer for food. Between that and feral horses in many places, the deer are being squeezed out. We were just recovering from 2016-17 and 2018-2019 winters when this one hit. Gonna be a long road to recovery.

 

[sneakybow]

Your buddy in southern Utah? The northern Utah deer took an absolute beating this year. Not sure where he's getting the take that deer didn't get hit hard in Utah.

Talked to my hunting buddy in UT today. He said UT isn't in that bad of shape for deer and elk, as the snows came later that WY and CO, and the herds had already moved to lower elevations.
Still, nothing compared to the winter kill of 82-83. Took many, many years to recover from that one.
Pronghorn in northern UT, on the other hand, took a good whack.

 

[sneakybow]

Read article this morning that not too many years ago WY mule deer population was at 60K. Post 2021 season population was 29K, if winterkill this year is close to the 50% estimate, that only leaves about 15K for entire state! Really wrestling with what to do with my 13 deer pp's, as at nearly 70 yrs old I doubt that I'll be able to make another mule deer hunt, especially if it takes 5-6 years for herds to recover. Antelope will bounce back quicker & elk are hardier so expect to be able to use my points on them. Really thinking about letting my deer points go though. Haven't seen much about whitetail statistics so that might be an option...

Wyoming deer numbers peaked in the early 90s at almost 600k deer, in 2016 they were down to about 396k. You may have been looking at numbers for one region instead of the entire state. After this winter I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers are in the high 200k range to low 300k range.

 

[tellico4x4]

I may have been wrong especially if off by a factor of 10

 

[LanceS4803]

Your buddy in southern Utah? The northern Utah deer took an absolute beating this year. Not sure where he's getting the take that deer didn't get hit hard in Utah.

He's in Ogden, and was around for the record winter kills back in the early 90s.

 

[tellico4x4]

In Wake Of Horrible Winterkill And Antelope Pneumonia Outbreak, Even More Wyoming Hunting Tags Cut

After previously cutting about 10,000 antelope tags, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has opted to cut more, even as the hunting license application deadline looms. Some Wyoming outdoorsmen said they support the move.

cowboystatedaily.com

 

[tellico4x4]

As Herds Reel From Winterkill, Drought And Even Brain Worms, Neighboring States Join Wyoming In Slashing Hunting Tags

Wyoming isn’t the only state that suffered heavy wildlife winterkill and has cut hunting tags. Neighboring states are doing it too, also citing drought and brain worms.

cowboystatedaily.com