Gunnison Winterkill

BUCKSPY

Very Active Member
Messages
2,070
My daughters had a track meet in Gunnison today. On the drive over and back, myself and my whole family were blown away by all the deer carcasses littering the roadsides and up onto the hillsides. The bleached out hair of the dead deer showed up like blond spots of death in the short sagebrush of the south facing hillsides. Regardless of the obvious, its really distressing to see evidence of so many animals dying a slow and lingering death. Its truly sad. A friend who was at the track meet and lives in Gunnison said there were close to 500 deer using the feeding station he was working and at the end of the winter, they only counted about 160 deer left. I don't know if that is a common anecdote but its certainly disconcerting.

Up where I live on the edge of middle park, I saw a few yearlings give it up and die during the last couple weeks. Even though the snow has been melting, we have had a few spring storms and nights in the single digits on occasion. One yearling in particular I saw bedded under an old douglas fir on a burned off hillside. When I drove by the next day, the little yearling had just put its head down and died.
 
This kind of thing really bothers me, I can't put my finger on it but sometimes nature is just plain brutal. I am wondering how many years it will take to come back again. I do think that Colorado DOW did a admirable job of tackling the problem. It is just a shame to see animals suffer like that, buckspy thanks for the update.

Rich
 
I witnessed the same driving through Gunnison and in March. I drove through there back in late Nov. as well and that was just when the snow was starting to pile up. A few days later all the hoopla regarding the feeding operation started. One story I heard while down there a few months ago is of a group of bucks that were visiting a feeding station. They were seen there alive one day and after a -40 below night, all that was found of them in the morning was antler tips above the snow. They'd froze and been buried in drifting snow during the night. Now that's what I call a hard winter.
 
If you were unfortunate enough to drive from Gunnison East towards Monarch Pass, you would have seen many more deer and antelope carcasses. It is unbelievable the amount of death that can be seen just from the road. I hate to imagine what lies behind those hills.
 
Its even worse when you get back to where the deer couldnt get out of the high country, Some friends of mine have been through there a few times in the last few months and said it is brutal how many animals lost their lives over the winter. It will be several years before its even close to the way it was,
 
Mike- I agree it has been a wicked winter and has affected deer all over the state.
I am seeing way too many dead deer carcasses on winter grounds and on my way to work at the edge of Gunnison County.
Hope you had a good time at your daughters track meet despite the gloomy view of this past winters havoc.

Here is one of many deer I found while hiking the hills this spring. Not a monster to some....a 3x3 with a 29" spread but just an example of what I am finding more than the usual after a winter here.
I am also finding less big size sheds in areas I normally find many in. It's one of the few times I hope it's others finding them rather than the mature bucks being dead somewhere in the bush.
Best,
Jerry
481b5048657b7759.jpg


44f4e09309b4a917.jpg
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom