Rest of Colorado Winter Stress

[ICMDEER]

I've checked the snowpack on the NRCS and read a lot about the tough conditions in southern Colorado. But how's the winter in the north and middle park country? I tried calling the DOW in Hot Sulfur Springs and nobody answers. Are the deer in the Walden/Kremmling/Vail to Glenwood country wintering well?

I was going to make a speed run down there and look around this weekend, but the roads are so bad I decided to stay home. Any report or info will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[kilowatt]

Jim,

Not sure if this is what you want but check it over and see if this helps.

http://www.cotrip.org/

Brian

 

[ICMDEER]

Thanks, Brian. I was aware of the websites, but wanted to hear from some of the folks that live in the area. Maybe there's no one on MM from Walden or Kremmling, but I know of a few who are from the Dillon/Vail/Eagle/Glenwood Springs area. If anybody reads this, I'd sure appreciate hearing how the winter is treating the deer in that area.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[kilowatt]

Jim,

I told Paul about talking with you and I gave him your home number, so if he gets off his hiney he might be calling you after 37 years. LOL

Brian

 

[sneak]

Just made a run through that country this weekend. Things are about as tough as I've seen them in the past 15 years over most of that area. Elk numbers are up and they are making their presence known on the critical winter range areas. Got to watch a lot of interaction between elk and deer this weekend and it wasn't pretty from a deer's perspective. Elk can be incredibly aggressive when food is short. Snow is deep and has a couple of very hard, crusted layers, one from an unusually warm storm at the end of December when we got a bunch of rain, which finally turned to snow and the higher layer from some surface melt/re-freeze in that wind-blown place. Wind has drifted snow considerably throughout the area, making movements very tough for the critters. I noticed a lot of coyotes cruising very easily right on top of the crust though, and at least two groups running in packs testing the deer at every chance.

Luckily we finally got a break this weekend--highs reached the upper 30's and lows didn't drop below zero for the first time in weeks and snowpack at least settled a bit and even some brush got exposed on a few of the lowest southern slopes by this afternoon. Overall deer appeared reasonably healthy, though it's clear we're going to lose a lot of fawns this year. Adults look pretty good, except those littering the sides of the highways.

Spoke with some local DOW officers and the word is they are prepping the logistics of a feeding program for parts of Eagle County that could begin next week, depending on what the weather does. So far, we're not as bad off as Gunnison, but we're a long ways from spring still. Hope that helps.

 

[ICMDEER]

Sneak,

Thanks for the update. I think I will make a run that way this weekend. It looks like after today, the weather should be decent for a while. Would it be worthwhile to pack the 22-250 to whack a few coyotes? (I don't want to go out and stress the deer on the winter range, but I'd sure blast a few 'yotes if I could do it with minimal interruption.) Sounds like good predator hunting conditions if the wind is not blowing too hard.

Thanks again.

 

[sneak]

Yeah, bring the rifle. There's a lot of BLM through that country and certainly no shortage of coyotes. Used to be good access on a lot of the private too, but as I'm sure you know, the "trophy ranch" syndrome has attacked the upper Colorado country pretty hard the past few years and lots of new trophy homes, lack of livestock and not so much real ranching taking place anymore. Seems like most of the trophy ranch crowd tends to be bunny huggers from back east too--why is that?

Anyway, good luck to you.

 

[BUCKSPY]

The middle park area around Kremmling is probably the second worse area affected by the harsh winter in the state behind Gunnison Basin. The deer are really piled up down on Highway 40 and Highway 9. The deer are concentrated and hammering all available browse. Many are digging for food at this point and that does not bode well for them. Deer digging for food in early February are going to use up more reserves than the calories they gain from the food.

Like "Sneak" said, the elk are directly competeing with deer in the area and this could have a real impact on the deer. I saw a yearling elk actually chase a group of deer out of a little patch of deep sage the other day.

Atleast we don't have people impacting them in the form of shed hunting around here.

Like the 5 pickups watching the bulls in Spanish Fork canyon when I drove through the other day on the way to the Expo. Those bulls wont be bothered much but the few deer scrounging for grub on the roadsides probably dont need the extra presence around.

 

[ICMDEER]

Thanks, guys. I was hoping to hear from you, BUCKSPY. It sounds about like I thought it would - a tough winter. I sure hope we get some warm weather and those south slopes open up. I know Colorado DOW tries to manage elk numbers, but it seems to be an endless battle.

I'll hope to get there this weekend. We are calving our cows and the last heifer had her calf last Sunday, so I can get away some now.

Thanks again for your help.