TheHunterBiologist
New member
Hi All,
The number of tags for some of the premium zones (X9A, X12, X9B, and X9C) will be significantly reduced this year due to the severe winter die off. Many deer died of starvation and were easy pickings for mountain lions, coyotes, and bobcats in the deep snow. I am not the main biologist monitoring the deer; however, just anecdotally, while doing my field work I ran into 18 dead deer. Only one was killed by a lion. All of the deer were in poor body condition. A healthy animals bone marrow should be chalky and white. These deer had red, jelly-like marrow. This may seem like a really bad situation. In the short term, it is bad. However, the drought has severely impacted the deer habitat and the high number of deer have over grazed the landscape. This die off will allow the habitat to recover some and the deer herd will be better off in the long term. The biologists in the region will continue to monitor the deer populations with GPS collars and helicopter surveys. As the deer population rises they should increase the deer tags, let's hope.
- TheHunterBiologist
The number of tags for some of the premium zones (X9A, X12, X9B, and X9C) will be significantly reduced this year due to the severe winter die off. Many deer died of starvation and were easy pickings for mountain lions, coyotes, and bobcats in the deep snow. I am not the main biologist monitoring the deer; however, just anecdotally, while doing my field work I ran into 18 dead deer. Only one was killed by a lion. All of the deer were in poor body condition. A healthy animals bone marrow should be chalky and white. These deer had red, jelly-like marrow. This may seem like a really bad situation. In the short term, it is bad. However, the drought has severely impacted the deer habitat and the high number of deer have over grazed the landscape. This die off will allow the habitat to recover some and the deer herd will be better off in the long term. The biologists in the region will continue to monitor the deer populations with GPS collars and helicopter surveys. As the deer population rises they should increase the deer tags, let's hope.
- TheHunterBiologist