Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting winter kill

Newest guesstimates is that there is a 30% winter kill of elk and deer from these record setting snow depths this winter.There is going to be a lot of very unhappy nonresidents that shell out $800+ for an elk tag when they find out elk will be harder to find.

Of course elk have migrated to lower elevations, but all of NW and parts of Colorado have been hit hard

Wolves being released this year won't help it and certainly will impact any recovery in years to come.

This might be the year you want to sit out.

Are you all getting elk winter kill, takes a lot for that ?
Deer I can see but elk usually take deep snow or migrate down for winter then back to calving grounds.

Elk calves especially won't survive. When the snow gets a crust and then snows more, 12" on top of good grass won't help. Actually deer fare a bit better being browsers , where as elk are grazers.

Actually, elk can and do browse and are opportunists. Elk can obviously outcompete deer. Deer won’t fare better.

Glad to see finally mid 40's during the day...melting much of the valley snow

Our lower valley resident deer herds I'm sure are glad to see bare ground

Our local wintering Elk drop into hay fields at night..then retreat up a level in cedars/pinions during the day

Upwards of 250-300 head

This winter is Utah's wettest winter in 40 yrs....statewide watersheds are holding 23" of water/snow equivalent

More on the way too

Link showing details of Hwy 6...too many deer/elk/moose have been killed this winter

https://www.ksl.com/article/5059692...ah-roads-with-over-1000-killed-this-year

Problem being with elk is, yea they are opportunistic, but when the snows get deep, browse is covered or there is not enough of it. They cannot subsist on eating aspen bark alone.

We see herds of 200-500 coming down. That big of a herd makes short work of any grass and if there is a hard crust under deep snow, they can not paw through enough during a day to sustain themselves and that grass they do find, goes away pretty quick. That is what we are seeing now.

That is the problem with RMNP. They eat what ever is the low low meadows and head for Estes Park and live on the golf course. Now that is covered.

The elk close by here have moved out on the eastern plains, but deer are still around.

Many times I have found deer in the high country after all the elk have left.

Both deer fawns and elk calves suffer the most.

I have a friend outside of Craig Colorado email me today saying the antelope are in worse shape. Fall was warmer than usual and they didn't migrate down to the sage flats. Now they can't because of too much snow.

He said he only had about a dozen elk around his hay stack

Seems our Elk drop calves first week of June

They are midway back to summer range at that time

Especially this year

We had a really bad winter 6 or 7 years ago. The IDFG knew the winter kill was going to be high so they collared something like 90 mulie fawns to track it. Not a single collared fawn survived.

here in Minnesota the deer and elk winter kill will be high but the wolves being protected will eat will.

Exactly. Take a look at the aspens….all chewed up in good areas. They are indeed opportunistic.

Same here.
Nature has programed them to drop all as close to possible to insure more survive the predators, the best food for the cows is available, and the calves grown enough to survive the coming winter.


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Exactly. Take a look at the aspens….all chewed up in good areas. They are indeed opportunistic.[/quote]

Yep,but those aspen are chewed up in the early part of winter. You don't see fresh chews late winter or all summer. Elk can't survive chewing aspen bark .alone

Lots of snow this year where I’m at. Usually bulls this time of year but just lots of cows currently. Small hike found many carcasses within last few weeks. Very possible winter kill

NW Colorado last week. The elk are starving and the next few weeks will determine which ones survive. This one looks pregnant and bony.

Yep we will lose her and her calf probably, and most likely her calf from this past year.

Latest on social media is 30 cows, a few spikes and a few calves were seen dead along state road 13 between Craig and Meeker, about 40 were seen west of Maybell

Three foot of snow, and maybe more is predicted along the southern half of the state with this next storm.

Here in Utah, we've exceeded 700 inches snow and going for 800" some places in the High country. These late storms will decimate the weak. With the recent rains, maybe some food will be unlocked from winter's grip. It's not looking good however. The next several weeks will be telling for deer and elk. The deer have been dining on my lawn at night.

66 feet of snow!

Good grief...

The strong will survive. And spring should be bountiful. At least I hope.

In the winter of '16-'17, the snow in SW Wyoming just wouldn't stop, much like this year but supposedly not quit so bad. Reports near sage junction were that hundreds of mule deer and elk were dead on the side of the highway. I remember seeing them in shoulder deep snow while driving through Cokeville and such from Dec-Mar that winter. F&G reported that in some areas there was something like 90% calf/fawn mortality and 50(fish)% adult bull/buck mortality. Many of the cows/does supposedly aborted their unborn fawns, a biological response to save nutrition..

That summer I saw just as many deer and elk as any other year, and it seemed every single doe mule deer I saw had twins, and healthy looking twins at that.

I dunno if it was just coincidence or what, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the early reports were, in my experience at least. I hope this year is the same. Besides, these deep snows and long cold snaps have been known to kill parasites, ticks and other pests that cause disease. Nature's way of making the herd stronger, I guess.