Severe Winter Kill for Wyoming

[WyoDoug]

Just received an email from the wildlife division for WGF. There has been a severe winter kill for all species affected by the massive March blizzard that was the second worst in recorded history. Below is a cut and paste from one of the emails I received. While I was asking about turkeys that I could not find in the scouting trips I took to Gillette, Douglas and Chugwater, the biologist I talked to on the phone indicated that everyting, elk, moose, deer, antelope, small game and birds were affected. I would expect hunting to be a whole lot tougher this year. For this and the drought we were under the last 10 or so years, I fully support their proposal to drop the quotas for 2021.

"We are seeing fairly severe winter mortality across most species. While we haven't received reports of turkeys to my knowledge, it would be safe to assume they were also affected."

 

[beginnerhunter]

Very sad to hear.

Wyoming folks, what Regions of the state do you think would be MOST affected?

 

[BuzzH]

Very sad to hear.

Wyoming folks, what Regions of the state do you think would be MOST affected?

I-25 corridor from Cheyenne to Casper.

 

[D_Walt]

That’s unfortunate, seems Wyoming wildlife can’t get a break - seems like you guys haven’t gotten the “boom” part of the “boom and bust” cycle in many years.

 

[WyoDoug]

Very sad to hear.

Wyoming folks, what Regions of the state do you think would be MOST affected?

Eastern half of state is my bet.

 

[beginnerhunter]

I-25 corridor from Cheyenne to Casper.

Thank you. Appreciate the info.

 

[beginnerhunter]

Eastern half of state is my bet.

Going to wrench my plans but oh well, that's the smallest problem in the grand scheme.

 

[RobertD]

It sucks but at least we all seem to feel confident in Wyoming's ability to protect and preserve their critters.

Selfishly, I hope this doesn't affect my antelope plans in 2022, as I've now got the points to get onto some decent units. I will happily wait a few more years if that is the smarter move though.

 

[Bob-WY]

I live 100 miles north of Casper. That huge storm didn't touch us hardly at all, down there, they got clobbered

 

[Djfan]

Clobbered here in parts of Carbon County, other parts not so bad.

 

[JEL]

Sucks to hear that. Here in MT we just kill them all before winter.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I guess I'm a little surprised to hear that storm in March was really a deal breaker for wintering wildlife. Even a big dump is one event, and that particular one before fawns/calves are down. Again, I get that it was a big event, but sustained cold spring, wet/heavy snow on fawns, hard ice crust overlaying the forage base...those are the conditions I typically associate more directly with high mortality. I'm open to be educated if I'm missing something.

 

[WyoDoug]

I guess I'm a little surprised to hear that storm in March was really a deal breaker for wintering wildlife. Even a big dump is one event, and that particular one before fawns/calves are down. Again, I get that it was a big event, but sustained cold spring, wet/heavy snow on fawns, hard ice crust overlaying the forage base...those are the conditions I typically associate more directly with high mortality. I'm open to be educated if I'm missing something.

Easy enough to answer this. The last storm left drifts over six feet high and snow was generally more than 3 feet in the shallow spots in the region extending west to Rawlins, east to the Nebraska panhandle and north from the Colorado/Wyoming stateline north to about Douglas. This killed animals who were unable to seek shelter from the storm. We are extremely lucky that it didn't kill people. The last major storm of this intensity (Blizzard of 1949) killed 11 people and left dozens unaccounted for for a long time. This last storm would be the equivalent to a skier surviving being buried in deep snow after an avalanche. A lot of livestock was also lost being literally buried in the snow.

We also had drought in the area for the last 10 years. That also affects wild game births obviously plus animals go into the winter already weakened from lack of good quality forage.

 

[BuzzH]

I guess I'm a little surprised to hear that storm in March was really a deal breaker for wintering wildlife. Even a big dump is one event, and that particular one before fawns/calves are down. Again, I get that it was a big event, but sustained cold spring, wet/heavy snow on fawns, hard ice crust overlaying the forage base...those are the conditions I typically associate more directly with high mortality. I'm open to be educated if I'm missing something.

According to the biologists, a few did die from the weather, those were probably about on their last legs anyway and this storm may have just sped up the process. But a lot more got hit by vehicles as the easy path was on the highways, train tracks, etc.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

According to the biologists, a few did die from the weather, those were probably about on their last legs anyway and this storm may have just sped up the process. But a lot more got hit by vehicles as the easy path was on the highways, train tracks, etc.

Makes sense.

 

[Dsnow9]

According to the biologists, a few did die from the weather, those were probably about on their last legs anyway and this storm may have just sped up the process. But a lot more got hit by vehicles as the easy path was on the highways, train tracks, etc.

What a bummer, but makes sense

 

[Steve Petersen]

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.

 

[Yooper Bob]

WyoDoug thanks for the update, its sad to hear about another hit on the game

 

[JM77]

Unless you were here in the middle of it, I understand the doubters, but the antelope were hit the hardest. The deep snow made it difficult for them to forage, topped with the cold temps that hung on for over a week. Besides getting in the roadways, the coyotes had a field day once they could travel on top of the snow and the antelope couldn't. Weeks later more died from a different storm, most likely still weakened from the first.

My area has been reduced from 400 type 1 tags to 75. All doe/fawn tags were eliminated. Call BS all you want, but it was real.

 

[Bigjay73]

Pretty sure that WGF isn't going to reduce tags, which reduces funding, unless it's a proper course of action