MD Mortality Survey

mulecreek · May 14, 2017

My two sons and I volunteered to help the G&F out on the mortality survey up by Pinedale on Saturday. Kind of surprised at the low volunteer turnout. Another guy from Rock Springs, and a few locals from Pinedale. Mostly older men and women that did not appear to be hunters.

While it was great to spend a few hours walking the sage with my kids it was fairly depressing, but not surprising, to find so much winter kill. The three of us found 21 carcasses. 11 fawns and 10 adults. A few bucks that had already shed. We did bone marrow checks on most of them. Surprisingly a few of them still had substantial marrow. Never did hear what the other groups found. They were all gone by the time we got back to the truck.

We did find a few sheds, but not as many as I had assumed we would find. 8 in total and most were old. All were found in about a 5 acre area.

Taylor found the biggest. This heavy old buck.

This younger 4 point was a few feet away.

Travis found this goofy little antler on the way back to the truck.

rmanwill · May 14, 2017

Way to get the boys out. Great work and a bonus finding some antlers. Thanks for sharing. Not good on the mortality.

Founder · May 14, 2017

Looks like a fun day of volunteering. I wasn't aware of it.
It is a real bummer to see all those dead deer though. On our way home a couple weeks ago, we saw a fawn along the highway that was still alive just laying there. I pulled over and it got up and had a broken leg. Hard to see. We called the game department hoping they could get out and put it down.

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jm77 · May 14, 2017

Thanks for being involved Steve!

junior · May 14, 2017

Steve thanks for the update, looks like the little guys had fun.
Did the marrow have any color to it? Pink, Red, or just White?

mulecreek · May 15, 2017

>Steve thanks for the update, looks
>like the little guys had
>fun.
>Did the marrow have any color
>to it? Pink, Red, or
>just White?

Most of them were just plain gone or at most dried up thin strips.

Others had some bulk to it but were dried up.

This was the most surprising. A couple of them looked pretty good. Like peanut butter.

mulecreek · May 15, 2017

>Looks like a fun day of
>volunteering. I wasn't aware of
>it.

They do them in a few locations. One near the sisters on I80 East of Evanston, one around Sage Junction and the one we were on by Pinedale. I think the other two get better turnout. Some years the winter is mild enough they don't even bother.

>It is a real bummer to
>see all those dead deer
>though. On our way home
>a couple weeks ago, we
>saw a fawn along the
>highway that was still alive
>just laying there. I pulled
>over and it got up
>and had a broken leg.
>Hard to see. We called
>the game department hoping they
>could get out and put
>it down.
>
It's hard to be a deer. I saw two fresh roadkill this morning. They make it through a tough winter, then get wacked on the Interstate.

junior · May 15, 2017

Wow! Interesting, and from what I have been told and read. Pink/red marrow is an indication of malnutrition, where white could be predatory.

SMOKESTICK · May 16, 2017

Junior, marrow is normally pure white so when you find an animal with white or normal marrow, you assume something killed it.
Once an animal begins to use their marrow it starts to turn pink. That is a sign the animal is beginning to digest its reserves. Doesn't mean that the animal will die but it is a sign that the animal was starving.
Hope that helps.