Severe Winter Kill for Wyoming

[wytex]

Yeah Steve we should have called you to help get in to check on and feed horses in Sybille Canyon. The snow was drifted high and stayed around for about 2 weeks up there.
The tracks we saw from herds looking for forage was pretty sad.
Not BS at all.
Even people were having issues with getting out for food etc. Met a gal plowing out a family that for some reason did not stock up on food and other essentials before the storm. They were stranded for 2 weeks til she got them plowed out.

 

[BuzzH]

I call BS. I’m sure in some areas the storm a few weeks ago was bad for wildlife, but over all this was a very mild winter for snow and extended periods of extreme cold temps. This time last year around here I saw dozens and dozens of dead antelope along the roads. Many buried in snow plow mounds or laying along fence lines. I have yet to see a single dead one this winter or spring other than vehicle kills. I’ve done over 50 miles in the last week alone on the ATV on roads still drifted in by snow and impassible by vehicle and have yet to see a single dead big game animal. I have however seen a lot of elk, mule deer and antelope in areas I don’t normally see them at this early in the year. I saw more bighorn sheep this winter than I ever have even in the summer months when I usually see them.
I saw a fascinating study about a year ago put out by the WGFD that talked about the reproduction and birth rate for antelope. Had several years worth of birth rate data in it. If I recall it said some 55-60% of all antelope have twins or triplets and of that 55-60% some 30-35% were triplets. Thats a lot of antelope being born each year.

Wyoming is a big state....and Rawlins didn't get hit at all compared to Laramie-Cheyenne and up the I-25 corridor to Casper.

If I were a biologist in those areas I would be making deeper cuts to pronghorn tags, in particular doe/fawn tags. I would probably be cutting at least 25% of doe tags in every unit in Wyoming from what they are now. Pronghorn are not doing well at all compared to what it was like when I moved here in 2000.