• Just a heads up: On November 13th, we'll be performing some updates on the website. You might experience some unresponsive pages, though we’re hoping for minimal disruption. Thanks for your understanding!

Do the deer ever recover after this winter?

fullthrottle

fullthrottle

Very Active Member
Messages
1,382
Beginning to wonder if the deer will ever recover from the winter of 2022/2023. It's looking rough out there, and the storms just keep coming. 5 of the next 7 days within 75 miles of the southwest corner of Wyoming show snow. Some areas have already seen upwards of 70% loss of total deer (fawns & adults). Numbers before this winter were already way less than impressive, and now mother nature kicks it into overdrive. Even the elk are getting their butts kicked. Not good.
 
They really never did after 1983-1984 but that year was worse in the fact that they went into the winter in bad shape.
Atleast this year they started in good condition.
Let's just hope they do but there is going to be some big losses in some areas.
 
fullthrottle said:
Beginning to wonder if the deer will ever recover from the winter of 2022/2023. It's looking rough out there, and the storms just keep coming. 5 of the next 7 days within 75 miles of the southwest corner of Wyoming show snow. Some areas have already seen upwards of 70% loss of total deer (fawns & adults). Numbers before this winter were already way less than impressive, and now mother nature kicks it into overdrive. Even the elk are getting their butts kicked. Not good.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen a 70% loss anywhere. Can you provide a link? Thanks
 
Outside of Idaho Falls. Been a lot of snow, but they are fairly resilient and fight back hard.

A00C41E1-6805-44A7-8C18-6AE7624A2ED6.jpeg


6BCA3F84-C4EA-4D3E-AC25-29EC15F4ECCD.jpeg
 
Time will tell...I would not hang my hat on predicting what the future holds for wildlife populations.
 
JPblind said:
People talk the same talk every hard winter but it won't stop them from getting as many tags as possible in multiple states. Ego and pride are everything to some people so shooting a few deer and a couple elk every year will validate themselves in society.
Click to expand...
I have more of an issue with the people issuing the tags than the hunters.
My home state is first in line when it comes to issuing tags for animals that do not exist.
 
To say or think they’ve always seemed to recover is somewhat misleading… southeast Idaho, northeast Utah, and southwest Wyoming have never fully recovered from harsh winters. The population always goes down extensively, herd objective’s go down and they never truly come back. Maybe years with a handful of 4-5 year old bucks on the range, but deer numbers as a whole never increase much in that region of the country. With the population being on the lower end of the scale going into this winter, very concerning IMO.
 
Bad thing for them is this "spring"

Was seeing a bunch of fawns, on the south facing, and they looked not bad as spring was coming.

A month later, and another week of snow and cold, is a killer.

The real destroyer in the 80's was 3 winters in a row like this.

Doesn't make things any better this year though
 
fullthrottle said:
Beginning to wonder if the deer will ever recover from the winter of 2022/2023. It's looking rough out there, and the storms just keep coming. 5 of the next 7 days within 75 miles of the southwest corner of Wyoming show snow. Some areas have already seen upwards of 70% loss of total deer (fawns & adults). Numbers before this winter were already way less than impressive, and now mother nature kicks it into overdrive. Even the elk are getting their butts kicked. Not good.
Click to expand...
They didnt fare very well after the 1983-84 winter & they sure as H3LL have NOT recovered from the 2016-17 winter!! But you ask or read the F&G Idiots surveys/comments/recommendations & the deer are doing GREAT !! Interesting how up to 80% died during the 16/17 but the 17/18 deer seasons were not reduced at all & tag #s were not reduced other than a few youth hunts !! it was Biz as usual for F&G
 
OLDHORNHUNTER said:
They didnt fare very well after the 1983-84 winter & they sure as H3LL have NOT recovered from the 2016-17 winter!! But you ask or read the F&G Idiots surveys/comments/recommendations & the deer are doing GREAT !! Interesting how up to 80% died during the 16/17 but the 17/18 deer seasons were not reduced at all & tag #s were not reduced other than a few youth hunts !! it was Biz as usual for F&G
Click to expand...
If you're talking about Wyoming, they did cut a nice chunk of NR tags in the western part of the state following the 16/17 winter. They didn't need to in my opinion based on my time in the mountains and the buck numbers I was seeing prior to and following the winter. Certainly there wasn't an 80% loss in the areas I spend time in. I think I estimated about a 15% decrease in bucks year over year.
It'll be interesting to see what it looks like this summer. There'll definitely be fewer bucks.
 
WHT_MTNMAN said:
Well I hope to be hunting. They will give the tags out anyway it might as well be to me or someone that will be a little selective.
Click to expand...
It's a rough go for the ungulates in my part of the state. I agree with WHT, go ahead and put in for the tag and take it off the table if drawn. You can choose to use it or not.
 
This picture was taken 3/12 and you can clearly see this bulls hips. The herd has had access to feed since November but they've been going downhill all winter. I saw a pic posted of this bull a week ago and he's so bad off he likely won't make it. If the animals that have had available feed through the winter look like this I hate to see the survivability of herds who don't. I quit doing photography in Wyoming in early January because I couldn't stomach seeing deer and antelope dying in the flats. No one who has been out needs a study to know this winter has been a disaster for big game in the northern part of Utah and most of the western Wyoming herds.

Elk.jpg
 
Last edited:
Highpoints said:
This picture was taken 3/12 and you can clearly see his bulls hips. The herd has had access to feed since November but they've been going downhill all winter. I saw a pic posted of this bull 2 weeks ago and he's so bad off he likely won't make it. If the animals that have had available feed through the winter look like this I hate to see the survivability of herds who don't. I know I quit doing photography in Wyoming in early January because I couldn't stomach seeing deer and antelope dying in the flats. No one who has been out needs a study to know this winter has been a disaster for big game in the northern part of the state.

View attachment 106853
Click to expand...


I'd be curious to see how he looked coming into winter.

Those echo bulls for the most part I thought looked pretty good in March.

Having said that there is elk in South Weber which I don't remember ever, so there's no doubt winter has been tough.
IMG_20230330_110707_01.jpg


Well other than this poor dude who broke his neck jumping the fence
 
He was much heavier. Could be the exception for sure but I've seen too many dead animals to think it's not going to be bad, I've also seen bulls, and a few bucks, carrying antlers way late into the season which is typically a sign of poor health. No doubt about the herd in South Weber. Had 2 cows walk in front of me on the turn by Adams Parkway on the way in to work. Pucker factor 10!
 
Highpoints said:
He was much heavier. Could be the exception for sure but I've seen too many dead animals to think it's not going to be bad, I've also seen bulls, and a few bucks, carrying antlers way late into the season which is typically a sign of poor health. No doubt about the herd in South Weber. Had 2 cows walk in front of me on the turn by Adams Parkway on the way in to work. Pucker factor 10!
Click to expand...


I'm sure your right. Haven't been up in couple weeks.

Sure was a pretty sight all those bulls in the red rocks.
 
The Echo elk have been succumbing to winter. 2 weeks ago I heard the game warden had already cut off over 20 bull elk heads. I've seen several pictures of dead mature bulls up on the hillsides.

It is sad that so many bulls are not making it. The only thing that helps take away the sting, it that out of 100 bulls, only a couple of those would have been on public land come hunting season.
 
heartshot said:
The Echo elk have been succumbing to winter. 2 weeks ago I heard the game warden had already cut off over 20 bull elk heads. I've seen several pictures of dead mature bulls up on the hillsides.

It is sad that so many bulls are not making it. The only thing that helps take away the sting, it that out of 100 bulls, only a couple of those would have been on public land come hunting season.
Click to expand...
I went through echo to park city around Valentine’s Day or so and my mind was blown by the roadkill between echo and warship, and all of the elk standing next to the guardrail that were wanting to cross
 
Question to You guys driving around and seeing all these dead deer. Have you been seeing a lot of coyotes?
 
I took these pics day before yesterday. Deer will still be dying in April and probably May. It was -7 that morning with more snow forecast. Saw 5 coyotes. They are well fed and have no need to kill starving deer. There's plenty of easy pickings.

IMG_0182 copy copy.jpg


IMG_0176 copy.jpg


IMG_0192 copy.jpg
 
WHT_MTNMAN said:
Well I hope to be hunting. They will give the tags out anyway it might as well be to me or someone that will be a little selective.
Click to expand...
To each their own. DNR definitely isn’t going to do them any favors. Hopefully we see some drastic tag cuts. But there has to be a point where we we hunters and conservationist realize that we can survive without having to hunt/kill one for a a period of time if we actually want mule deer to be a thing in years to come. I honestly would feel guilty doing one dirty this fall that survived this winter with how few mature deer we have left. Definitely won’t be burning my antelope points anytime soon
 
Weiserbucks said:
If they never fully recovered after a bad winter they'd have gone extinct in that area centuries ago.
Click to expand...
So many things are different now for the deer, antelope, and elk! Migration routes are gone so is a lot of the winter range that they use to rely on. Humans have changed everything for migrating animals!

Some of the problems with this winter is it just never warmed up and melted some of the initial snow from months ago. It has been cold for a long time with snow just continuing to pile up. Where I live this is going to be a 6 month winter as the super cold and snow started in November! The deer wintering around me are skinny now and on the ropes!!!

Praying for some warmer weather, but a massive quick green up will kill them too since they're starving right now! Tough to keep reading all these posts about how bad it is all over the west! People think I'm crazy, but I truly believe Mule Deer will be extinct in certain parts of the west in my kids lifetime! ?
 
So not to beat a dead horse, but what would save them?

Feed them? You are not going to get close to feeding the majority regularly all winter when needed.

Nobody is forcing anybody to shoot an animal when they have a tag.

Easiest fix is apply for whatever tag you want and don't fill it. Done deal. Pat yourself on the back and hope for luck next year.

I know, really I do it is the other guy that is the problem.
 
My 12 year old took this so i "have to show the guys".


I saw a post from dudes feeding chalk creek deer. Unbelievable how many deer there were.

I'm assuming most of those echo elk are Deseret or Ensign.

Was telling that same 12 year old, thos is now the worst winter I've seen in my 49 years.

Saw a post from WYdot, things look even worse east of here.

Pretty heartbreaking. I remember what happened after the 80's.
IMG20230228175405.jpg
 
middlefork said:
So not to beat a dead horse, but what would save them?

Feed them? You are not going to get close to feeding the majority regularly all winter when needed.

Nobody is forcing anybody to shoot an animal when they have a tag.

Easiest fix is apply for whatever tag you want and don't fill it. Done deal. Pat yourself on the back and hope for luck next year.

I know, really I do it is the other guy that is the problem.
Click to expand...


I'll be posting my annual video challenge later.

Yes. Simply cutting tags hurts the DWR. Like it or not, but they need the funds.

It's going to be up to us.

Maybe, possibly we could start a buy a tag, eat a tag movement? We could still all carry guns, wear our camo, enjoy the fall?
 
I had not put in for Utah in a couple years. Put in even though chances are slim. If I draw, I won't be making that drive.
 
Weiserbucks said:
If they never fully recovered after a bad winter they'd have gone extinct in that area centuries ago.
Click to expand...


Sadly you are not correct as the numbers are actually gone drastically down especially for mature deer since the early 80s and they never came back from the winter of 83/84 each hit like this is devastating to muledeer!!
If you see elk dieing then deer are much worse off!!
 
I have lived through the hard snow years of the 1980's 1990's and 2000's. I even lived through the glory years of the 1950's and 1960's and '70's. Truth is nobody has the answers as to how to turn it around.

Anything good can be wiped out with a year that comes with much needed moisture. Too bad we puny humans can't control Ms. Nature.
 
There will be doe hunts in areas that need them. In areas where the herds took big hits there should be no doe hunts and antler tags should be limited accordingly.
 
It certainly is the worst winter (so far) in over 35 years. Here is the snowpack across the entire Colorado basin which includes the upper Green in Wyo, half of Utah, and most of western Colorado:

1680262187961.jpeg
 
I would definitely agree that having doe tags is insane after tough winterkill years.

Deer and antelope habitat where I’ve spent time in central and eastern Wyo has been in horrendous shape the past 10ish years. Poor habitat condition obviously lessons the chance of fawn recruitment and survival through tough winters, drought, and disease.

On a positive note, all of this year’s moisture will benefit deer and antelope browse. Hopefully the rain clouds continue this summer.
 
Founder said:
If you're talking about Wyoming, they did cut a nice chunk of NR tags in the western part of the state following the 16/17 winter. They didn't need to in my opinion based on my time in the mountains and the buck numbers I was seeing prior to and following the winter. Certainly there wasn't an 80% loss in the areas I spend time in. I think I estimated about a 15% decrease in bucks year over year.
It'll be interesting to see what it looks like this summer. There'll definitely be fewer bucks.
Click to expand...
I was referring to SW Idaho
 
hossblur said:
I'll be posting my annual video challenge later.

Yes. Simply cutting tags hurts the DWR. Like it or not, but they need the funds.

It's going to be up to us.

Maybe, possibly we could start a buy a tag, eat a tag movement? We could still all carry guns, wear our camo, enjoy the fall?
Click to expand...
I'm part of this movement every year!
 
Unfortunately the moisture is needed and we still need more of it. It certainly has been a tough year for the animals and that will be seen for years to come I am sure. But I am sure there will still be unlimited over the counter tags in Wyoming for residents and they will still kill a bunch of deer. Utah hunters will continue to shoot every buck that walks and other states will continue to overhunt their animals.

Sad truth is the animals would rebound if we would let them, but most hunters won't refrain from slamming a subpar elk or deer because they want to be part of the cool kids club and have a picture to share on Instagram. I would love to see people refuse to kill animals in areas that need the break, but I am 1000% certain that will not happen and people will complain about poor quality and numbers for the next 10 years. I have talked to some people that are refusing to hunt deer this year in their area, but I think they will be the minority.

This is when the animals need the funds and donations more than we need to kill an animal. Hopefully we as sportsman can provide that, but I'm not holding my breath in our instagram era.

There are areas in some states that are still going to be okay which is a good thing, but those areas hit the hardest need our help and efforts so hopefully we can do our part and give that to them. Myself included.
 
money said:
Unfortunately the moisture is needed and we still need more of it. It certainly has been a tough year for the animals and that will be seen for years to come I am sure. But I am sure there will still be unlimited over the counter tags in Wyoming for residents and they will still kill a bunch of deer. Utah hunters will continue to shoot every buck that walks and other states will continue to overhunt their animals.

Sad truth is the animals would rebound if we would let them, but most hunters won't refrain from slamming a subpar elk or deer because they want to be part of the cool kids club and have a picture to share on Instagram. I would love to see people refuse to kill animals in areas that need the break, but I am 1000% certain that will not happen and people will complain about poor quality and numbers for the next 10 years. I have talked to some people that are refusing to hunt deer this year in their area, but I think they will be the minority.

This is when the animals need the funds and donations more than we need to kill an animal. Hopefully we as sportsman can provide that, but I'm not holding my breath in our instagram era.

There are areas in some states that are still going to be okay which is a good thing, but those areas hit the hardest need our help and efforts so hopefully we can do our part and give that to them. Myself included.
Click to expand...


I'm fine for holding out. But, regardless of their pronouns, no buck has ever given birth.

Our problem this year won't be the available 4x4 bucks, our problem is the amount of does that are part of the 80-100% fawn mortality.

A buck is one deer. A doe is potentially 6x that
 
hossblur said:
I'm fine for holding out. But, regardless of their pronouns, no buck has ever given birth.

Our problem this year won't be the available 4x4 bucks, our problem is the amount of does that are part of the 80-100% fawn mortality.

A buck is one deer. A doe is potentially 6x that
Click to expand...
I 100% agree and understand that. But when does die, that kills future bucks because some of their fawns would have been bucks. Which means less bucks are in the pipeline and the more we kill the fewer there are. I'm sure lots of health bucks will make it through.

I'm also talking about elk and antelope too. Lots of people shoot doe/fawn antelope and cow/calf elk. If it has been bad enough of a winter to kill the elk and antelope to, then those overhunted states need to stop saying "well I need to fill my freezer" and let some animals live or their way of life will go away and they'll have to give it up forever. I love that some states afford residents the opportunity to hunt enough to fill their freezers, but it may be time for people to back off on that for a few years to help the animals rebound.

My point is, people will complain, but very few will decide to let animals live to help with the issue.
 
Bad situation.
Utah has a really bad track record with reality.
Hopefully, everyone does the right thing. This will be a few years at minimal to repair.
 
I’ll be honest, a lot of the areas I deer hunt will be in bad shape, but I was already set on hunting a unit where the winter range has essentially been snow free since January, deer will recover, people said the same things 6 years ago after the winter of 2016/17. “Deer will never recover, this is the end of the species” but it sure seemed like a lot of big bucks hit the dirt this past fall. Do what you can to help them out, donate to groups that are doing what they can to protect winter range and migration corridors and try to remember this is a species that has survived many long, hard winters and they’ll survive this one
 
It is sad in many areas. I’ve been working on a story about this winters deer/elk mortality. Talking to biologists, managers, and BYU. The hardest hit areas in Utah seem to be Morgan/Cache/Rich counties, the Wasatch back, and Northeastern Utah. When the numbers come out on Tuesday I believe this is where we’ll see the most reductions in tags. I also believe we’ll see WMA’S in central and northern Utah closed until May 1st. I went out yesterday with a biologist to retrieve a collar off a doe that died Thursday. It was sad, the doe had a full stomach but looked terrible. The doe’s bone marrow was a red jelly (not healthy). She had used up everything she had even her bone marrow trying to survive. This doe was 5yrs old. The biologist said that the majority of the dead deer in Morgan were 8 plus, but they expect over 60% loss! They’ve also had 25 plus bull elk dead in the area. one positive note is that some units in central and southern Utah are doing great. This moisture is helping the herds that have been dealing with drought. I was hoping to have this show ready for the 8th but because of some special needs turkey hunt we most likely won’t get it on until the 15th.

Adam Eakle
KSL Outdoors
 
This was a week ago on
IMG_20230328_103859.jpg
hwy 39 by Monte Cristo, so Cache/Rich county areas of Utah. They've gotten another 3+ feet since then, and more coming next week.
 
fstop said:
It is sad in many areas. I’ve been working on a story about this winters deer/elk mortality. Talking to biologists, managers, and BYU. The hardest hit areas in Utah seem to be Morgan/Cache/Rich counties, the Wasatch back, and Northeastern Utah. When the numbers come out on Tuesday I believe this is where we’ll see the most reductions in tags. I also believe we’ll see WMA’S in central and northern Utah closed until May 1st. I went out yesterday with a biologist to retrieve a collar off a doe that died Thursday. It was sad, the doe had a full stomach but looked terrible. The doe’s bone marrow was a red jelly (not healthy). She had used up everything she had even her bone marrow trying to survive. This doe was 5yrs old. The biologist said that the majority of the dead deer in Morgan were 8 plus, but they expect over 60% loss! They’ve also had 25 plus bull elk dead in the area. one positive note is that some units in central and southern Utah are doing great. This moisture is helping the herds that have been dealing with drought. I was hoping to have this show ready for the 8th but because of some special needs turkey hunt we most likely won’t get it on until the 15th.

Adam Eakle
KSL Outdoors
Click to expand...
Hey Adam was the doe still pregnant or had she aborted the fawn already?
Just wondering if they all will be fawnless this year and that will make it 2 years of missing age class for the next several years.
 
JakeH said:
Hey Adam was the doe still pregnant or had she aborted the fawn already?
Just wondering if they all will be fawnless this year and that will make it 2 years of missing age class for the next several years.
Click to expand...
Hey Jake. We found two doe that they wanted to necropsy. Both died of malnutrition and sadly both had twins. I asked them about doe aborting on tough years and was told they don’t have evidence that they abort but that they expect smaller fawns to be delivered. They said they also expect more mortality even after the green up. I didn’t know this but apparently deer struggle to convert their diet back to greener up feed. This can be hard on them and in a hard winter like we’ve had it is only harder and can be fatal. I got the sense that we are not out of the woods, so to speak, yet. Adam
 
Very sad deal I hate winters like this. around here we have great snowpacks but below 5,000 feet there's nothing. there's plenty of predation loss but no starvation.

Southern Utah isn't experiencing a die off are they ?
 
Togwotee said:
Very sad deal I hate winters like this. around here we have great snowpacks but below 5,000 feet there's nothing. there's plenty of predation loss but no starvation.

Southern Utah isn't experiencing a die off are they ?
Click to expand...
Southern Utah Pine/Zion units are looking good this winter. High fawn survival and finally some moisture. I would guess the tags will be slightly increased on these units while northern units will see drastic cuts. How drastic, I’m not sure.
 
One thing to keep in mind. The DWR tag proposal that comes out Tuesday can still be adjusted. The DWR is making these recommendations with the data on hand. We’re still getting more snow and more mortalities can and most likely will happen. I believe they will have an opportunity to adjust tags again in May if needed.
 
Deer in most of central utah are looking great. I think north of I-80 took a hard hit. South of it, looks great from what I’ve seen.
 
As far as Henefer/Echo WMA goes, If you think the winter kill is bad now, wait til the 2nd day in May. That May 1st opener on the Henefer WMA will kill anything left. All the shed hunters pushing elk around will be the death of them. Those bulls don't have the energy to run up and down canyons. They will literally die from the pressure on May 1st. We are 27 days from the Shed Opener and animals are still as far down the mountains as they can get.

I hate to say that because I love looking for sheds (especially on the WMAs), but it's a terrible reality that shed hunters coming in from all angles of that place will kill anything left. I have seen exhausted deer and elk running up and down hills with tongues hanging out on a normal year. This one is going to be the death of them for sure.
 
Ticks N Tines said:
As far as Henefer/Echo WMA goes, If you think the winter kill is bad now, wait til the 2nd day in May. That May 1st opener on the Henefer WMA will kill anything left. All the shed hunters pushing elk around will be the death of them. Those bulls don't have the energy to run up and down canyons. They will literally die from the pressure on May 1st. We are 27 days from the Shed Opener and animals are still as far down the mountains as they can get.

I hate to say that because I love looking for sheds (especially on the WMAs), but it's a terrible reality that shed hunters coming in from all angles of that place will kill anything left. I have seen exhausted deer and elk running up and down hills with tongues hanging out on a normal year. This one is going to be the death of them for sure.
Click to expand...
It is going to be rough for sure. Hopefully the weather next week burns some of the snow and they can start pushing up the mountain and find some feed. It was really sad looking at them struggle.
 
The deer never recovered from the 92/93 winter in my opinion. However, I do believe thy will recover from this one due to the low bar that has been set since.
 
Ticks N Tines said:
As far as Henefer/Echo WMA goes, If you think the winter kill is bad now, wait til the 2nd day in May. That May 1st opener on the Henefer WMA will kill anything left. All the shed hunters pushing elk around will be the death of them. Those bulls don't have the energy to run up and down canyons. They will literally die from the pressure on May 1st. We are 27 days from the Shed Opener and animals are still as far down the mountains as they can get.

I hate to say that because I love looking for sheds (especially on the WMAs), but it's a terrible reality that shed hunters coming in from all angles of that place will kill anything left. I have seen exhausted deer and elk running up and down hills with tongues hanging out on a normal year. This one is going to be the death of them for sure.
Click to expand...
Couldn’t agree more, they need to push it back till June 1 opener this year. That WMA has had more half dead delirious insta bulls make the Gram than most the state combined
 
Man, this storm is a last punch in the gut. It’s going to be really really bad in some areas of the state. Fawn survival has to be 0 in some areas.
 
hogg_65 said:
There should definitely not be any Doe hunts this year in Utah. None at all ...
Click to expand...


You saying there shouldn't be a doe hunt in utag tells me you're not truly in the loop of what's going on...

Many parts of utah this winter the deer are doing extremely good and infact there will be antlerless deer hunts.

Screenshot_20230404_221120_Chrome.jpg


Screenshot_20230404_221230_Chrome.jpg


Screenshot_20230404_221256_Chrome.jpg


Screenshot_20230404_221322_Chrome.jpg


Screenshot_20230404_221334_Chrome.jpg
 
75 More Doe Tags Added On The South Slope!

JUDAS!

I Didn't Know The South Slope Needed More Doe Tags Than Anywhere-else!

Maybe The KING Can SPLAIN It To Me & Tell Me I Don't Know WTF I'm Talking about?



fullthrottle said:
Loop of what’s going on my ass! Shouldn’t be a public doe tag in the state. Let alone 40 on east canyon. Anyone who thinks we need 40 for tags on east canyon isn’t “in the loop” or has their head completely up their ass.
Click to expand...
 
I don't think there should be a Mule Deer Doe hunt in any state, but that's just my opinion! Just look at what has happened to Montana. They have shot their deer herd out by selling thousands of Doe tags. I get it for Whitetail, as they are overtaking Mule Deer, but Mule Deer Doe tags should go away completely regardless of where it is until numbers are at capacity!!!
 
Hey maybe these Idiots saying we need to kill does are thinking like the Wokes Dems & Libtards that some of these bucks may identify as a Doe she a them they or a there ..
 
fstop said:
Hey Jake. We found two doe that they wanted to necropsy. Both died of malnutrition and sadly both had twins. I asked them about doe aborting on tough years and was told they don’t have evidence that they abort but that they expect smaller fawns to be delivered. They said they also expect more mortality even after the green up. I didn’t know this but apparently deer struggle to convert their diet back to greener up feed. This can be hard on them and in a hard winter like we’ve had it is only harder and can be fatal. I got the sense that we are not out of the woods, so to speak, yet. Adam
Click to expand...
Winter weakens and spring kills. That first week of good green-up is really going to hurt.
 
Yes it is, and we are far from out of the woods. I hate to say it but the impact from this winter is going to be felt for a long time. Genuinely concerned about the deer herds in certain areas. Another reason why mule deer doe hunts being a thought on anyone's mind at this point is ridiculous. We're going to need those "surplus" doe's transferred to some of these units that will be virtually void of deer.
 
grt67 said:
SIGH!! This is really disheartening...
Click to expand...

That is one of the saddest articles I have ever read, and I don't care what State it's in. Obviously like stated previously this winter didn't have a catastrophic effect everywhere on the animals, but my GOD you would think Residents and NR could ban together to stand down this fall in the hardest hit areas. Rather then continually arguing over who deserves the tags more or who brings more revenue into the state!
 
fullthrottle said:
Loop of what’s going on my ass! Shouldn’t be a public doe tag in the state. Let alone 40 on east canyon. Anyone who thinks we need 40 for tags on east canyon isn’t “in the loop” or has their head completely up their ass.
Click to expand...


From 200 to 20 I would say they did reduce it..
 
smokepolejohnson said:
Couldn’t agree more, they need to push it back till June 1 opener this year. That WMA has had more half dead delirious insta bulls make the Gram than most the state combined
Click to expand...

What? So your saying all the pics of bulls in the cliffs aren't from "secret" spots, or the result of the influencers knowledge and skill in regards to wintering habits of bull elk?
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos

Member Gallery Photos and Videos!

Droptine Stud Buck
9BFB8892-2886-4668-BAA1-7B175F4BA92D.png
2015.jpg
IMG_4394.png
MyKaibabmulie.jpg
IMG_6957.jpeg
IMG_0820.jpeg
2023-09-16_07-28-01_277.jpeg
F2CD30E9-7628-4944-A158-4A21EB8E7630.jpeg
Dads deer 3.jpg
37DAFCB5-D571-496C-AF70-BAA321DBF0ED.jpeg
Huge Wyoming Bull
Back
Top Bottom