the GREAT migration!!!

[BOOMSTICK]

sorry its so long winded but i had an awesome day.

well i went out today for some coyote hunting in 39-2 (hilltop) and thought it would be a good chance to see some other animals to. .. man was i in for a treat. the coyote hunting was less than awesome (mostly due to it being my first time) but the the animal sightings were constant. as i sat on the side of the mountain i could watch a constant flow of deer along a certain trail. a few little bucks along with the does but nothing to awesome. but the sheer numbers was outstanding!

from there i went to the spot where fish and game checks animals during the general 39 hunt off of highway 21 (bottom of hilltop) from there looking across highway 21 i spotted at least 75 elk right where highway 21 and arrowrock road meet. didnt spot any big bulls among them but there were some mediocre ones. i also spotted a group of 10 deer mixed in with them. one 2 point and two 4 pointers in the group. one 4 point was nice. i watched this group attempt to cross highway 21 at least 7 times they kept on getting honked at by drivers but they only ran away for a sec. then they were right back at it again. i drove across the bridge to get some pics of these animals. as i drove up i noticed antelope! there was a nice buck antelope in that group also.
so there i was with both a 4 pointer deer, 75 elk, and 5 antelope all within my binos all at once about 100 yards away. that was awesome.

as i was watching the animals (they didnt care) i noticed a group of deer with another 4 point run across the road about 50 yards away. after they ran across the road i noticed a coyote following the deer.

now do i shoot the yote and risk freakin out all these animals or do i let the little bugger run free? what would you do?

unfortunately i left my regular camera at home and just had my bino cam with me and they suck a$$ so the pics didnt turn out.
smaller 4 point

 

[sage_mule]

I'd shoot at the coyote but that is pretty close to a hwy and who knows what drivers would think I was shooting at with all the deer and elk about. Sounds like you had a fun day. Too bad the big group was in the no-hunt triangle of 39.

Off topic- That new deer underpass and all the new chain link fencing is screwed up imo. F&G needs to get some personnel up there asap and run them back up to where the damn underpass is. The animals need training.

There typical migration route is down the ridge to the Springs Shores/hwy21 intersection, then across the hwy and down that draw where the elk broke through the ice a few years ago. With the new fencing in place (where the draw is) they are going to cross the bridge before they head back up towards the underpass a mile up the river.

There are going to be some major car vs animal accidents before this new multi million dollar underpass fiasco route is learned by the big game- imo Sounds like you witnessed some near misses.

I think they should have run the fence in a V from the underpass back up towards Spring Shores instead of running parallel along hwy 21 to the intersection. The worse part of the fencing is a few feet from hwy 21 on the robie creek side. That effectively is going to keep the big game right next to the hwy while they try to figure out the easiest route past it- which of course is across the bridge.

 

[BOOMSTICK]

exactly right about the stupid fence thing! in nevada they have the same sort of thing but its a deer overpass and there are fences on both sides of the road. i think having a fence on only 1 side of the road is going to really f things up for the deer.

 

[brymoore]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-26-10 AT 09:09AM (MST)[p]I live north of the new underpass and drive through the area twice a day. The fence seems to be herding the animals to the ends of the fence, making those areas more dangerous. I'm also seeing deer on the road in the fenced area almost daily. I'm very tempted to stop and see if any of the deer are actually using the underpass.

As for the migration, it's on big time. I've been seeing a ton on deer each day. I also saw a wolf the other day chasing deer.

 

[BOOMSTICK]

i have been told that besides the underpass there are bridges going over the fence so they dont need to go to the ends. but that makes me wonder why the fence is there to begin with if the animals still need to cross the road. thought the whole point was to give the animals a chance to cross without touching the road. sounds like a half baked idea to have only one side of the road fenced.

 

[brymoore]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-26-10 AT 11:00AM (MST)[p]The fence bridges are to allow those stuck in the fence to exit from the road. The bridges have a gentle bank on the road side and a 5 to 6 foot wall on the other side. I can't imagine the deer are leaping up on the wall side.

I think both sides of the road are fenced. I was invited to one of the planning sessions for the underpass and saw the original plan which called for much more fencing. We may be only seeing Phase 1 of the plan, or the ran out of money.

 

[BOOMSTICK]

i hope you are right about the fence being halfway done. if it were a one way fence i think that would make the 39-2 controlled archery hunt a lot better since they would be going from the protected area into "game on" hunting area.