Winter Impact

[tracker]

I just saw that Wyoming has reduced quotas and/or season lengths across the state due to winter impact. What does everyone feel about the long winter and animal populations here in Alberta?

[CNP]

Originally Posted by tracker

I just saw that Wyoming has reduced quotas and/or season lengths across the state due to winter impact. What does everyone feel about the long winter and animal populations here in Alberta?

Wyoming is a little bit better than 1/3 the size of AB. With that, weather will be more localized. Within AB there will be a great difference of conditions throughout the province. Has this been a difficult year on animals this past winter? Not from what we have experienced in the S anyway. Winters are always long and cold in AB.

[buckman]

Prairies seem fine.Will be headed out west of Rocky after Easter.The wolves will have had easy hunting with all the snow,hope to smoke a couple. Not sure about winterkill this year will be checking the movement on my cams that have been out since November.

[Smoky buck]

Everything seems just fine here so far. Just starting to hike around looking for new scrape lines/communal scrapes now. I will have a good idea on how the deer in my managed the winter soon. Activity is definitely increasing and seeing what I would expect for deer so far

Come early summer I will start taking inventory on what is out there and see what old friends I can find

Looking forward to November already

[Pathfinder76]

I think people forget what winter is like year to year. It’s like they are surprised every year that it gets cold and snows here.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Pathfinder76

I think people forget what winter is like year to year. It’s like they are surprised every year that it gets cold and snows here.

Agree

Spring might be a little slow to get going but really the winter was really mild outside of a few cold snaps. It also took its time even starting. Last November was a pretty warm whitetail hunt

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Pathfinder76

I think people forget what winter is like year to year. It’s like they are surprised every year that it gets cold and snows here.

This

There is some winter kill every year. That’s normal. As long as it doesn’t snow 3 feet in a week and keep on snowing for 6 months (like it did ‘13-‘14), our animals do just fine. I haven’t seen any cause for concern this year.

[MountainTi]

Same herd of whitetails headed up past the house to the horse hay as we speak. Same as they've done all winter. Herd hasn't decreased in size at all. For all the snow we've had here all winter they've done well

[roper1]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

Same herd of whitetails headed up past the house to the horse hay as we speak. Same as they've done all winter. Herd hasn't decreased in size at all. For all the snow we've had here all winter they've done well

Right where I was going. With the snow/thaw/freeze we had around here, I expected tough times on the deer. Doesn't seem to be the case though, numbers seem normal. And the snow was deeper than normal by far!

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by roper1

Right where I was going. With the snow/thaw/freeze we had around here, I expected tough times on the deer. Doesn't seem to be the case though, numbers seem normal. And the snow was deeper than normal by far!

I'm surprised how well they wintered as well. Seemed to like the hay bales this winter though. Fed on the other side of the fence from the horses all winter.
Now just need to thin down coyote numbers to help out. Whacked 3 off the deck last week.
Reminds me I should drag them out of the hay field one day so don't run them thru the disc bine

[Battle Rat]

Inspite of the amount of snow and then the thaw/freeze cycles, im seeing far less winter kill than some years.
When there are lots of deer yarding up around the house and pastures that's normally a good indication that the winter will result in heavy loss.
The open and south slopes are clearing up good now so the worst should be over.

[TrapperMike]

Deer everywhere. Saskatchewan population so high that there planning to drop the mule deer draw and let residents buy over the counter tags.

[Drewski Canuck]

Surfed the Web and found a site that has snow pack depth for Wyoming. Alot of areas have 40 - 58" of snow, with a band on Western Wyoming having 72 - 94 inches of snow.

And you wonder about winterkill?

Alberta has had some good Chinook weather that knocked the snow pack down. As long as game can move it can find food.

Deer herds in Westlock to north of Athabasca are in great shape this winter.

If we have a good fawn crop there will be fantastic numbers for this fall and we should start seeing some seriously big bucks this fall.

Drewski

[Sledhead71]

Spring is what hurts the health of the herd the most, cold wet spring will kill more than harsh winters in my experience. Here the critters seems to have faired well so far.

[Rackmastr]

Wyoming's current winter and Alberta's winter this year cant even be compared IMO....

[burbotman]

West of Calgary. Have a couple of groups of WT (10-12) and a few moose that hang out on our 40. The moose look great zero signs of ticks. Deer herd is in great shape except for the one cougar kill last month. Snow is still pretty deep in the low areas but clear on south facing and higher

[Phil McCracken]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

I'm surprised how well they wintered as well. Seemed to like the hay bales this winter though. Fed on the other side of the fence from the horses all winter.
Now just need to thin down coyote numbers to help out. Whacked 3 off the deck last week.
Reminds me I should drag them out of the hay field one day so don't run them thru the disc bine

Deer numbers are good this year around here. Pretty well the same snow accumulation as you, however...

Early yesterday morning, heard some wolves howling just North of my fence line (Crown Land). Not sure on the numbers. Will investigate when snow melts a little more so I can get around with the quad...

[kingrat]

Originally Posted by Sledhead71

Spring is what hurts the health of the herd the most, cold wet spring will kill more than harsh winters in my experience. Here the critters seems to have faired well so far.

exactly. Its from now into the end of april that kills the deer. Late springs when their metabolisms is ramping backup is when you'll see does aborting fawns and mortality.

[gman1978]

I have only seen 6 carcasses around my yard, that’s down from last year. Considering the cold and snow pack in comparison I would say they have done wry well to date. Still a pretty good snow cover and the deer are looking a little rough, the warm weather this week will help. Like stated above these cold damp springs can be really hard on deer especially coming out of a long winter like this one.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

Same herd of whitetails headed up past the house to the horse hay as we speak. Same as they've done all winter. Herd hasn't decreased in size at all. For all the snow we've had here all winter they've done well

Buddy has a good healthy herd of Whitetails hanging around his place all winter, they appreciate his hay and he keeps the coyotes on their toes.

Grizz

[bucksnbears]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams1

Buddy has a good healthy herd of Whitetails hanging around his place all winter, they appreciate his hay and he keeps the coyotes on their toes.

Grizz

Tell buddy to start knocking them coyotes off their toes. Lol.
Deer are struggling perdy bad here in MN.

[roper1]

Had a couple MD does after the green grass in my yard today, they aren't patchy or shedding yet. Looked full & healthy.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by bucksnbears

Tell buddy to start knocking them coyotes off their toes. Lol.
Deer are struggling perdy bad here in MN.

I've been out there a few times, to ensure sure the wolves don't make an appearance.

Grizz

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by Rackmastr

Wyoming's current winter and Alberta's winter this year cant even be compared IMO....

This right here! Not even close to a fair comparison. Even the winter where I live in Montana isn't close to winter at my parents in central Alberta either. As our snow is melting, dead critters are popping up everywhere.

[curtz]

I usually see 20 to 30 deer grazing every morning, there numbers look good. Moose are around but some are pretty ticked up.

[LEGZ]

Still pretty good deer numbers in my area too. Wife found a deer head in the driveway the other day, not sure where it came from as she didn’t see any ravens around anywhere and I’m not around home to take a good look.

[bigbuck]

East Central still has quite a bit of snow in the bush. Feeding areas seem pretty good though. Definitely been a longer & colder winter than usual. Walked 25km in more of the open areas and there are definitely a few carcasses around. All the animals we seen didn’t want much to do with the snow. Some looking a bit skinnier than they should.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by fordtruckin

This right here! Not even close to a fair comparison. Even the winter where I live in Montana isn't close to winter at my parents in central Alberta either. As our snow is melting, dead critters are popping up everywhere.

It's fair to compare, but appears to be wrong to conclude that Alberta wildlife is facing anything like what parts of Wyoming and other states are going through.

It is also fair to note that the OP simply asked how the animals are doing....

Deer moose and elk are looking really good just west of Calgary.
A bit surprised at just how good they are doing.

[tracker]

One reason I'd asked is that I have had little time driving outside of where I live the past few months. The one big trip I made was about a 600 km tour around the back roads near Traverse and McGregor. I saw only 6 deer laying in a stubble field the entire time. There was a lot of deep, crusted snow in that neck of the woods.
There's also a group of mule deer that cruise around where I live and I haven't seen them once this winter. I've seen a few tracks in my yard but no actual sightings. When I received that notice about Wyoming I wondered if our long freeze/thaw increased mortality here somehow. Sounds like we're in good shape though so I may pull the trigger on my mule tag this year before old age sets in.

[lannie]

Wildlife around the Crowsnest Pass has wintered well due to lower snowfall this winter.