Just got back from scouting for a hunter who will be headed out this fall. As most know, the winter of 2010/2011 hammered those deer. However, buck numbers did look better this year, which they should be coming off the extrememly mild winter we just had.
If you saw the article I did for Christensen's Hunting Illustrated a few years ago,(Bad Winter Bucks, probably Fall issue of 2009) my research over the years shows that a few years after a hard winter there can be some great bucks around. Several research biologists have shown this over the years and I've observed it in the field.
I scouted several familiar ridges and basins this last weekend. While I didn't see any toads, the bucks I did see were pretty nice. Most where 4 points in the 3-4 year range, with very few small bucks. As I said in the article, basically a hard winter takes out your young and your old, leaving the prime age bucks (2-4 years) to survive. These bucks then enjoy less competition for feed on summer and winter range, might not have to rut as hard (does survive hard winters on average better than bucks) and these bucks were genetically better deer or they wouldn't have survived.
Anyone hunting W. Wyoming should find fewer bucks than in a while (there aren't many right now), but if they do find them, should be looking at some decent bucks and there is even a chance at a hog, just as Rob Wiley from Non-Typical outfitters showed us last year when he scouted and killed the biggest buck to come out of the Wyoming Range in many many years. Killed it right on the heels of a devastating winter. Could happen again.
I saw this same thing after the brutal winter of 92/93. Very few bucks out in 93-96, but I saw some giants in 94/95/96 and killed the best buck of my life in 96 from a winter klll unit. I had him lab aged and he was five years old, meaning he was born in June of 1991 and was 2 years old when the winter of 92/93 wiped out many many of his cronie bucks. Obviously he had better body weight and genetics to survive that winter and sure enough, a few years later he was a 234 7/8"(official gross score) buck.
I expect to see a great buck in the next few years, just hope he's in my scope or in front of my pins or one of you get one and post him on here.
If you saw the article I did for Christensen's Hunting Illustrated a few years ago,(Bad Winter Bucks, probably Fall issue of 2009) my research over the years shows that a few years after a hard winter there can be some great bucks around. Several research biologists have shown this over the years and I've observed it in the field.
I scouted several familiar ridges and basins this last weekend. While I didn't see any toads, the bucks I did see were pretty nice. Most where 4 points in the 3-4 year range, with very few small bucks. As I said in the article, basically a hard winter takes out your young and your old, leaving the prime age bucks (2-4 years) to survive. These bucks then enjoy less competition for feed on summer and winter range, might not have to rut as hard (does survive hard winters on average better than bucks) and these bucks were genetically better deer or they wouldn't have survived.
Anyone hunting W. Wyoming should find fewer bucks than in a while (there aren't many right now), but if they do find them, should be looking at some decent bucks and there is even a chance at a hog, just as Rob Wiley from Non-Typical outfitters showed us last year when he scouted and killed the biggest buck to come out of the Wyoming Range in many many years. Killed it right on the heels of a devastating winter. Could happen again.
I saw this same thing after the brutal winter of 92/93. Very few bucks out in 93-96, but I saw some giants in 94/95/96 and killed the best buck of my life in 96 from a winter klll unit. I had him lab aged and he was five years old, meaning he was born in June of 1991 and was 2 years old when the winter of 92/93 wiped out many many of his cronie bucks. Obviously he had better body weight and genetics to survive that winter and sure enough, a few years later he was a 234 7/8"(official gross score) buck.
I expect to see a great buck in the next few years, just hope he's in my scope or in front of my pins or one of you get one and post him on here.
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