Disastrous winter in Gunnison

[ColoradoV]

Well it is going to be a disastrous winter for the deer in the Gunnison basin this year. Regional biologists say they are expecting a minim 40% and possibly much higher mortality rate for adult female deer at this point and much higher for bucks and younger deer.

Never seen anything like this snow. Deer are tough but this is a different situation it is time for CPW to start to feed...

There is 2 or 3 times the snow in Gunnison than other parts of the state as literally Crested Butte was and epicenter of this storm that is going to last another week. The snow is over the 3rd rung on the barb wire and will soon all cattle fences will be under. There is no sage to eat as of now and with the warm way this storm came in a thick crust sits on about 2' of snow. Worst case for the deer here.

This storm will likely end up being a 100 year event and it is the most snowpack ever on record for the Gunnison area with 54 55 and 551 taking the biggest hit.

Please if you care call the regional CPW office and have them get a semi of the right pellets for the locals to spread around it is time to feed to maybe save a few of the deer for future re-population. A crowd funding site has been set up to draw attention and help feeding the deer. https://www.gofundme.com/save-gunnison-wildlife

Some of you boys that were bitchin about the bad weather for the 3rd and 4th season were actually real real lucky you picked last year to hunt as I see no way there will be a continuance of 4th season hunts in the Gunnison Basin for many years to come. Might be time to shut down all deer hunting for a year or 3 after this year as IT IS THAT BAD!

Sad news and there is no road map for the basin at this point as there has never been a storm like this and this one is supposed to last another week with up to 2' more snow falling. This winter is already catastrophic on the deer and maybe if we feed a few in 6-8 years we will see the basin start to come back again at this point that is all we can hope for.

 

[kidoggy]

that's the way of nature.least the coyotes will be eating well.

 

[WELDO]

It is sad how mother nature works however deer have been around a long long time! I surely feel your sentiment however

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Down here in the San Juans the situation is not so serious. Our irrigation company meeting is next week and I was talking to one of my shooting friends who is also a board member. He told me that the current snow report is close to 200% of normal for this time of the year. This is from the snotel sites up in the high country, not in the winter grounds for deer & elk, which are at much lower elevation.

I live at 6800' and we have very little snow on the ground. We have had quite a bit up to now, but Monday we got over I 1/2" of rain and most of the snow went to mud. It snowed a little last nigh and the forecast is for snow the next 3 days. The ground is saturated and if it gets cold and freezes and seals off the moisture in the ground from evaporating, we could have a great spring. It bodes well for all the vegetation.

I am going to try to get a little road trip one day next week to a prime wintering area near me where I hunt 4th season (when I can get a tag LOL!). Just want to get an idea of what the situation is like there. It is mostly sage winter grounds for deer & elk who migrate there from the San Juans. I'll let everyone know what I see. Down here in the SW area, it looks to me like the moisture will be great. The only thing that concerns me is historically most of our snow really comes as spring moisture. if we get some big snows in March, it could be bad. At that time of winter, the animals are stressed the most and are most vulnerable.

 

[B&C Blacktails]

That is some scary news. If it is as bad as it seems, I would support a deer hunt closure. Let's hope the feed pellets will help!

 

[jjennings]

My planned archery elk hunt for GMU 53 might change a little this coming year??? I knew the snow was deep there so far, but not that deep

 

[gypsumreaper]

Honestly I know hate to do it but someone that is part of this go fund me needs to send an email to PETA, and any other tree hugger organization. Just don't bring up it's gonna devistate our hunting. I bet that as soon as that go fund me is shared across their pages it will blow up. But like I said make it for the animals not about the hunting. Just my 2 cents but I bet it would make a world of difference


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[buckbull]

What exactly is the gofundme money suppose to be used for? Illegal for anyone but CDW to feed game animals.

http://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/do-not-feed-wildlife.aspx

 

[Tim McCoy]

What exactly is the gofundme money suppose to be used for? Illegal for anyone but CDW to feed game animals.

http://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/do-not-feed-wildlife.aspx

Don't know for sure, but my guess is the go fund me deal is making donations to CPW to help fund the feeding.

 

[JimP]

The Gunnison basin has always had bad winters. I remember when I first moved to Colorado in the mid 80's they were feeding the deer and elk and every year after that for quite a while. But even with the winter kill the herds come back fairly quickly down there.

 

[packmule]

Rumored it's worse than 08 already.


How's the water situation? That'll make or break the supplemental feeding.

 

[BleuBijou]

Not likely any Jury in Gunnison County would ever convict any private feeder at this point. Point creep in other units is going up!!! i donated and I know some non hunters that have as well that live on the front range.Units most likely impacted will be 66-67-551-55-54.

 

[ColoradoV]

Doubt point creep in other units will go up outside of the basin too much but there should be huge tag cuts in the Gunnison basin deer tags. No way there should be any 4th seasons after this and I would hope big cuts to all other seasons. I would not waste points on a gunny unit for the next 4-5 years after this winter or until I could see with my own eyes that some deer numbers had returned. Not sure if you remember but after 08 some of or most reputable outfitters stopped offering guided deer hunts and I would think the same would happen in 17'.

I was intimately involved with the 2008 winter and yea this one is worse at this point. To put this winter in perspective the real data on this winter also makes it hunting terms - harder on the deer than any winter in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's or now in the teens... Or this winter is the biggest on scientific record at this point for THIS GENERATION - the biggest - bigger than any story that old pops told around the campfire as this storm/winter is the new benchmark...

Also a biiiigggg difference is that in the 70's-00's there were not even 10% of the houses on the winter grounds from transplants complete with 6' fences and a barking lab to either keep the deer off or fenced out of prime winter grounds. Or development on the winter grounds makes a huge difference on years like this.

Maybe we will get some luck and a sunny month to melt some of the snow but it is a long shot at this point. The storms t his winter did center just like 08 over the Crested Butte and Gunnison town area so again 54,55, and 551 will be the hardest hit as 66, and 67 winter grounds are doing better at this point.

Also I do not think anyone feeding the proper feed would get a ticket at this point and I am in no way connected to the crowd funding site. I used my time to call the CPW and biologists talk with them and go that route as us older guys seem to do better getting attention that way. I was told of no plans to feed the deer by cpw at this point.

Well enough doom and gloom I am going to take the daughter out skiing today for some laughs as the skiing is well the best it has been this generation.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

People in the area who are contemplating helping the deer by supplemental feed, should do a little research first. Yes we all know that here in Colorado it's illegal to do it and as such you can expect little or no help from state wildlife folks. The real problem is that a lot of what is available to feed is probably not good for the deer's digestive system. I am not a biologist, but I have read (and heard) that they cannot properly digest at lot of the hay and pellet types that are fed to domestic livestock, in fact it is possibly fatal to the deer. Be very careful and do some research, ask a veterinarian or a wildlife biologist before you buy something and put it out for them.

Just sayin...........

 

[sheephunter]

Yes, I've read that a deer will actually starve to death with it's belly full of hay, as their digestive system changes in winter months and they cannot process what they would eat at other times of the year. I've been in touch with my CPW contact in the area where I hunt and he says although the upper valleys are being hit hard, the deer are known to migrate to lower elevation areas and at this point they're not too concerned. Big storms in March/April could certainly change that though. And there's the difference in the area I hunt versus the Gunnison area units, I don't think there are many lower elevation areas for the deer to migrate to in that area.
My buddy was snowmobiling in the area we hunted and sent me a picture of the campground we set up in, all you could see was the very top of the outhouse, and that was before the last storm went through.

 

[packmule]

People in the area who are contemplating helping the deer by supplemental feed, should do a little research first. Yes we all know that here in Colorado it's illegal to do it and as such you can expect little or no help from state wildlife folks. The real problem is that a lot of what is available to feed is probably not good for the deer's digestive system. I am not a biologist, but I have read (and heard) that they cannot properly digest at lot of the hay and pellet types that are fed to domestic livestock, in fact it is possibly fatal to the deer. Be very careful and do some research, ask a veterinarian or a wildlife biologist before you buy something and put it out for them.

Just sayin...........

You heard correct.

 

[Gr8bawana]

It is sad how mother nature works however deer have been around a long long time! I surely feel your sentiment however

While people don't like to see this happen, it is the way nature works and has always worked. There have always been extra bad winters every once in a while and yet the deer still recover. Their biggest obstacle is the freeways, roads and fences blocking the migration routes and then they find human developments in their wintering grounds.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Another thing to remember is that when mother nature takes a hand in things like this, it helps the gene pool by taking the weakest animals.

Tough to see, but down the road something good will happen because of this situation.

 

[Granby guy]

It's not just down around Gunnison here around Granby we have more snow than I have ever seen in January. We haven't had the cold we usually do but the snow is real heavy with a real thick hard crust. It isn't looking good.

 

[rcfireninja]

I have been following this thread about the weather due to elk hunting this year around vail. It's not looking like the best year to go. I read that almost all areas are around 150% for snow pack which is a once in a great while event. This has me considering A Wyoming elk hunt more or deer hunt in North Dakota .


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