Ouch, Sad to see...

[ColoradoV]

Well hate to report this but fair to say at this point we will all soon be talking of the big winter kill year of 15-16 in the Gunnison basin.. Deer are literally walking through tunnels of snow and having to dig through 4' of snow to even see the tops of the sage on much of the winter grounds. Most of the sage is completely under the snow leaving little to no feed. Some of them were in snow to the top of their backs and I would have taken some pics but did not want to stress them out even more as jumping through that much snow burns a lot of energy.

Coyotes and eagles will be well fed you can already see the stress on this years fawns. Add in the -20 + windchill for the next week and this will be the worst winter for the animals since 2007/08. The CPW was so late in feeding them in 07/8 that many died and I hope they might get some feed to save a few.

Shitty deal for the animals for sure and at this point the winter kill will be real.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Sad deal for sure, but that's natures way.

 

[TimberJunkie]

They are tough. At least the can dig for feed. If it hardens and freezes they are really screwed. It's natural though, and although sad, the animals will bounce back, hopefully nobody tries to start feeding them. It's been proven time and time again, that the animals will die even faster if the are fed. Eastern Montana lost about 80% of their deer and antelope in 2011 winterkill and EHD outbreaks, but they have overcome and are almost back to the 2010 populations.

Maybe a warm spell of weather will melt everything off soon.

 

[packmule]

That's no bueno.

 

[FlaFlatlander]

Please keep us posted. I was contemplating hunting that area this coming year but always seems like I always hear your should have been here a couple years ago. Just my luck!

 

[Finsandtines]

Damn, thought I was the only fla guy! I too am looking at this region for next year. Definitely keeping an eye out. I am heading to breck to ski in a week so will definitely look at a little closer.

 

[Matthoek21]

Wow! I hate to hear that history may repeat itself so soon. We've all been waiting on this area to bounce back. Not good!

 

[ElkTrout]

Man, not what I wanted to hear! Hopefully it will not be as severe as the last time!


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[Gr8bawana]

Unfortunately it does happen sometimes, that's nature.
We recently had someone here saying there was never eough snow.

 

[ILbowhunter17]

I seen Pictures of the snow its crazy how deep! only good thing suppose to warm up this next week!

 

[sheephunter]

Article in the Grand Junction paper today about the deer situation. They did not mention the Gunnison Valley area, but mentioned Routt, Rio Blanco, and I think Garfield counties, as well as Eagle/Pitkin counties. Parks & Wildlife has certain criteria that must be met before they start feeding, and whatever the criteria is, it has not been met yet. I personally know the CPW guy that was quoted in the article and I believe what he says. Undoubtedly there will be some winter kill in the next few months but I trust CPW to do what's right for the resource. It's a crummy deal for wildlife sometimes, especially deer herds, as soon as the snow gets to a certain depth they start starving, and it's a race as to whether they survive 'til the spring snowmelt. The late spring storms we all hope for so there is adequate water for the summer can be real deer killers.

 

[MOhunter28]

Not to familiar with the names of the areas but around what GMUs (roughly) are those?

 

[RICMIC]

Not to familiar with the names of the areas but around what GMUs (roughly) are those?

Those areas quoted by county cover game units: 5,13,441,214,21,22,30,31,32,25,26,35,44,43,47. If you have the GMU map, it also shows the county lines if you can read the fine print. It's generally a good idea to wait closer to the application deadline before putting in for your tags so that you have the most information. Don't wait until the last minute though in case of website problems or a brain fart on your end.

 

[BossBrott]

I too hate history to repeat itself esp in the same area for generations of animals.
May the 07/08/15/16 winter kill attribute to a stronger and larger herd in 2020.

 

[88man]

It would be great if someone in the areas affected keeps the forum updated on the matter. Are the temps cold also? Or is it just deep snow currently.

 

[Granby guy]

It would be great if someone in the areas affected keeps the forum updated on the matter. Are the temps cold also? Or is it just deep snow currently.

Some areas are much worse than others. At least it's supposed to be warm and dry the next few weeks.

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[grant_stricklin]

Hope its warmed up around there sounds like a bad deal week ago.

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[sheephunter]

Hope its warmed up around there sounds like a bad deal week ago.

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Colorado River is pretty muddy so there must be some snow melting somewhere. It's not very high yet though, it'll be a while before the snow really starts coming off...and there's still time for some killer spring storms to blow through.

 

[mnhoundman]

Supposed to be way above average temperature's, hopefully a lot it will disappear! Fast!

 

[cotim]

They started feeding in Dec of 07. I saw 500 deer next to the road between Sargent and gunny.