Colorado drought…

[ColoradoV]

A take from me about deer, the drought, and antler size..

Melt off is about 6-8 weeks early. Real brown except for where there are water sources and around the water sources it is very green. The deer are stacked up where it’s green.

Interesting but I watch 40+ bucks around my house/area and have for 30 years. The bucks are all are a month+ ahead in growing out and getting absolutely great nutrition (as the green up is the same a month + early). Massive nubs showing up…

IMO we will see some amazing antler growth either that or they will be done a month to 6 weeks ahead of a usual year. Again in these spots there is irrigation, rivers, and creeks but looking to be a banner year for antler growth in central Colo..

Just my 2 cents and it’s different in every micro environment = so it will be interesting to see these fellas grow out this year as they are super fat, healthy, happy, and a lot, like a ton of early antler growth = more than I have ever seen this year.

 

[dirtytough]

Thanks for the observations.

 

[robby denning]

good to hear from someone on the ground.

I'll wager your high bucks will do OK, unless it's super hot. Our high country deer still do pretty good on drought years.

It's a few years later we seem to pay the piper, or the next winter if it's bad because they're not as fat.

 

[sodaksooner]

I would think lighter snow cover and early melt should help the browse in the spring. Should be good numbers of animals with lower die off rates as well. If you guys can catch up on moisture this spring and summer, it should be a great year for both growth and numbers.

 

[benconfused]

Is elk antler growth expected to be the same with this observation?

 

[ColoradoV]

Quite a few of the Elk or well the bulls never left 12k to 13k’ in elevation this winter. Most just never came down to valley bottom as the snow never pushed them down.

The bucks I see around here are 80-90% resident deer. High elevation feed (11.5k+) will always be there once the snow melts. Now if there was only age class as that’s still missing.

Been several easy winters in a row around here the bucks are noticeably fatter and happier than pry anytime I can remember this century anyway.

 

[bighornbor]

Similar up here in BC, a huge portion of southern mule deer range had no snow, they should be happy. Unfortunately the north end had huge snowfall, super cold and a fair bit of mortality seen.