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Anybody have any idea if this very snowy winter has created any winter kill in the high country for deer or elk?
Winter is usually a lot tougher on deer than elk.
It warmed up pretty quickly after this last one so that helps.
The critters had it rough going in due to the dry summer last year so food supplies have to be low.
Need for it to stay warm through April and open up some more food sources!
Saw a lot of deer along the Colorado River on the winter range last weekend and they are looking pretty scraggly.
Keep your fingers crossed...
Did the animals dodge a bullet this year? Looks like the next 10 days are pretty solid for a snow melt.
Maybe.
There’s been some warm days in the mountains that have helped.
Late storms in April can really be killer.
We are expecting another 18" from this new storm in the high country, 6" here in town. The deer in town are looking very rough, and the road kill on the highway heading to Durango is bad. Deer are everywhere along the highway.
Funny thing is, while we are seeing a lot of deer on the trip to Durango, elk sightings and numbers are almost non existent. The south slopes still has lots of hard crusted snow on them. We usually see sheep on the highway over wolf creek, but they haven't been seen since early December.
I saw sheep last sunday on wolf creek by the overlook
Still have a bunch of elk hanging out just south of oak creek. Lots of deer around Kremmling, Wolcott, Glenwood, down to De Beque, and State Bridge. Quite a few dead ones along the highways. Just hope we don’t get a wet storm followed by below zero temps...
The real killer is a heavy snow cover of wet snow followed by an extended period of cold that does not allow the crust to soften.
I remember the dire circumstances of the Gunnison Valley kill when I visited there in Mid March 11 years ago. Hope we don't have any repeats of that anywhere in the state!
We haven't seen the sheep, talk to the skiers coming into the ski shop and they haven't seen them. And one guy from New Mexico said that that was usually the highlight of the trip, seeing the sheep next to the road.
What longcruise describes is exactly what happened in North Park two winters ago. Nearly all the pronghorns died, either from stranding in the frozen crust or hit by the dozens at a time by semis on the roads. Many that made it to the roads had raw, bleeding legs. The WCO told me it will take decades to recover.
Here you go buglmin, since apparently if you don't see them then they are all dead.
Any updates? We’re almost in the clear...
Seriously Orion? I didn't say anything about all dead. But where are the rams? People usually see 15 to 20 from the over look to the first truck ramp. Where are they? Talked to the guys that plow and they haven't seen many. So where are they?
We have a lot of deer in town, and have about 70 head on elk on the Crowley Preserve down by Chromo. We're not seeing a lot of elk down south of town towards Navajo lake. Lots of deer on the highways eating the green grass. We haven't seen any deer around the house since most left four weeks ago to move into town, away from the dogs. Since bears wake up once the earth starts warming up, wonder when we'll see bear?
I cut some pretty fresh bear tracks today while out scouting for turkey.
Spoke to a CPW Officer up in the high country this weekend.. according to him, winter kill this year isn't bad at all. and last year was much worse because of super low temps that came with the snow.
I was shed hunting in northwest CO this last week in an area I'm very familiar with and I saw more deer than I've seen in this area in about 10 years. I know it's a very small sample size, but it was still encouraging and all the animals, deer, elk, and pronghorn looked really healthy for early May. I agree with above comment about snow and temps. We saw a lot of snow, but not too many extreme temp changes that bring the thick crust that is hard on the deer and antelope. Overall I think most of the animals came through winter pretty well.
