elks96
Long Time Member
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Well we took a break from scouting sheep to look over the lopes and deer situations around Baggs. It was absolutely miserable. Way worse than I first thought. In total we drove over 400 miles. From Lander, to Rawlins, Wamsetter south, etc. mostly lope units 57 and 53 but we also counted what we saw from the high way from lander to Rawlins…
Friday Night Lander to Rawlins(left lander at 6ish arrived Rawlins at dusk)
Antelope:
134 Doe
31 Buck
23 Babies total
Mule deer:
4 doe
0 bucks
0 Babies
Saturday: Unit 57 (well over 100 miles travelled on the dirt, hours of glassing)
Antelope:
Doe: 43
Bucks: 23
Babies: 7
Mule Deer
Doe: 7
Bucks: 4 (all 2-3 year olds)
Babies: 4 (2 doe with twins)
Feral Invasive Horses: 294
No cattle/no sheep
Sunday Drove from Powder Mountain, to Baggs via Cottonwood, then Baggs to Wildhorse, to wild cow, to Rendle rim to McCarty Canyon
Antelope:
Doe: 22
Bucks 8
Babies: 2
Deer:
Doe: 22
Bucks: 0
Babies: 8
Feral invasive horses: 112
Also a very concerning note…. We only saw like 12 sage grouse and the only ones were way high up in 58… None in all the lower sage that is the core habitat.
We also got to see the awesome progress of electricity and the destruction and fragmentation of habitat via a massive power line cutting through some remote wild lands…
I feel sorry for anyone expecting more than a nice walk with their rifle this fall.
For reference I have hunted antelope bucks in 57 and 58 several times in the last few years. A typical day in either unit I could glass 110-130 buck antelope east. So when one day you see 8 and another 23 it tells you that the numbers are way lower than they claimed. I was all over grind I know well and the numbers are 4 times worse than the were after 07/08.
This is sad, this new road for the power line was in a spot where we used to hike in for a coyote stand. The roads are new and cut all the way across the country. We are talking miles. They could have followed the highways, could have followed pipeline right of ways, but they literally just picked a direction and went.
This valley was untouched and very limited hard road access, now it has a road huge water culverts, etc.
And other roads… new roads from one horizon to the next…
Then of course the horses….
And if you look the range despite all the moisture is not in the best shape. Better than it has but the horses are just damn hard….
This next image absolutely makes my blood boil. Jackasses on ATVs keep cutting the HMA fence. This fence has been fixed and signed a few times over the years. But people keep cutting it and driving through. It is hard enough fixing the horse fence with out idiots cutting out entire sections and pulling up post. All so they can drive a ridge 60 yards across a ridge instead of a 1/2 mile around. This is definitely not a legal
road. The end result is 100s of feral horses on ranges outside the hma and not being properly counted or managed…
On the flip side sunset were nice, the view from bed of the preside meteor shower was awesome. The deer numbers and lope numbers were crap and they should have made
Significantly deeper tag cuts…
Friday Night Lander to Rawlins(left lander at 6ish arrived Rawlins at dusk)
Antelope:
134 Doe
31 Buck
23 Babies total
Mule deer:
4 doe
0 bucks
0 Babies
Saturday: Unit 57 (well over 100 miles travelled on the dirt, hours of glassing)
Antelope:
Doe: 43
Bucks: 23
Babies: 7
Mule Deer
Doe: 7
Bucks: 4 (all 2-3 year olds)
Babies: 4 (2 doe with twins)
Feral Invasive Horses: 294
No cattle/no sheep
Sunday Drove from Powder Mountain, to Baggs via Cottonwood, then Baggs to Wildhorse, to wild cow, to Rendle rim to McCarty Canyon
Antelope:
Doe: 22
Bucks 8
Babies: 2
Deer:
Doe: 22
Bucks: 0
Babies: 8
Feral invasive horses: 112
Also a very concerning note…. We only saw like 12 sage grouse and the only ones were way high up in 58… None in all the lower sage that is the core habitat.
We also got to see the awesome progress of electricity and the destruction and fragmentation of habitat via a massive power line cutting through some remote wild lands…
I feel sorry for anyone expecting more than a nice walk with their rifle this fall.
For reference I have hunted antelope bucks in 57 and 58 several times in the last few years. A typical day in either unit I could glass 110-130 buck antelope east. So when one day you see 8 and another 23 it tells you that the numbers are way lower than they claimed. I was all over grind I know well and the numbers are 4 times worse than the were after 07/08.
This is sad, this new road for the power line was in a spot where we used to hike in for a coyote stand. The roads are new and cut all the way across the country. We are talking miles. They could have followed the highways, could have followed pipeline right of ways, but they literally just picked a direction and went.
This valley was untouched and very limited hard road access, now it has a road huge water culverts, etc.
And other roads… new roads from one horizon to the next…
Then of course the horses….
And if you look the range despite all the moisture is not in the best shape. Better than it has but the horses are just damn hard….
This next image absolutely makes my blood boil. Jackasses on ATVs keep cutting the HMA fence. This fence has been fixed and signed a few times over the years. But people keep cutting it and driving through. It is hard enough fixing the horse fence with out idiots cutting out entire sections and pulling up post. All so they can drive a ridge 60 yards across a ridge instead of a 1/2 mile around. This is definitely not a legal
On the flip side sunset were nice, the view from bed of the preside meteor shower was awesome. The deer numbers and lope numbers were crap and they should have made
Significantly deeper tag cuts…
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