Winterkill 2018?

[Outdoordan]

So, seems like every other post is a doom and gloom post, however, this winter, at least in the South Central Idaho area, seems to be the mildest (so far), I have ever seen? What are you seeing?

 

[BPKHunter]

Fat and healthy and a fair amount of young ones.

We did go glass the wintering grounds in the foothills outside Mountain Home on Monday and did not see near the numbers we did say 10 years ago, but again they were in really good shape. Plenty of access to open ground and green grass from the Oct and Nov storms. My place in Cascade had small herd of 7 hanging near by and eating in bald spots under trees, but looking good.

A lot of winter left, but if we can stay mild till end of jan, they can hang really well through 4-6 weeks, unless the temps really drop.

My opinion and observation, your may vary!

 

[customweld]

I haven't seen many deer where I have been elk hunting. The deer that I am seeing are in great shape,with plenty of feed on the hill. The elk are plentiful.

 

[Outdoordan]

BPK and Customweld, that's good to hear. I was in Sun Valley over the holidays. Went out for a half hour drive, mid valley, and counted 55+/- deer in herds, and one big herd of elk in like 25 minutes of driving. Brown hills like I have never seen before this time of year. Made for poor skiing, but happy for the deer/elk.

 

[Syncerus1]

Guys, winter is only 15 days old, You really want to start the WINTERKILL prognosis now... Let's check in again around March 1...

 

[orion23]

everything ive heard is that its mostly the length of the winter along with the severity that hits them the hardest. if he havent even started, by that theory, we're probably in the clear. we look good through mid January, so id be surprised if we have any significant winter kill.

Travis
www.SkullHanger.com

 

[Outdoordan]

Winter, for wildlife sakes, starts near the end of November and can last into April. I start this because as far as I am concerned we have missed a very large chunk of winter so far. Does it mean that we are in the clear? No. But I am an optimist at heart, and am optimistic about this winters toll on wildlife.

+1 Travis

 

[ByeByeObamas]

I like the post and live near by. This time last year, tthing were much worse. No doubt that the first month was less impactful.

 

[IdaMatt]

It's looking good so far, current weather pattern should hold through the end of the Month. There are fewer deer this year. And, yes this is a much different winter than last year, I would be surprised if it turned for the worse....

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

Way too early for reports but I can tell you this unit 31 & 32 there is NO SNOW !! But there are NO deer to be seen on 99% of their winter range !! I did a drive over New Years drove from Indian Valley down Crane Crk road to Big Willow saw less than a dozen does not a single elk. Had a 31 cow tag saw ONE forky & around 60 does, normally this time of year & these same areas there are more deer than you can count !! Last winter did A LOT of damage in these two units Nice to see no snow so far IF we get anywhere close too last years snow there will be NO deer left !!!

 

[BPKHunter]

I was in 32 on Saturday with my bird dogs. Walked about 2.0mi out, then directly back to the truck on same route. Fairly foggy for about half the walk. So, not the best conditions, but I still saw a min of 100 deer in that short stretch. Deer were not out feeding in the open, they were pushing out of the draws mostly. So, I would refute somewhat OLDHH's "NO deer to be seen". Best news is about 40% of these deer were young, and all were fat.

I do agree numbers are down from recent peaks of 6-8 years ago in that unit, but given the lack of snow, the deer are pretty spread out and not bunched like heavy snow years.

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

I have been ALL over 32 yote hunting the last 3 weeks hunting on lots of Private land WAY off the main roads . Biggest bunch of DOES I have seen was 8,I have NOT yet seen a set of horns !! I have several ranchers I know they are NOT seeing any #s of deer either. This time of year there are usually Thousands of deer all along the roads close by hillsides etc. This is one of the Main winter ranges for 31 32 & 32A deer & elk !! So you may have seen a hundred deer I am saying that same walk you did a few years ago you would have seen 500 or more !!

 

[BPKHunter]

Good luck on the dog hunt. We obviously need predator control!

We can agree that the winter conditions are favorable so far and unless we get some sort of freak storm and freezes everything solid, we are likely to get out of this winter in good shape to start rebuilding. Lot's of green showing with this last melt off. Temps warming into 40's last few weeks.

That said, based on your response, should we be closing these units down to deer hunting in '18? Rebuild the decimated herds? Sounds like the only logical solution.

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

yes sir pretty SAD when you see more yotes in a day than deer on their winter range !! Yeah so far it has been mild the deer I have seen have are looking healthy so that is good also. Ya know I wish F&G would have closed the units this year that got devastated by last years weather ! I bow hunted 31 for elk this year & have for over 30 years , I saw the entire season scouting & hunting 2 bucks & around 40 does. I also had a landowner cow tag for 31 I was out 7 or 8 times, I saw around 60 does in a canyon that 2 years ago had over 500 there was 1 little forkie. Most of the ranchers in 31 were not allowing deer hunting this year, 32 had the same die off as 31, I was in 32 a few times this past spring horn hunting & there were dead deer off every road . I did a 5 or 6 mile hike one day & saw over a hundred dead ones !! F&G wont close anything & its damn apparent from this last hunting season !!

 

[elkboy32]

I am breathing a sigh of relief after last winter. My yard had 5 feet in it at the end of January. My chickens were pecking grass this morning. I find it slightly amusing the deer numbers are "so down on the winter range" this year. I saw a group of does yesterday sitting on a ridge at 9,500 feet. The deer in my area are still on the summer range. So I would guess not seeing winter deer is more a symptom of lack of winter vs lack of deer. But I have heard regionally the western part of the state is struggling. But not doom and gloom statewide.

 

[BPKHunter]

Wow 9500'.

Cool!

 

[Outdoordan]

+1 Elkboy, that was what I was eluding to in my post was that they are NOT on winter range, atleast in large numbers. Many of the deer that would be on winter range are still in transitional range. So, pretty hard to say that deer numbers are good or bad when they aren't on traditional winter range. The deer I saw were at about 7-8000'.

 

[kickerbuck]

I live in Oregon and so far so good here too, at least out east. Every day that goes by that is mild is one day closer to spring, so that's a good thing for the deer. Especially the fawns that were dropped last May/June. I guess we need to hope a mild winter continues then hope for a wet spring for good summer range conditions.