How bad is the winter kill???

[flatlander51]

Planning a hunt to co. Eagle county and usually try to hunt region h Wyoming. Any locals out there have any insight on winter kill numbers for this year?

 

[wyosteve]

Just saw a headline in the Casper paper this morning. They are starting to experience winter kill in northeast and southwest Wyoming.

 

[Southforkguy]

I cannot believe this isnt the top headline on Rokslide, rather. Im new to hunting plesse help pick my unit... lol

 

[bsaoneshot]

From central Wyoming. We got hammered in the last snow storm. It then melted, froze the top layer, and the winds didn’t blow it away as usual. So the deer are going to have trouble getting to feed. Great for grass later, but not right now.

 

[Ftguides]

Eagle and Pitkin there is going to be some, but as of now it looks limited to me. Some of the deer are in poor body condition. Partly our heavy snows, but also weak leader growth on the winter range browse from last year's drought. I personally think some of the subherds will have more issues than others.

In terms of persistent predation from lions, I've never seen a year like this.

 

[ColoradoV]

In the Gunnison basin there will be winter klll as well. The deer are looking pretty rough and as was said what winter range browse there was is gone. Still 3ish feet of snow w thick crust on a lot of winter range. Deer are competing w elk for food.. Not as bad as 08 and 17 but not good...

X2 on the coyotes and lions as they hammer the deer on years like this. Saw a group of 10+ coyotes running on top of the snow all fat and happy.

Not going to help that it looks like like 2 more storms are lined up for the next week. Time to go skiing.

 

[Longrifle]

Like another said, I figured this would have been one of the hottest topics on here. Terrible, extreme weather in the Wyoming, Montana, Dakotas, Nebraska. Lot of animals suffering.

 

[Fatcamp]

In the Gunnison basin there will be winter klll as well. The deer are looking pretty rough and as was said what winter range browse there was is gone. Still 3ish feet of snow w thick crust on a lot of winter range. Deer are competing w elk for food.. Not as bad as 08 and 17 but not good...

X2 on the coyotes and lions as they hammer the deer on years like this. Saw a group of 10+ coyotes running on top of the snow all fat and happy.

Not going to help that it looks like like 2 more storms are lined up for the next week. Time to go skiing.

Sounds like it's time to go coyote hunting.

 

[robby denning]

Like another said, I figured this would have been one of the hottest topics on here. Terrible, extreme weather in the Wyoming, Montana, Dakotas, Nebraska. Lot of animals suffering.

It can’t be a hot topic if people don’t bring it up. We’ve had one thread going on Idaho winterkill for over a month. Just needed to hear from some Colorado guys.

 

[robby denning]

I’ve heard lots of snow form one guy in the Pinedale Wy area, competing with depths seen in ‘17. Some of those are H deer. Wondering if anyone can confirm it. It sounded weird to me because in 2017 that country was pushing 200% of snowpack by February, but they’re nowhere near that right now. But I’m no expert at reading the weather charts. Need @Josh Boyd to chime in. Hahahah sorry Josh!

 

[Josh Boyd]

I’ve heard lots of snow form one guy in the Pinedale Wy area, competing with depths seen in ‘17. Some of those are H deer. Wondering if anyone can confirm it. It sounded weird to me because in 2017 that country was pushing 200% of snowpack by February, but they’re nowhere near that right now. But I’m no expert at reading the weather charts. Need @Josh Boyd to chime in. Hahahah sorry Josh!

I did a little digging into the western Wyoming snow reports. The Upper Green River is at 101% of normal for March 21st. In 2017 the basin was at 175% of normal for the same day. The Snake River is at 112% this year compared to 153% in 2017.
In other words the monitored basins in the west half of the state vary from 56% - 86% of where they were in 2017 which is significantly less. Unless there is another massive storm that dumps on the winter ranges I wouldn't worry too much about a large winter kill.

 

[robby denning]

I did a little digging into the western Wyoming snow reports. The Upper Green River is at 101% of normal for March 21st. In 2017 the basin was at 175% of normal for the same day. The Snake River is at 112% this year compared to 153% in 2017.
In other words the monitored basins in the west half of the state vary from 56% - 86% of where they were in 2017 which is significantly less. Unless there is another massive storm that dumps on the winter ranges I wouldn't worry too much about a large winter kill.

Josh, you are the bearer of good news. Thanks.

For those who don't know, Josh is a professional Hydrologist so I always lean on him for interpreting these snowpack reports. I'm figuring them out but always had a hard time comparing them to previous year's as they are "to the day", so 200% of normal on January 15 doesn't mean the same as 200% on Feb 10. Thanks Josh!

 

[wyoguy]

The February storms defiantly brought a pile of snow but the warmer weather this past week has started to melt some holes on the south facing slopes. I haven't been out into any of the winter ranges recently but the snow pack to me seems above average for this time of year. Hopefully the deer pull out ok.

 

[wyodan]

It's not as bad as the winter of 16/17 in Pinedale, but it's quite a bit worse on winter range than average.

 

[wyodan]

I did a little digging into the western Wyoming snow reports. The Upper Green River is at 101% of normal for March 21st. In 2017 the basin was at 175% of normal for the same day. The Snake River is at 112% this year compared to 153% in 2017.
In other words the monitored basins in the west half of the state vary from 56% - 86% of where they were in 2017 which is significantly less. Unless there is another massive storm that dumps on the winter ranges I wouldn't worry too much about a large winter kill.

Josh, is your data coming from the snowtel sites? When I check that, all the sites are located in our mountains. I feel that isn't exactly indicative of what is happening on the winter range in the area.

 

[Josh Boyd]

Josh, is your data coming from the snowtel sites? When I check that, all the sites are located in our mountains. I feel that isn't exactly indicative of what is happening on the winter range in the area.

That’s a very valid point. The basin wide averages I listed are a quick snapshot of a basin and usually cover the high and mid elevation snow numbers with automated snotel readings. But they do offer a way to compare years at the same sites. I did look at the manual snow course survey numbers as well which usually give a better overall view of the mid to low elevations....but they are not real-time so there can be some differences since the last measurement. Although the March 1st manual readings are very similar to the real-time readings. I’m only talking Snow Water Equivalents not depth which plays into density...that is whole other conversation.


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[wyodan]

That’s a very valid point. The basin wide averages I listed are a quick snapshot of a basin and usually cover the high and mid elevation snow numbers with automated snotel readings. But they do offer a way to compare years at the same sites. I did look at the manual snow course survey numbers as well which usually give a better overall view of the mid to low elevations....but they are not real-time so there can be some differences since the last measurement. Although the March 1st manual readings are very similar to the real-time readings. I’m only talking Snow Water Equivalents not depth which plays into density...that is whole other conversation.


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How do I find the manual snow course survey numbers? It's been over 10 years since I had a hydrology course, so I'm not very up on it. I was looking at snow water equivalents too.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Starting to see a greater than average number of dead deer on and close to the roads in my opinion. Even with the snow burning off on the south slopes they aren't out of the danger zone yet.

 

[bluetick78]

Eastern Idaho is experiencing winterkill, I'm seeing it. How much - don't know. The 2 small herds I've been watching on private land at about 5500' have lost about 50%. The way I look at it, we were at roughly 50% of 2016 population numbers going into the 2018/2019 winter. Any winterkill this year will put us back to the very low numbers of fall '17. Fish and Game has curtailed either sex tags and shortened youth opportunity for antler less harvest. Weather these numbers will cause concern for sportsmen planning hunts is yet to be seen, but it doesn't seem to slow down the hunter numbers much. I live in eastern Idaho, and I will not be hunting mulies here this year. There are other parts of the state that will not experience the winterkill as badly, and that's where I'll attempt to fill my tag.
As for Western Wyoming I would assume it'll be very similar to Eastern Idaho, but I'll let the sportsmen with firsthand knowledge speak to that.

 

[sneaky]

It's still deep enough in Jackson that moose are using the roadways to avoid the snow depth. Saw these two on the same road about 5min apart. The one on the yellow line literally disappeared once it finally left the roadway. Seemed like driving from IF through Wilson and Hoback down through Star Valley to Soda that around 6100ft was where the greatest depth change was noted. If we get a quick warm up it's gonna be a mess with flooding, but a gradual warm up is going to be hard on deer for a bit yet. Magic Valley region is faring much better than SE Idaho for access to forage.

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