Winter Kill not as bad as expected?

[Moosey69]

I have a friend who just spoke to a guide near Gunnison who he will be hunting Elk with this year. When asked about the winter kill the guide said that the Elk should be fine like always since they winter a lot better than Deer, but he said that the Deer also did not fare as badly as was expected. He claimed that the normal winter kill for Deer in the Gunnison area was 25% and that the last estimated winter kill for this year was just downgraded from around 50% to around 30%. This is good news if it is true but my question is more about Northwestern Colorado near Meeker and Rangley. Does anyone have any info on how bad the winter really was around that area? Or does anyone have any info on the winter kill not being that bad for Deer in any other Western Colorado areas?

 

[HTG]

Wow thats great news. Are there any Gunnison guys out there that can add any info? I was wondering what the final mortality numbers were. I've heard up to 80%, has anyone else heard this? I thought it sounded pretty high. I can't believe that the DOW hasn't writen a report yet.

 

[DKMULEYBUCK]

I am from Montrose and spend quite a bit of time between here and Gunnison. I am seeing quite a few nice bucks and the deer numbers seem to be pretty close to normal. The press was blowing things way out of proportion. I'm jealous of any one with a Gunnison area tag any season. It should be a killer season with the reduced tag numbers.

 

[HTG]

Do you happen to know what area the guide was talking about? Thanks

 

[Moosey69]

My buddy is hunting Elk in 55, but I think the guide was talking about the whole Gunnison Basin.

 

[HiMtnHntr]

Gee, I wonder why a guide would say something like that to a client......With the few tags that are issued for those areas, I'm sure a guy could find a decent deer or two. Will it be like the last few years? Probably not........As far as NW CO goes, I believe tag numbers were kept about the same this year, leading me to believe the biologist up there thinks the deer fared the winter just fine. The deer up there have it a lot easier than deer in the Gunnison.

 

[Moosey69]

I would expect a guide to strech the truth a little bit also to bring in a client, but my buddy already has booked the hunt and payed the deposit, and he does not even have a deer tag which made me a lot less skeptical. And the reason I asked about NW CO is because I have a tag for an area that had the tags cut by 57%.

 

[TheSaint]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-04-08 AT 11:35AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jul-04-08 AT 11:35?AM (MST)

I thought maybe the deer didn't get hit as hard in Gunnison county as everyone projected, but after scouting all summer, they did! I've yet to find a great buck and I usually have several spotted by now. Anyone telling you different isn't spending any real time scouting.

 

[NoDoe]

I talked to the Meeker office the other day about the kill in GMU 22 and was told it was not all that bad.
Don

 

[ICMDEER]

I stopped by the Gunison DOW office about 3 weeks ago. They said the average deer winter mortality in the Gunnison Basin runs 12-18%, and that the last winter was 30%. But I also visited with some locals and a taxidermist who said DOW missed the mark on the 30%, that the loss was much higher. I'd defer to Tomichi on this one. He seems to be right on target for that country.