Wyoming Drought Status

[WyoDoug]

Well, not too long ago I talked about drought and how it affects at least my hunting and likely others.

This year appears to be an improvement over the past as we had the massive snow storm and that was followed by rain every 2-4 days or so. We are talking good rain, not just a sprinkle here and there. I have not seen that in a long time. I think we are in a period where the antelope has the food and habitat to bounce back from the last winter kill. Wyoming was in severe drought almost all over the place.

| U.S. Drought Monitor

droughtmonitor.unl.edu

 

[BuzzH]

Well, not too long ago I talked about drought and how it affects at least my hunting and likely others.

This year appears to be an improvement over the past as we had the massive snow storm and that was followed by rain every 2-4 days or so. We are talking good rain, not just a sprinkle here and there. I have not seen that in a long time. I think we are in a period where the antelope has the food and habitat to bounce back from the last winter kill. Wyoming was in severe drought almost all over the place.

| U.S. Drought Monitor

droughtmonitor.unl.edu

I agree, we're improving some but still a ways to go. I was over South of Rock Springs last week, fairly dry over in that country for this time of year. Ponds that are normally full/over flowing were about 2/3rds full.

I would have liked to have seen deeper cuts to pronghorn tags in more places, in particular doe/fawn tags. It also looks like we'll have good fawning conditions the next week to 10 days. Last year on June 8th we got slammed with that cold/snow which I'm sure killed some fawns.

 

[Steve O]

Glad to hear that! I scouted Unit 90 deer and 67 antelope over the long Labor Day weekend last year and felt sorry for every living thing there.

 

[RobertD]

Happy to hear you all are into some moisture. I'm sure it's welcome and a particularly good thing for pronghorn.

 

[Steve Petersen]

Wished I could say the same for my area. Here at the house we’ve had very little rain at all. What rain we have had has been a single late afternoon cloud passing over. The area I bear bait usually has flowing runoff creeks well into June and as of 2 days ago most of those are already dried up. The ponds in the area are usually overflowing and now may very well be dried up by summers end as well. Snow was completely gone a good 2 weeks earlier this year.

 

[WyoDoug]

Wished I could say the same for my area. Here at the house we’ve had very little rain at all. What rain we have had has been a single late afternoon cloud passing over. The area I bear bait usually has flowing runoff creeks well into June and as of 2 days ago most of those are already dried up. The ponds in the area are usually overflowing and now may very well be dried up by summers end as well. Snow was completely gone a good 2 weeks earlier this year.

Wyoming does still have some severe drought areas but overall picture is better than previous years for State in general. My deer and antelope areas though look really good especially knowing that some of that is irrigated land.

 

[BucksnDucks]

Any input on how the deer are looking in the area west of Casper south of 20?

 

[Steve Petersen]

I’ve been seeing a lot of MD along the 270 when I drive from Rawlins to Casper. Not exactly the area your asking but it’s close.

 

[WYelker]

Well, not too long ago I talked about drought and how it affects at least my hunting and likely others.

This year appears to be an improvement over the past as we had the massive snow storm and that was followed by rain every 2-4 days or so. We are talking good rain, not just a sprinkle here and there. I have not seen that in a long time. I think we are in a period where the antelope has the food and habitat to bounce back from the last winter kill. Wyoming was in severe drought almost all over the place.

| U.S. Drought Monitor

droughtmonitor.unl.edu

I have been south of I80 and in the lower country it is the driest and worst I have ever seen the range. At least 3 common springs that have had water the last 15 years are dry. The horses are stomping everything to powder and holding water holes hostage etc.
It is pretty bad this year and with 90s for this week only getting worse. Went to Gillette last week. It was amazing the difference in the range in areas not hit by the big storm and the ones hit. Range was significantly better in the storm zone…