Winter Kill Utah

I talked to a wildlife biologist a week ago,He told me that the DWR had a new contractor that won the bid for removing road kill throughout my area,Obviously the new contractor is not doing there job.
 
Well in my opion that probaly wouldn't do any good cause people won't slow down till they actually hit one and total their vehicle
 
Blood
Ya that is sad but true,The last large snow totaling winter we had was 2019, I was out in the hills there were dead deer under all most every cedar tree!!
 
I Made That Trek again From Duchesne To Heber Today!

Not As Many Fresh Vaporization Jobs Today Because The Weather Was Crappy & Most Of Them Were Bedded/Holed Up!

I Only Seen 2 Fresh Splatter Jobs Today!

But There's Numerous Kills from 4 months ago To Present!

The Crows & Ravens Are Perty Fat!

Them Basin Taco Shacks Ain't Had To Buy Any Meat For Many Months Now!
 
I know this discussion is about Utah but I thought I would add some info about Colorado, especially here in the Grand Mesa area. The Grand Junction paper reported that we haven't seen a winter like this since 1983-1984. I have been in this area since 1989 and this is the most snow accumulation I have seen here. No report on elk or deer but they have to be hit hard as the DOW is feeding them to keep them off the ranches.
 
Aceman said:
I know this discussion is about Utah but I thought I would add some info about Colorado, especially here in the Grand Mesa area. The Grand Junction paper reported that we haven't seen a winter like this since 1983-1984. I have been in this area since 1989 and this is the most snow accumulation I have seen here. No report on elk or deer but they have to be hit hard as the DOW is feeding them to keep them off the ranches.
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Thanks for the info. I do hunt the Delta and Montrose area. Was wondering what the snow pack/depth on the plateau looks like?
 
hook1969 said:
I have seen more road kill this year than any other year in my life! There are dead deer and elk everywhere, people need to slow down!
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They won’t, instead they will just complain about the animals on the road. You can’t fix stupid
 
The cache unit looks like it lost 100% of its yearling deer and I'm sure old class and fawns did about the same.

It's my understanding they had 60 yearlings with collars and gps and they have all been found dead sadly.
 
notrace said:
The cache unit looks like it lost 100% of its yearling deer and I'm sure old class and fawns did about the same.

It's my understanding they had 60 yearlings with collars and gps and they have all been found dead sadly.
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Well that is definently not good news. Thanks for the info
 
Another measure of how bad it is: If you don't know, the Utah moose population is really struggling. For example, the South Slope area where i usually hunt has a population objective of 125 moose. They say there are 25 moose in that area. I've seen 2 road kill moose (not in that area) and I don't get out that much.
 
ktg said:
Another measure of how bad it is: If you don't know, the Utah moose population is really struggling. For example, the South Slope area where i usually hunt has a population objective of 125 moose. They say there are 25 moose in that area. I've seen 2 road kill moose (not in that area) and I don't get out that much.
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That's not helping at all. We did see 4 different moose last year in the Laketown area last year
 
With all the talk of roadkill, which I agree seems to be worse this year. I’ve posted this elsewhere but I’m hopeful this much funding can help forward some good projects soon in the state. There’s some info in this BHA article on hotspots and areas of focus with this funding:

www.backcountryhunters.org

Utah Legislature Approves Funding for Wildlife Crossings

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is the voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife.
www.backcountryhunters.org www.backcountryhunters.org

As an FYI the $60 million federal dollars that will be leveraged here by the states $20 million is part of the infrastructure bill funding which only one Utah rep in Washington negotiated for the state.
 
Well that sure will be a good start..now if they can get SFW,MDF, and RMEF to loosen up some of their easily earned funds and maybe get some funding from the insurance companies and hit up the the oil companies that run a 100+ crude trucks daily from the basin to slc we might be able to get some of this mass slaughter slowed down
 
yoteduster said:
Well that sure will be a good start..now if they can get SFW,MDF, and RMEF to loosen up some of their easily earned funds and maybe get some funding from the insurance companies and hit up the the oil companies that run a 100+ crude trucks daily from the basin to slc we might be able to get some of this mass slaughter slowed down
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Car insurance companies you would think would be all for contributing tbh. A lot of the funds most the organizations get end up having to be dedicated to certain things. UDOT, Insurance companies, the Division, and state funds (as well as federal) should be doing all they can to mitigate Highway mortality. Those organizations too I agree.
 
bucks said:
I talked to a wildlife biologist a week ago,He told me that the DWR had a new contractor that won the bid for removing road kill throughout my area,Obviously the new contractor is not doing there job.
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mtnrunner260 said:
There has been significant road kill loss this winter in my observations.
I wish the DWR and UDOT would just line them up along the edge of road. Maybe having deer nose to ass for 100 miles would get people to slow down?
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A dead deer fence hmmmm” maybe 6’ x 6’ cross would get more attention for each deer killed. Or a fence with routes over the road. Pay a contractor to fix the fence instead of picking up dead carcasses.
 
Does the DWR post winter roadkill numbers? I've talked to our local auto body shop owner, and he had 140 vehicles by January 25th, from deer and elk strikes.
 
We will see what the deer looks like in a month on the Cache unit. I glassed 150 deer above a feed station on the mountain and still saw some fawns and yearlings. The past weeks of warmer temps and south slope melt off has helped. I doubt it will be 100% loss on fawns on the Cache.
A Brother has been feeding 100 deer and are still seeing some fawns alive.
I have heard that a biologist in West WYO is predicting 100% fawn loss in that area.
 
Those 3 big winters, mid 80's is what ended the "golden age" of deer hunting in Utah. It started to claw back, and the 93 winter crushed them again. After that development outpaced fawn births, and we are where we are
 

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