Winterkill

[Ridgerunner]

The snow is really piling up on the key winter ranges, how bad do you guys think this winter will get on the deer this year? 

I'm hoping its not as bad as 96/97 but I'm starting to get a little nervous. 

[Stein]

I had the same thoughts, I'm afraid to look at the snowpack in MT and WY.

It probably depends a bunch on how long it stays super deep.  At least we haven't had bitter cold yet.

[Bullkllr]

A couple good chinooks soon would not hurt at all.

[HighCountryHunter88]

ive been nervous, if it warms up and then freezes its gona be f@*&$d

[hunter399]

Although I would like to never see a winter kill deer or elk or moose, nature will rebound one way or another.

[MtnMuley]

Not an issue as of yet even though the snow is deep. It's powder and they can still get through to their feed. Forecast is calling for above freezing temps tomorrow which could be trouble, but I'm hoping the heavy predicted winds open a few things up for them before the melt starts.

[jstone]

Should be great time to look for predators

[eliandsky]

In Cashmere I’ve seen them on steep hill sides under trees and tracks through the snow. It’s legit deep however. Hoping this doesn’t crust over


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[buckcanyonlodge]

Should be great time to look for predators

A friend in Yakima recently went out calling coyotes. In four set-ups they called in 17 coyote and shot 7 of them.

[Seabass]

In 2008 or 2009 we broke all the snow records on the books in E. Washington. I don’t remember how much snow we had that year but it was 6-7 feet in total. I killed a PILE of dogs that year. It was fun!

[BKMFR]

13 Coyotes in 4 days..... Begging to come to the right set-up...this late in the game, not any set-up will be successful, but the super cold nights of last week helped...
Shoot straight! :-)

[bigmacc]

Ive told the story before about the 1968 winter in the Methow, worst I've ever seen, my grandparents had seen a couple back in the 20,s and 30,s but the 68 winter took the cake Imo. My dad and I were visiting some friends, the sun was out, I think it was in the 30,s , it was a beautiful Methow day. The wind shifted and came out of the north(actually blew in from the Frazier up north) my dad said "its gonna get cold". He was right, he just didn't know how fast or how cold. If I remember right in the matter of a few hours the temperature had a 70 something degree swing, it went from the plus 30,s to minus 40, a flash freeze. You could hear the orchards exploding, trees were popping left and right, sounded like a war going on. Pipes froze, engine blocks froze, livestock froze, some standing up, leaning against buildings. I remember my dad and I driving around with an old 8mm movie camera during the next days, he got film of ranchers etc bulldozing dead livestock into piles, dozens of deer, including huge bucks huddled around compressors on the back of businesses to keep warm. Coyotes running down deer on the rock hard snow, the deer would bust through the snow and the yotes would run them down like they were running on cement, I've never seen anything like it and up until my dad passed a couple years ago, he hadn't either. There were blood spots all over in the fields from dead deer, crows, magpies and every other scavenger were having their day. I remember the 3 of us killed probably 20 or so yotes over about a 3 day span, they were thick because of all the winter kill laying on the hill sides and in fields. I remember a couple weeks after the flash freeze, we seen probably 15 or so dead deer on one ridge that was about 4 miles long, that was just in the openings, who knows what was in the timber. I don't remember the kill estimate from that winter in the Methow, 10-12 thousand seems to ring a bell

Weve been involved with feedings during a few of the bad winters, one the 70,s and the late 90,s to name a couple, had hundreds of deer block me from getting out of my truck after a game fella friend sent us to a particular orchard in the south valley, there was so much snow in the north valley it had pushed 80-90% of the herd to the south, from about Twisp to the Columbia River. We drove into the orchard, the game department had cut the gate and plowed a drive into the orchard, that particular winter it was snow depth that was wreaking havoc on the herd, the orchard we went into was off the Burma road and had about 2-3 foot of snow in it. Snow depth in parts of the north valley had places with 6-8 feet! The game department had subsidized some orchard owners and cut the fences to let the deer in to feed on the trees, the deer actually had trenches cut into the snow all through the orchard, you could only see their heads walking through the snow. I pulled in, they knew why we were there, a couple hundred starving deer surrounded my truck and were actually trying to get in the back to get to the pellets! I couldn't even open my door, had to crawl out through the window to get in the back of the truck! That was a bad one also but like I said, because of snow, which is what worries me about this winter in the Methow, this herd can't take much more.

[elksnout]

8'' of rain today at Swift Reservoir's weather station. Thats just straight south of Mt.St.Helens which is winter range in the Lewis River valley. The Washougal River is running wild today with snow melt, so I'd say the snow is coming off pretty quickly at least in SW Washinton.


elksnout

[Dan-o]

Should be great time to look for predators

A friend in Yakima recently went out calling coyotes. In four set-ups they called in 17 coyote and shot 7 of them.

 

[meatwhack]

I don’t think any of this will be a problem unless it gets a decent amount of rain on it and then freezes hard for a couple weeks then we may have issues.