Winter...Antelope and Deer Are Dying by the Hundreds

[Tatonka]

I've lived here in Chinook (about 30 miles south of where Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana all meet) for over 30 years. This is the worst winter I can recall. Over the years we've had stretches of tough weather where it would go -40 F. for a few weeks and we would get quite a bit of snow, but the snow and cold came this year in Mid-November and we've not had a break... It just snows and blows and stays cold... as cold as -47 F. in February... More nights below 0 than above, for sure.

This article was on the critters dying was on the front page of the Great Falls Tribune today. The antelope appear to be suffereing the most.. Unfortunately, many of the antelope here have migrated down from Alberta and Sasktachewan, as they do during hard winters so this will affect your hunting as well as ours.... Mother Nature can be very cruel at times. Survival of the fittest isn't just a saying... But the coyotes and eagles are eating well........

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/art...text|Frontpage

Wonder if we'll even have an antelope season in a number of WMUs this year?

[Lefty-Canuck]

WOW that is the sadest thing I have read lately.....I wouldn't be opposed to the seasons being shut down for a year or 2 to allow for the population to rebound if thats what it would take. Worst part of that is usually once something is "taken away" it NEVER comes back.

Lefty

[Deer Hunter]

Sad yes but remember that the herds did real well last year and that some areas are not as affected as others... Heres hoping anyways.

[kodiakken]

This is part of the cycle population decline and then it will increase.
Sad to hear but have seen it before with the antelope and the deer.

Where i work out by highway 22 the deer are realy taking a beating. That rain that we got in early to mid February really did the most damage.

I had a mule deer eating on the shrubs and trees in my yard but have not seen it for the last week so I am think nature got another one.

Ken.

[WkndWarrior]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Wonder if we'll even have an antelope season in a number of WMUs this year?

X2

Let's hope the longer days bring some warmer temps soon.

[hal53]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Wonder if we'll even have an antelope season in a number of WMUs this year?

understand the concerns about if they close it...we'll never get it back...how about a word of mouth , etc. campaign for everyone to 999 their draws????...just a thought....of course not everyone would do it...but it might help...I know I am

Originally Posted by hal53

understand the concerns about if they close it...we'll never get it back...how about a word of mouth , etc. campaign for everyone to 999 their draws????...just a thought....of course not everyone would do it...but it might help...I know I am

Absolutely we'd get our season back once populations rebounded if they closed it because of population concerns. Antelope need careful management and can bounce back quickly after extreme die offs but they also need numbers controlled when they get high.

No way everyone would ever 999....F&W will allocate a certain amount of tags if warranted and people will draw them. If numbers don't warrant a hunt, we might all be building priority for a couple years any how.

[ccmckee]

I saw two deer carcasses on the side of 567 coming in from Iricana this morning, not sure if they were hit or just died.

[cochranenite]

I seen. A lot of deer coming home to night. On the 1A coming from calgary into cochrane. And I seen lots behide my house on the indian land

[Pixel Shooter]

Nature is cruel, not the first and wont be the last. Heart wrenching to hear it, gut wrenching to see it. 999

[albertadeer]

The deer up here by Grande Prairie are getting pummeled hard by this winter. Our herds where just starting to recover from the winter of 2007, some big mule deer started popping up again. Now i see deer dead in hay stacks and in the middle of fields, Its going to be tough to find many half decent 3yr+ old bucks in the up coming season.

[coyotekiller]

theres 1 place where i live the deer are doing good but i imagine its hard on them sadly

[trophyboy]

Hopefully the biologists are looking at this and will do the right thing for a change. The antelope are in big trouble to say the least as are the deer. The antelope population was very poor for the last number of years but all that was done was to give more tags? Very poor management to say the least so I doubt anything will ever change for the better in Alberta. I guess we will see.

[H380]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Absolutely we'd get our season back once populations rebounded if they closed it because of population concerns. Antelope need careful management and can bounce back quickly after extreme die offs but they also need numbers controlled when they get high.

No way everyone would ever 999....F&W will allocate a certain amount of tags if warranted and people will draw them. If numbers don't warrant a hunt, we might all be building priority for a couple years any how.

Just like we got the Grizzly season back when the population rebounded ...

so will there be any general tags handed out this season or will it be all draws?

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Wonder if we'll even have an antelope season in a number of WMUs this year?

Isn't it pretty much standard practice in these situations to keep the hunt open, but reduce the tags to a minimal number?

No need to close the season, just reduce tags to single digits if neccessary.

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

Isn't it pretty much standard practice in these situations to keep the hunt open, but reduce the tags to a minimal number?

No need to close the season, just reduce tags to single digits if neccessary.

There have been temporary WMU closures in the past. If it's as bad in some WMUs as I'm hearing, I'm not certain even a single digit hunt could be justified. Hopefully it's not as bleak as it sounds. Worst thing is, they'll have no idea on tag numbers or even if a certain WMU can withstand a hunt when we put our draws in.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Worst thing is, they'll have no idea on tag numbers or even if a certain WMU can withstand a hunt when we put our draws in.

This always bugged me, in both directions of tag numbers. You never know if the area you apply for will have 5 or 500 tags issued.

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

This always bugged me, in both directions of tag numbers. You never know if the area you apply for will have 5 or 500 tags issued.

Or even if there's going to be a season in a particular WMU as we saw with mountain goat a few years ago.

[crazyfish]

One of the resolutions for the AFGA meeting was the number of tags for a draw were to be published (fishing i believe).... hopefully this would be the same for hunting ...?

This is gonna be a tough choice this year with a P-8 !!!

[Redfrog]

Had a couple deer up close to the house yesterday. We don't see that often because of the dogs I think. They haven't been in my stack pile yet but I moved some feed and hay up into the the shelter belt away from the house. If they sre looking for feed it will be quieter there for them.

[sheepguide]

As for deer populations, it sucks that some areas are getting hit hard but there are alot of areas that are doing fine also. Just good it isnt province wide!

SG

[pattycr125]

i have a muley buck and a couple of his pals that visit my back yard almost every night right in town and wipes out all the bird seed from the feeders. after eating the bottom half of one of my shruby trees i figure they are pretty hungry and having trouble finding food so now i put out a half a ice cream pail of oats for them to eat every night. i know its not the smartest to feed wild animals but these deer are pretty tame they wont even run when i open the door they just look at me, but i still keep my distance and avoid bothering them.

[packhuntr]

Originally Posted by Tatonka

I've lived here in Chinook (about 30 miles south of where Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana all meet) for over 30 years. This is the worst winter I can recall. Over the years we've had stretches of tough weather where it would go -40 F. for a few weeks and we would get quite a bit of snow, but the snow and cold came this year in Mid-November and we've not had a break... It just snows and blows and stays cold... as cold as -47 F. in February... More nights below 0 than above, for sure.

This article was on the critters dying was on the front page of the Great Falls Tribune today. The antelope appear to be suffereing the most.. Unfortunately, many of the antelope here have migrated down from Alberta and Sasktachewan, as they do during hard winters so this will affect your hunting as well as ours.... Mother Nature can be very cruel at times. Survival of the fittest isn't just a saying... But the coyotes and eagles are eating well........

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/art...text|Frontpage

After what happened to you guys the past 2 winters and now this it will be pretty sad to look around in the spring. We suffered the exact same fate as you guys (like you said, we're in er together), this winters die off unfortunately is/has been killing the strong that made it through the large scale die offs last year and 2 years ago. Sounds like the northern states will be on the ball, it remains unknown which direction Ab will go, lets hope game managers miraculously learn something about antelope behavior and manage to learn to count this year up here.

[hal53]

Had a chat with a farmer from the area here and we got talking about the winter kill on the deer...he had some pretty sad stories, then I mentioned I'm due for my Antelope draw and said I was going to 999 it...he mentioned he got drawn 2 years ago with a buddy and went down ( didn't ask which zone) but he was astounded by the # of hunters...when they got checked by SRD he asked the guy about it and he was totally baffled as well...he just said that's what the Biologists wanted HUH??????

Likely a good thing they killed those high numbers the past couple years, sure makes it easier on the survivors during winters like this. That's why antelope hunting is so critical in Alberta.

[Gulo gulo]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Likely a good thing they killed those high numbers the past couple years, sure makes it easier on the survivors during winters like this. That's why antelope hunting is so critical in Alberta.

They don’t need to give out 400 trophy antelope tags to control the population. I think that is what most guys are complaining about. I have no problem in the high population years increasing the non-trophy tags.

One of the problems with wildlife management in this province is the allocation system for non-residents. If the antelope population crashes like people are saying, the resident tags will be adjusted but the non-resident tags will not be changed until there allocations come up for review (5-10years). This system does not allow the biologists to manage the big game populations in a timely manner.

I’m not saying non-resident hunting is bad, I’m just stating that there is a reason most jurisdictions have gone away from the allocation system.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Wonder if we'll even have an antelope season in a number of WMUs this year?

Sad fact is that we are at the northern extremity of Antelope habitat and have to expect this with severe winters. Last 20 have been comparatively mild, but climate is cyclical and we can probably expect more, before it turns around.

Grizz

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

Sad fact is that we are at the northern extremity of Antelope habitat and have to expect this with severe winters. Last 20 have been comparatively mild, but climate is cyclical and we can probably expect more, before it turns around.

Grizz

Absolutely. It hasn't even been 20 years. Both 1996 and 1997 were brutal winters for antelope. They do seem to rebound rather quickly though. It's happened before and it will happen again.