Alaska Winter Kill

[AK_Skeeter]

This was about 15 feet high on the edge of our driveway:

Moose was standing on a 10 foot high snowbank...
This cow survived and spent 2 days trying to find browse around our house last weekend:


Surprisingly, a friend in town saw a cow with twin calves yesterday.

 

[Voyageur]

This was about 15 feet high on the edge of our driveway:
View attachment 410929
Moose was standing on a 10 foot high snowbank...
This cow survived and spent 2 days trying to find browse around our house last weekend:
View attachment 410930

Surprisingly, a friend in town saw a cow with twin calves yesterday.

Thanks for the update. I'm always wondering how spring is progressing up north.

 

[VernAK]

We still have too much snow to get back on the trails but it appears Delta has a serious wildlife loss. I've found 8 dead bison just from my pickup and ADFG has reports of 50+ from road kill and haystack areas. Moose will be much more scattered.

It is encouraging that Skeeter had twins in his area.

As a reference; last year we put out our bear bait on May 6th. Yesterday, May 13, we checked out the trail to our bait site and there was 4' of snow on the trail. We will be 3 weeks late getting the bait out.

 

[AKDoc]

A typical Alaska winter is long and tough enough for wildlife, but this one really stands out even more dramatically, especially further north in your areas. Tough to hear guys. Signs of fresh moose browse on the bark of trees is a common sight, but 15 feet up...that's nothing I've ever seen Skeeter!! Vern, I don't think I've ever heard that high a number for Bison winter/road-kill in one year...very troubling.

 

[VernAK]

A typical Alaska winter is long and tough enough for wildlife, but this one really stands out even more dramatically, especially further north in your areas. Tough to hear guys. Signs of fresh moose browse on the bark of trees is a common sight, but 15 feet up...that's nothing I've ever seen Skeeter!! Vern, I don't think I've ever heard that high a number for Bison winter/road-kill in one year...very troubling.

Another week and I hope to get out on some trails and hope to get a better idea of how bad the situation is. Bison herds travel established trails and should the dead should be easy to find from an ATV whereas the moose dead will be scattered widely.

Pilots are telling me that they are seeing a few sheep but it will be well into June before they get a better count.

We did see the first robin yesterday and cranes filled the sky........all 10-14 days behind last year.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

Very unfortunate. I was happy to see adfg save some face and refund me my 30 bucks for the cow hunt up there since they cancelled it. Wonder how the mccomb herd handled the winter

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[oenanthe]

I felled some aspen trees in the yard a few days ago (Goldstream), and a moose cow has shown up several times to feed on the budding limbs. Her hips and ribs are showing, but I think she'll make it. I know of six moose carcasses within a few miles of my house. Never seen anything like it in 30 years here.

 

[frank church guy]

I appreciate this thread. I think the Alaska are guys the best guys on this forum. Bad winters happen. It sucxks. The winters arn't probably as bad as the were 10,000 years ago closer to the ice age. I hate it because I am going on my first moose hunt ever. But a bad winter closer to what is normal, is better than a less than normal winter where everyone will complain about fires. And it is still not making me any less excited about coming to your state to have the honor of chasing moose in the "bush"!

 

[AKDoc]

I appreciate this thread. I think the Alaska are guys the best guys on this forum...

Very kind of you to say that to us...you are going to have a great adventure up here!. Looking forward to hearing of your trip this fall.

There are countless really, really good 'sliders on this website of many different zip codes.

 

[Rural Alaskan]

Copper valley doesn’t seem to have the kill that others have despite the record snow year. Of course, Paxton still has 10 ft of snow on the denali so I’m sure the kill there is substantial. I got a road kill bull the other day from mile 56 Rich and he was thick. I have a few cows around my house and they all look good. Saw a big old bull when I was out looking for a bear. He was well filled out.

Coyote poop along the Tonsina emerging from the snow looks good too. Lots of hair, lots of poop. Rabbit population is down but a lot of guys didn’t trap this year so we could be looking pretty good for fur next year too.

 

[frank church guy]

Very kind of you to say that to us...you are going to have a great adventure up here!. Looking forward to hearing of your trip this fall.

There are countless really, really good 'sliders on this website... zip codes aside.

I started a moose calling thread when i joined, and you guys were very helpful. When I get done with my hunt/trip, I will post the adventure, I am beyond excited. and when I do post all the pictures will be of the hunt and not the area or mountians. So winters happen, some worse than others, some better than others but it is the hunt I desire, the experince and the privalage of walking through that beautiful
country that you all get to enjoy. it is amazing what we desire when get older

 

[Kevin Dill]

My pilot told me there's not a single living moose remaining in the valley I hunt. I asked him about other areas and he told me Doc's, Vern's and Havard's locations are crawling with +50s. Well....he said they'll be +50 at some future point!

 

[AK_Skeeter]

I appreciate this thread. I think the Alaska are guys the best guys on this forum. Bad winters happen. It sucxks. The winters arn't probably as bad as the were 10,000 years ago closer to the ice age. I hate it because I am going on my first moose hunt ever. But a bad winter closer to what is normal, is better than a less than normal winter where everyone will complain about fires. And it is still not making me any less excited about coming to your state to have the honor of chasing moose in the "bush"!

The big difference compared to the 1980s-1990s bad winters was winter rain events and 2 thick layers of ice in the snowpack.

 

[VernAK]

At this time of year, I take a morning drive to observe the myriad of migrating birds as the few barley fields here are a very major attractant. This year I had my first sighting of a blue phase snow goose and snow goose numbers are increasing rapidly.

On these morning drives, I've been watching five bison in a friend's pasture. Yesterday there were only three so I walked out in the field and found the other two dead. Even after the snow is gone on the fields, they don't rebound immediately. Friends report seeing bison cows drop a calf and walk off with the herd leaving the calf.
It's not a pretty sight!

We're hoping the Avian Flu doesn't wipe out our birds also.

 

[AK Troutbum]

There are countless really, really good 'sliders on this website of many different zip codes.

No doubt, but 907 is the best area code.

 

[AKDoc]

No doubt, but 907 is the best area code.

Right on brother...one of the best decisions in my life!

 

[John Havard]

More than seeing lots of bulls where I hunt I care most about the overall health of the moose and caribou herds in general. Having said that, there’s a reason that Alaska/Yukon moose are the biggest - they had to evolve that way in order to survive. Same with Iron County Michigan white tails. Other examples exist all over the globe as well. Tough winters demand big strong animals. I am hoping for the best everywhere in God’s country.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

At this time of year, I take a morning drive to observe the myriad of migrating birds as the few barley fields here are a very major attractant. This year I had my first sighting of a blue phase snow goose and snow goose numbers are increasing rapidly.

On these morning drives, I've been watching five bison in a friend's pasture. Yesterday there were only three so I walked out in the field and found the other two dead. Even after the snow is gone on the fields, they don't rebound immediately. Friends report seeing bison cows drop a calf and walk off with the herd leaving the calf.
It's not a pretty sight!

We're hoping the Avian Flu doesn't wipe out our birds also.

You have quite the background for migrating waterfowl.

I'm guessing the winter impacted Bison the most, then moose, then caribou, then sheep.
We did have caribou in our neighborhood for the first time since the bad winter of 91/92.
Lots of food for wolves and lots of winter kill for bears emerging from dens.

 

[Macmathews]

Unreal

 

[AK_Skeeter]

18-May-2022 Budburst and green-up finally below 1000 feet elevation.
Still quite a snowpack above 2000 feet elevation:

This little bull survived the winter: