Pending Doom for SW/South Central Wyoming Deer?

I am concerned about the herds this winter in the south central and SW portion of WY. Especially the desert deer. This year in our scouting and hunting we are seeing several deer with really poor body conditions heading into winter. This is mainly lower country from Baggs, to Rock Springs up through Rawlins Muddy gap over towards Farson...

I am just not sure there was much feed in these areas during the summer and many of the deer are already showing ribs etc. It also seems that none of the typical forage sources put on any new growth etc.

What are your thoughts/observations? I did notice in many areas where we typically find deer there were none and those groups of deer seemed extremely concentrated on the water sources. The areas where the water was concentrated seemed like it all had very poor feed as the cattle, horses, elk, etc. were all concentrating in these areas as well...

Well I'm in Baggs right now sitting in a hotel room due to the snow. It's really has rained a lot since last Saturday when we were here. All the small ponds that were almost empty are full to the brim. Deer seem to be in good shape. Harvested a nice 4 point yesterday in great shape and lots of fat in him. Lots of bucks but lots of small ones

LAST EDITED ON Oct-10-18 AT 06:47PM (MST)[p]I spent a fair amount of time in South Central Wyo this late summer and fall. Last winter was mild followed by good rain this spring. This was followed by horrible heat and drought during the summer months. I saw gobs of twin fawn antelope this spring. Unfortunately around 80% of the fawn antelope were dead by this fall. I'm not sure if this was due to super dry conditions through the summer or coyotes....possibly both. Many of the springs had water in them in July but by archery season had totally dried up. Luckily many of the springs were running again in Sept.

In regard to deer, they were concentrated around water sources this summer and early fall. The bitterbrush and sage is in HORRIBLE shape! Bitterbrush was nearly clubbed to the ground with not a whole lot of growth on sage in areas with decent moisture. A lot of sage appeared to be dead on the drier slopes.....not very good for wintering deer or antelope! The grass had very good growth from early spring moisture but unfortunately deer really don't utilize grass much during the winter.

Localized deer numbers were higher than I've seen for a while and have slowly but surely been rebounding. Keep your fingers crossed there is another relatively mild winter.

The last couple decades has not been kind to the deer, with very dry range conditions, below average snowpack, the occasional tough winter,mixed in with all the development on winter range, roadkill, etc... This is not new. Mule deer country is not the same as it once was, and unfortunately never will be. Impending doom? That seems awful drastic in the short term. Numbers and condition of deer could be better most places I'd guess if you ask hunters...

This is the only game animal I have observed this year in Wyoming showing ribs. I haven't made my mind up yet if this is good or bad for the local mule deer.

I know my observations are not true across the state and at higher elevations it was not a concern. But I really think the winter ranges have much to offer the animals when they come down. The animals I have been seeing are the ones who tend to live year round on the winter ranges. They seem in really bad shape. On Saturday last week we saw over 30 deer. I would say over 1/2 were showing ribs. Even my 12 year daughter asked if it was normal...

We are back up again this weekend for her deer tag. I am certain where we are hunting this weekend will be better than last.

I drew an elk tag for sw Wy this year and have spent a gob of time there( my back yard). I have not seen what you are describing, elks96. In fact, I have been quite surprised at the great shape 90% of the deer that I've been seeing are in. Fawn ratios seem to be above 60/100 with many does having twins and one doe had triplets! This was in late August/ September. Lots of young bucks, and a few big ones as well. Spring moisture helped this country and even during the dry period occasional afternoon showers would pop up. I will agree that the critters( especially deer and antelope) were hanging close to water in the more desert-type country where many springs dried up this summer. We're in a wet system right now, so if it warms up a bit before winter hits hard we could have some benefit from the moisture we're getting now. Seen it happen many times in that country. I'm thinking you're farther east than where I am, though.

This is nothing new to these desert deer. We've been in extreme drought conditions before and we will again. Some will die. Others won't. Doom? Nah.

elks is on par here. The doom may be a little harsh, but it is not going to be good there. If we get a normal snow year, I could see a 15-20% lose pretty easy. even if its a light year again, we are still going to be seeing some loses.
I was hunting from 7k up to 9k and the deer there are not fat like they usually are, and the desert country has been hammered by grazing and just an overall lack of grass. maybe they will find those areas that the cows couldn't use as there was no water.
And no they don't eat a ton of grass, but the lack of grass tells me there is a lack of shrub and forb growth also.

py

ps elks, looks like you had a good year! good job bud!