I just heard on the radio that our Fish and Game followed 70 fawns going into this Winter. Only 1 survived.


The survival rate of mature mule deer was +-75%(the average rate is 92%).

I don't know if this was only the SW region but it is pretty depressing.

Wow! Sorry to hear that bad news.

Jason, I heard the same about fawn mortality in SW Wyoming, but also heard that mortality on older bucks was also abnormally high.

That's not good news at all. What have you heard about pronghorn? I was considering cashing in my and my daughter's points for a daddy/daughter goat hunt this fall.

Hard winters=die offs...Always has been, always will.

The option is feeding, and many expert biologists are against feeding and have all manor of quasi knowledge on the subject..

The elk feeding grounds in Jackson, Wy. should be the poster program for all to take note on, especially the biologists that went to college and ate the books. Idaho Fish and Game will do about anything to get out of working outdoors.
Jacksons feeding program pays for itself with money from wagon rides thru the elk herds..Nothing Idaho does pays for itself.

That report appears to be true. The deer fawns were in the Snowy Range. Rough winter on the West side of the state. 200% of normal snow. East side had plenty, but it appears to not have had near as big of an impact. SE Idaho also had lots of snow and I'm sure their winterkill was higher than normal.... Bruce

We have been hit with a hard winter, the worst in a long time in SE Idaho, but the deer herds are doing well and the fawns seem to be doing well, but that does not mean we won't have a big die off it just means it hasn't happened yet according to Id. fish and Game..I have seen a lot of deer in the fields South of twin falls this year and they are looking good..Apparantly we will know the outcome in April and May..We had a lot of snow but we also had a lot of melt so it went back and fourth, that in itself is unusual, In 92 as I recall we had good snow and it stayed that way all winter but not heavy snows like this year and we had a big die off. But Idaho is so political they won't close a good unit the just keep hammering it for the bucks the licenses bring I guess.

I would bet that the big old bucks got hit the hardest this year as them came out of the rut gutted and got hit by horrible winter, The old boys can't handle much bad weather in there run down condition from fighting and breeding, they just don't have time to fatten back up sometimes.

How many of those fawns fed coyotes too.

George

Or wolves for that matter.

That's bad news, mule deer are thriving some places, like inside city limits here and there, and struggling elsewhere. Bummer.

I just got word that the 1 surviving fawn has died. Pretty rough year for mule deer.