Back to Back Winters SE Idaho

[wapitiwilly]

This is the first time at the Pocatello Regional Airport going back to 1938 that over 60 inches of snow has been recorded in back to back snow seasons. The heavy March snow has pushed the total to 60.0 inches at the airport and combined with last seasons 72.2 inches makes the 132.2 inches the third highest back to back snow seasons of all time behind only:
1. 1982/83-1983/84 145.1 inches and
2. 1983/84-1984/85 138.4 inches.

Doesn't seem great for the mule deer herd in SE Idaho.... What are folks thoughts on this winter versus last and what that means for mule deer in SE Idaho?

 

[idelkslayer]

I'm optimistic. I can't remember which biologist it was that Robby had on the podcast (Kevin Monteith?) but he talked about the growing body of knowledge regarding the importance of summer range habitat and body fat at the beginning of winter. Hopefully someone will come along and correct me if I am wrong but he said that the effects of winter severity are reduced if the deer have a certain amount of body fat.

Given that deer populations are down and we had good moisture through last summer the deer put on a good amount of fat and hopefully that translates to good survival.

They are few. They are fat. They are Western Wyoming’s deer. - WyoFile

A decrease in competition for exceptionally lush, nutritious vegetation has created a population of exceptionally porky mule deer.

wyofile.com

Another interesting note is how difficult winters impact fawns for the rest of their lives. Bucks born after a hard winter are likely to be stunted their entire lives due to the poor natal condition of their mothers. When you have several bad winters in the space of 6-7 years like we have had, you are looking at several age classes of bucks that are unlikely to reach trophy size. So when hunters see fewer bucks, and the ones they do see are smaller they tend to blame hunting pressure and losers shooting small bucks. When in reality, winter severity is a much bigger piece of the puzzle.

Why "Fat Bottom Does" Make The Mule Deer World Go 'Round - Wyoming Wildlife Federation

Fat mule deer equal healthier fawns, more survival, and bigger bucks. Find out how you can help ensure our does are healthy!

wyomingwildlife.org

 

[wapitiwilly]

Ya we did have a really wet summer and the deer went into winter pretty fat, so hopefully we have a good survival rate. Thanks for sharing the articles and graphs, that is really interesting info. I agree with you that winter severity is a much bigger piece of the puzzle.

 

[TheTone]

Other factors are how crusted the snow is, total time with the accumulated depth, prolonged really cold temps, and late storms. I’ve heard it said multiple times “winter weakens and spring kills”. You don’t really see winter kill in December/January, it builds feb, March etc

 

[Andrew12gauge]

Last winter in January and February there were feet of snow between Pocatello and Idaho Falls, never melted, just kept stacking up. This winter most of the snow has melted off between storms(in the periods I’ve been over east anyway). I think the deer will be fine.


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[Tmcgarrigle]

Other factors are how crusted the snow is, total time with the accumulated depth, prolonged really cold temps, and late storms. I’ve heard it said multiple times “winter weakens and spring kills”. You don’t really see winter kill in December/January, it builds feb, March etc

The crust is so important, once it melts partially then refreezes and feed is stuck under sheets of ice with prolonged winters, that seems to be when we run into bigger problems.

 

[Wolfxx5]

Mark and Steve with Exo Mtn Gear just had Toby Boudreau on their podcast recently and they covered this a bit. Toby is the deer and elk coordinator for IDFG. He mentioned some of the things they are doing to combat the back to back bad winters that SE ID have had, one of which is the closure of shed hunting in the area I believe until sometime after April. Toby explained that this keeps the pressure low and allows the deer to move freely without expending some of their much needing energy this time of year. It was a pretty interesting episode if you want to check it out.

 

[Timberline001]

There’s more time between storms this year allowing south facing slopes to melt and warmer weather allowing an escape down low. It’s definitely been a better year for deer than last year.