Southeast Idaho winter kill

[schoolhousegrizz]

Who hunted Southeast idaho? Was the winter kill a game changer? How noticeable was it? Are they going to adjust tags? I've heard mixed stories about how bad the winter kill was.

 

[Deepcolor]

It’s as bad or worse than predicted.

 

[grizzly]

Horrible. I didn't even get a deer tag because it wasn't worth it. First time in over 20 years.

 

[BrianID]

I did and it is as bad as you have heard. I probably saw less than 25% of the deer numbers I would have expected to see. I'm predicting the harvest data is going to be the lowest we have seen in over 20 years in many units. If I wasn't content just spending time with friends and family in the mountains, I wouldn't have even wasted my time. I really should have gone fishing with my brother for several day than waste time trying to hunt deer.
One positive thing I could say is I did see several 2 points, so not all the fawns died last winter. I also did see does with 2 fawns so not all the does aborted their fawns. The lion quota was removed a couple years ago in the SE region so at least the deer will have decreased lion pressure.

 

[1942farmall]

I hunted 73 for four days.
Saw 5 does with 2 yearlings in one bunch all week.
Hardly any sign in the four areas I checked.
I covered alot of ground glassing, and and then walking numerous canyons.
Nice to get out but the deer were extremely scarce.

 

[IDbucks]

The amount of new resident hunters and a bad winter kill, they better do something drastic. Before too long i dont see a general hunt for mule deer anymore. Just my opinion.

 

[Deerlove]

I never should have bought the tag I put in 3 days did not see anything mature I considered a donation to the state

 

[IDbucks]

I haven't bought a deer tag the last two years. I've quit jobs in the past to go hunting.

 

[Tikka]

The amount of new resident hunters and a bad winter kill, they better do something drastic. Before too long i dont see a general hunt for mule deer anymore. Just my opinion.

Ohh, it’s coming, the west has been social media exposed…

 

[roadrunner]

The amount of new resident hunters and a bad winter kill, they better do something drastic. Before too long i dont see a general hunt for mule deer anymore. Just my opinion.

We don't shut down hunting, remember...

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

Who hunted Southeast idaho? Was the winter kill a game changer? How noticeable was it? Are they going to adjust tags? I've heard mixed stories about how bad the winter kill was.

You must be fairly new to Idaho If you think Fish & NO GAME are going to reduce tags ANY WHERE !! Hell these frickin IDIOTS will add more tags !! & offer more doe hunts since that is all anyone is seeing, must be a population Explosion !! They can NOT miss that $$ & they dont give a Rats ASS about the # of animals the condition of them ETC Just get that $$$

 

[shotgunjim]

I have not been deer or elk hunting in SE Idaho but I've been doing a lot of Sharptail and pheasant hunting there and I've come across more winter kill carcasses this year than in the last dozen years combined. This one property I got permission to hunt I came across at least 25 to 30 carcasses in just a couple hours of hunting.

 

[Deerlove]

I have not been deer or elk hunting in SE Idaho but I've been doing a lot of Sharptail and pheasant hunting there and I've come across more winter kill carcasses this year than in the last dozen years combined. This one property I got permission to hunt I came across at least 25 to 30 carcasses in just a couple hours of hunting.

Deer or elk?

 

[dgfavor]

I hunker down on my own property for the SEI deer hunt. Numbers seemed down for sure all thru spring and summer. I always have a pretty good number of deer on the place, video the shiz out of stuff and compile it at end of season. We tried hard to get my buddy's daughter on a cool little buck but he was too damn smart for us!! Surprise surprise my tag is joining the rest of my unfilled tags...cuz I suck!! ?

Good news, they are breeding, mother nature willing, it'll get better!

 

[shotgunjim]

Deer or elk?

1 or 2 elk the rest were deer.

 

[fullthrottle]

Spent 12 days in southeast idaho. Deer herd is almost nonexistent.

 

[mpaulson44]

and IDF&G will do nothing about it but more tags....I'm becoming more and more convinced that IDF&G is simply bloated and operation costs are far exceeding revenue numbers hence why they refuse to cut tags. I look at some of the local general units and please tell me if I'm off base here but were currently missing our 6 year old deer due to past winter conditions and some of those units still have like 2K youth doe permits, 1-2k either sex tags on top of the hordes of general season hunters.....maybe I'm crazy in thinking the worst thing for our deer populations would be to shoot our breeders while missing entire generation of animals........open to any teaching or words of wisdom, maybe I need to think in a different perspective.

 

[dgfavor]

1 or 2 elk the rest were deer.

My observation as well - it seems like elk faired better than the deer. I'm certain I saw more than I usually do on my place throughout the course of spring/summer and well into fall - they usually get pretty scarce with onset of rifle elk seasons. Interesting, to me and others it seemed antler size was smaller/stunted this year on elk but deer antler mass/size seemed "better" than other years on the 2+yo bucks IMO. Odd.

Won't hurt my feelers if we have a kinder winter! The animals are looking in great shape and the feed is still bonkers for back half of November in alot of areas.

 

[huntin50]

I agree with everyone else. terrible.
SE Idaho and Northern Utah and western Wy terrible

 

[Coyote_chaser]

Between the NR and wolves Idaho is done for.

 

[idahohillboy]

Central Idaho deer populations 75% less mature bucks than last year. For Idaho mature is the 3 to 5 year old range. I saw so many decent bucks last year winter kicked their asses.

 

[Toby1028]

Hunted ID Bear River unit for Elk last year also had a general deer tag for ID. I saw less than 30 deer in 20 days of hunting. I was focused on Elk however, the deer numbers were the lowest I have seen since the big winter kill of 1992-93 if any of you remember that kill off. This looks very similar in northern UT and southeastern ID. There is no reason for UT or ID to have any doe permits in these areas for the next 3 years. Elk seemed to do better than deer.

 

[hawkbill]

Idaho Fish and Game is run by Farmers and Like Farmers they sell off everything every fall. It’s truly sad to see what opportunity hunting has done to the quality of game in Idaho. Idaho does not recognize a winter kill like other states, this should have been addressed last year with tag adjustments. I think Idaho is trying to destroy public hunting, so we can get on with the up and coming game farms also run by farmers.

 

[BrianID]

2023 Harvest data is available on the F&G website. Very sad to see the actual numbers. 2022 wasn't a great year for deer in most areas but compared to 2023 it was night and day. Deer killed was 100% to 200% less in most SE Idaho units in 2023 vs 2022. I haven't gone through and analyzed all the numbers but from what I've initially seen, this is the lowest number of bucks I've seen reported killed in almost any of the SE Idaho units in more than 30 years.

In unit 76 the data shows only 243 bucks killed on general rifle hunt last year. In a good year unit 76 has produced close to 2000 bucks.
In unit 75 only 65 bucks killed. In a good year unit 75 can produce close to 500 bucks.

This winter also wasn't easy in a lot of SE Idaho. It is going to take several years for the deer to recover. At least almost all doe hunting was eliminated in the SE region and mostly eliminated in the Upper Snake Region. Magic Valley and units around Boise shouldn't have any doe hunting for at least a couple years but Hawkbill knows how the F&G manages those units.

I probably won't even buy a tag this year, unless I find a special buck to hunt or just want an excuse to have a tag in my pocket just incase. Last year I bought 2 tags and both tags went unused. I don't need to shoot a young buck to prove I can kill one anymore. Idaho really should start penalizing hunters that have to tag a "meat buck" every year. There just are not enough deer anymore for residents or nonresidents to kill "meat bucks". If you tag a buck, then you should have to wait at least the next season out. It doesn't harm the bucks near as much to give tags to guys who don't shoot deer very often.