Post by esshup on Apr 6, 2023 23:52:12 GMT -5
FYI.
I heard and read that this has been a particularly bad year for Wyoming big game animals on their winter range. They are predicting up to 50% mortality due to starvation. My cousin lives in Casper and I talked to him tonight. Casper had between 33" and 40" of snow from Monday night to Wednesday morning. That is 4-3 to 4-5 of this year, 2023.
He said yes, that there is a LOT of snow in the state, and the only area that he thinks hasn't been affected is the bad winter is the very SE corner of the state, from Laramie to Cheyenne to Pine Bluffs. The Pinedale/Big Piney area was hit extremely hard, and that is the winter range for Elk and Mulies.
So, for the guys that are planning on hunting in Wyoming this year and next year, if the state doesn't cut way back on tags it might be really, really lean hunting. He said back in the late 1980's they had snow like this and there were herds of antelope that were piled up in a corner of a pasture (they crawl under fences, they don't jump over them) and they basically got covered up with snow and died. He said herds of 300-400 goats, along with sheep and cattle. He was running a dozer for the USGS at that time and the local rancher asked if he could make a pit for him. He said every day after work he'd be pushing dead cattle into the pit, and by the time the rancher stopped dragging beef to the pit he said he buried 60-70 head of cattle.
I heard and read that this has been a particularly bad year for Wyoming big game animals on their winter range. They are predicting up to 50% mortality due to starvation. My cousin lives in Casper and I talked to him tonight. Casper had between 33" and 40" of snow from Monday night to Wednesday morning. That is 4-3 to 4-5 of this year, 2023.
He said yes, that there is a LOT of snow in the state, and the only area that he thinks hasn't been affected is the bad winter is the very SE corner of the state, from Laramie to Cheyenne to Pine Bluffs. The Pinedale/Big Piney area was hit extremely hard, and that is the winter range for Elk and Mulies.
So, for the guys that are planning on hunting in Wyoming this year and next year, if the state doesn't cut way back on tags it might be really, really lean hunting. He said back in the late 1980's they had snow like this and there were herds of antelope that were piled up in a corner of a pasture (they crawl under fences, they don't jump over them) and they basically got covered up with snow and died. He said herds of 300-400 goats, along with sheep and cattle. He was running a dozer for the USGS at that time and the local rancher asked if he could make a pit for him. He said every day after work he'd be pushing dead cattle into the pit, and by the time the rancher stopped dragging beef to the pit he said he buried 60-70 head of cattle.
