Northwest colorado

[reallyoldman]

I just saw that Maybell , Colorado had a -44 degree heat wave. That will wipe out a bunch of the deer and some elk for sure.

 

[TOGIE]

i think they had a -44 windchill.

i think real temps were in the low/mid -20s.

i dunno. i feel like winter kill has more to do with too much snow and too much covered unavailable feed than the temps. but i ain't no biologist.

 

[wtrfwlhunter]

I just saw that Maybell , Colorado had a -44 degree heat wave. That will wipe out a bunch of the deer and some elk for sure.

Been a cold one so far. MT had the same -40 to -50 about a month ago and then this week a few days -25 this last week. I think elk will be fine for the most part, I’m always wondering what’s happening with the Mule Deer and Antelope, though.

I’m really kind of worried for the upland birds. Right after that -40, it warmed up dramatically and we actually had an afternoon where it downpoured rain. Then froze hard again a couple days later. Not a great recipe.

Edit: I know people are already running around looking for sheds. It might just be me, but that bothers me when it’s this cold outside.

 

[buffybr]

When I lived in Steamboat Springs, CO in the late '60s and early '70s we had thermometer temperatures of down to -54* F and almost every winter we would have up to a two week period where the temperature would not get above -20* F.

Part of that time I was on the Ski Patrol at Steamboat Ski Area and we would have to be booted up and ready to go up the lilfts at 8:00 AM. I didn't have a garage so my pickup was outside, and at night I would park it in the direction that I wanted to go in the morning, the engine block heater plugged in all night, and the transmission in first gear. I would have to drive about 1/4 mile before the gears would loosen up enough to shift.

The ski area management finnaly figured out that it wasn't profitable to open at those extreem low temperatures and decided not to open until the air temperature got above -20.

Also back then, Fraser, CO was known as America's ice box, as it often had the reported low temperatures in the nation. Then with all of the ski area and other developement there the city and business leaders there determined that nick name was not good for their developments and winter tourism, so they quit reporting their low temperatures.

 

[Corn king 60]

I seen a report the other day about bark Beatles. Low temperatures of - 40 or more for 24 hours or more to penetrate the tree bark enough to kill the Beatles. So maybe some help from that pest

 

[thusby]

I’ve seen winter severity indexes for deer that are based on days below zero and days with a certain snow depth threshold.

 

[Wild Bill]

I seen a report the other day about bark Beatles. Low temperatures of - 40 or more for 24 hours or more to penetrate the tree bark enough to kill the Beatles. So maybe some help from that pest

My old college professor is the state forester and we did work in the Black Hills back about 8-9 years ago at the end of the beetle battle out there and he said that they didn't get to excited about it until temps stayed under -20 for 3-4 days. I believe its about the same with ash borer.

 

[sneakem]

Real temp was -42F in Maybell, -39F in Craig, -20's in Steamboat. More than enough snow to do damage, on par with '08. Snow is 5 foot on the level in my yard in Steamboat, Craig the snow is near the top strand of the barbed wire...

 

[squirrel]

Many factors come into play, one harsh one this year is the rare December meltdown that preceded -30's. Hellova crust, hardest and deepest Ive ever seen. good news(???) is there are so few animals on the range they have decent food for now at least. Highways and train kills are taking the young dummies out but very few are "fuzzy" looking as of now. Sleek and reasonably fat, worst is yet to come.

But holy crap there are not many animals, nor tracks. I foresee much "opportunity" in our near future though.

 

[Hockaday2017]

I live about 30 minutes from Maybell and will say that the deer/elk are struggling...