winter kill ?

DRHORNHUNTER · Apr 7, 2011

Just wondering what everyone else across the state is seeing for winter kills?
Down here in my neck of the woods. Se Idaho I'm not seeing the dead fawns and predator kills like The last five or six years. Lots of the deer look pretty healthy considering the storms that dumped earlier

matt4695 · Apr 7, 2011

Herds look good in the Boise river drainage. I was in Brownlee catfishing a couple of weeks ago and all the deer herds looked to be in good shape, the snow level was a couple thousand feet up the hill. They got hit hard early, but looks to be shaping up pretty good and I havent' seen to much snow on the Butte behind Emmett.

Idahoron · Apr 7, 2011

How was the catfishing? Ron

matt4695 · Apr 8, 2011

It was good, we had to put in at fish camp because the water was so low. We ran down to mountain man lodge and caught a few crappie for bait. We then ran back up a few miles below Steck Park. We caught 12 catfish.(I should take pictures and post). It was good for still being early in March. I was surprised, we usually catch 3-6 fish this early in the year. The water is really low and super muddy.

beavis14 · Apr 8, 2011

good job on the cats !

GSJ · Apr 8, 2011

Taken a few drives/glassing sessions up into the usual areas from Boise. Deer herds have looked pretty good all winter. Was concerned early on but things seem OK. Plenty of storms late but no brutal cold that sometimes means disaster late in the winter.

I will say the elk looked a tad rougher than usual up around Garden Valley.

the artist formerly known as "gemstatejake".

tworivers · Apr 8, 2011

Is 15 fawns in a 1,000 yds or so good? sarcasm emphasized...

Has anyone seen my kittie?

GSJ · Apr 8, 2011

Which part of the state you in, Tworivers?
Thats is bad news indeed.........

the artist formerly known as "gemstatejake".

tworivers · Apr 8, 2011

Upper Snake

Has anyone seen my kittie?

destroyer350 · Apr 8, 2011

Us eastern Idaho boys won't miss out on our "opportunity" no matter what, Thank God!!!!!

GSJ · Apr 8, 2011

>Us eastern Idaho boys won't miss
>out on our "opportunity" no
>matter what, Thank God!!!!!

Said a hundred times on this forum something should be done down there. I'm sure it could be improved, but it's never gonna be what it was 30 years ago regardless IMO.

Time to put it on your "used to hunt it" list. Honey holes come and go. Better "opportunity" elsewhere.....

the artist formerly known as "gemstatejake".

OwnMoreBone · Apr 9, 2011

Does anyone have info on winter kill from Grangville north?
OMB

There's room for all of God's creatures, right next to the mashed potato's and gravy.

destroyer350 · Apr 10, 2011

Jake, I have no problem spreading my wings, although with the kids in school and wanting to go make it a little tougher, looking out my back window with rose colored glasses ain't workin any more!!!

bigcreekmetal · Apr 10, 2011

Lots of dead deer around Weiser area. I was really surprised considering they had been feeding on hay stacks. Guess it doesnt do them much good.

huntfish714 · Apr 11, 2011

on the fish and game meeting review page it said it was the worst year since they started the collaring over decade ago. survival rates where around what follows cause i don't recall exactly. fawns 45percent and doe 92percent. bad bad bad! i encourage someone else to look it up on there and post the correct numbers since they are close and not exact cause i do this on my phone and don't recall forsure. thanks!

Salmonfg · Apr 14, 2011

Yes, those numbers are essentially correct. At the end of April overall fawn mortality was 44%, adult does at 8%. Of course the values vary by population management unit (groupings of GMUs where deer populations have similar responses to environmental conditions). Fawn mortality ranged from 30% in the Central Mountains PMU (which is not very different from average) to 91% in Weiser-McCall. Doe mortality ranged from 0% to 17%. The severe cold/snow in Nov/Dec killed those deer, eventhough they may not have actually died until later. When they have to use that much energy that early in the winter, chances of survival were predictably very low.

Tom Keegan
IDFG Salmon Region Wildlife Manager

matt4695 · Apr 14, 2011

Last weekend I was in a unit in Central Idaho trying to find a early season bear and saw more deer with fawns than i've seen in 10 years. We usually see around 30-40 head on this section of the river and saw over 140 deer,(super good news). Saw way more elk than i've seen in a long time also, but the bad news is that there were very few calves. Fall hunts should be good in this part of Idaho.

BTW hiked over 17 miles in two days and only cut one Bear track,,,,,still sleeping.....

dryval · Apr 15, 2011

I wandered around for the first time last weekend here in the corner of SE Idaho and as expected with close to 150% snowpack we have significant fawn mortality. I saw countless fawn carcasses piled up. For this corner of SE Idaho we will be missing this age class of deer in the herd mix. We are still snowing and what fawns are left are still at significant risk.

Muleys24Seven · Apr 15, 2011

In the upper snake the fawn mortality rate is anywhere between 50-85% depending upon the area. Still a few dying even in mid-April.

Another generation mostly lost and this years fawn crop might be lower as the health of the does isn't too good.