Does where I hunted this year had gobs of twins and even a few triplet fawns. What's sad is currently there are only a few fawns left. I noticed this same thing in a different unit last year. Fawn crop has been ok but they just aren't surviving. There was plenty of water in portions of both of these units. Neither unit is that close to where they say they've encountered EHD. I wonder if areas outside where they've located EHD they just haven't monitored yet and it's a lot broader than they say it is..... or there is something else going on?
Something definitely is happening to the fawn crop. It could possibly be a combination of factors or it could be something devastating like a disease? I'm certain that coyotes get some of the fawns but not enough to totally decimate the fawn crop. Hopefully the WG&F can figure out what's going on and how to combat it fairly quickly.
If antelope are concentrated on the few water sources available later in the summers it may be possible to spray midges on the few waterholes where antelope are concentrated....if EHD is the culprit rather than sitting around twiddling thumbs? It's a real bummer seeing tags cut. That not only impacts hunter demand for tags but also revenue losses to the WG&F selling fewer tags. That $ could be put to use conserving and protecting antelope numbers. I certainly hope the WG&F jumps on this soon! The task force could be a place to get things rolling.
Anyway, something definitely is going on. Antelope numbers can rebound pretty fast but if year after year fawns are born and aren't surviving their first year it can carry dramatic, long-term impacts on the population. I can guarantee antelope numbers in South, Central, and South Central Wyo is a fraction of what it was 3 to 5 years ago. There has been winterkill in some of those areas but something else is going on. Boy, if there is a bad winter it could be even a lot worse than it already is!
