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| Twispriver:
The winter range in the Methow is forever changed and we'll never see the migrations or the deer numbers the way they once were. What used to be large private holdings are now small parcels each with their own homes, fences and free range dogs. Throw in predators and its no wonder you see more deer in town than in their historical haunts. |
| bigmacc:
--- Quote from: Twispriver on February 16, 2022, 06:27:56 PM ---The winter range in the Methow is forever changed and we'll never see the migrations or the deer numbers the way they once were. What used to be large private holdings are now small parcels each with their own homes, fences and free range dogs. Throw in predators and its no wonder you see more deer in town than in their historical haunts. --- End quote --- This is a valid statement and I will add that when we no longer had a "Game Department", this was a huge factor also. Ive said it many times that the downfall of this particular herd (IMO) has been multi pronged. Predators and how they have been mis-managed, lack of management of the herd as a priority(when we had a Game Department it was) and like you basically said, encroachment. The Methow herd like I've said numbered and fluctuated anywhere between 30,000-40,000 head in its hay-days, they say now its in the 14,000-17,000 range, others who know this herd, have a history with it, including myself may tell you those numbers may be a tad high.Some say a more realistic number is in the 12,000 range(give or take). I myself tend to agree with the later. Ether estimates are a drastic decline of this once historic/famous herd. It truly is a shame to have witnessed those hay days first hand and see it where its at today, the memories of seeing 100,200,300 or more on any given day or seeing herds of that many or more migrating through a saddle or down a draw, all in one bunch during hunting season, are just that, memories. :twocents: |
| Twispriver:
The loss of all the bitterbrush in the fires over the last ten years has really changed where I see deer in the winter up the Twisp River drainage and along the old Twisp Carlton road. I think that was an important food source for them and it seems to be really slow to grow back. |
| OutHouse:
--- Quote from: Twispriver on February 17, 2022, 06:16:02 PM ---The loss of all the bitterbrush in the fires over the last ten years has really changed where I see deer in the winter up the Twisp River drainage and along the old Twisp Carlton road. I think that was an important food source for them and it seems to be really slow to grow back. --- End quote --- I think this is spot on as well as many other accounts here. I remember reading something about how crucial the bitter brush is and the fires to include the Carlton Complex ruined a lot of that. |
| bigmacc:
--- Quote from: OutHouse on February 18, 2022, 11:33:34 AM --- --- Quote from: Twispriver on February 17, 2022, 06:16:02 PM ---The loss of all the bitterbrush in the fires over the last ten years has really changed where I see deer in the winter up the Twisp River drainage and along the old Twisp Carlton road. I think that was an important food source for them and it seems to be really slow to grow back. --- End quote --- I think this is spot on as well as many other accounts here. I remember reading something about how crucial the bitter brush is and the fires to include the Carlton Complex ruined a lot of that. --- End quote --- It definitely is a big issue that comes back to kind of what I said earlier, we don’t have a “Game Department” anymore so the herd is not priority number 1. My dad used to tell stories and I remember it also that after fires in areas the Game Department would hand out bags of bitter brush seeds to folks who purchased a deer tag, heck I remember Game fellas we knew coming up to camp and handing out packs of seeds to everybody, my dad remembers areas that he and other relatives seeded, he would point to a hillside full of feed and say, “Little Bellingham Camp did that” :tup:, like I say, back when we had a Game Department. |
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