Question for the bios out there.

[44hunter45]

I think I've answered my own question just seeing this post in writing, but here goes anyway.

My favorite exercise walk is a 6 mile loop from my house, around a state school section, and back. In winter I usually don' t go over there to reduce the chance of winter range stress on the deer and elk. That means walking on the County road.

We are having a particularly mild winter. Am I still stressing them if I go back to hike the school section?

 

[Rack Daniels]

I’m not a bio, but I think it’d be a no-brainer that if they are out there then yes- it would be a stress on them. If they’re not even in that area because of this moderate winter then you can’t be stressing what is not there lmao

 

[Gulf of America]

Also not a bio, but my inclination would be yes as well. Even without lots of snow, the food availability and quality is lower so expending extra energy with human pressure makes it more likely that calories in < calories out.

 

[Bonasababy]

I'd have 2 questions....

How much disturbance do they encounter from other sources and how would yours compare?

And why are they wintering there? Do they have other places they can go if disturbance encourages them to move?

 

[nrpate05]

I don't know where you are, but in this winter you likely aren't stressing them. That said, it is easier just to say it's off limits during the winter rather than pushing it. Mule deer especially have a very high fidelity to their winter range and may die before they go other places (in extreme cases) so it is better to just stay away.

 

[Griztrax]

I am a bio who studied elk/deer on their winter range back in the day. I always encourage people to avoid known winter ranges until spring green-up even during mild winters like this one. We still have a lot of winter left and if the snow/cold patterns change, we could still see weeks of brutal weather and the animals need to conserve stored energy just in case. I applaud your concern for the wildlife and wish there were more like-minded people (especially shed hunters) who would just steer clear of those critical winter ranges until spring. Here is a link to the City of Missoula, MT website where they talk about seasonal recreation closures on Mt Jumbo to protect wintering elk: https://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/206/Conservation-Lands-Closures

 

[Elktrack]

What stress would be incurred on them? There’s no deep snow. It’s not cold. There’s accessible feed everywhere. It’s not like they’re being pushed off critical winter range into some deep freeze wasteland.
I know it sounds like I’m being argumentative but I just don’t see how it would harm them. So they get bumped and move 400 yards away and lay back down? I could see it being an issue under different conditions.

 

[brymoore]

My experience with pushing deer and elk in the winter is they don’t move that much. It’d be hard to stress elk anyway.

 

[WapitiBob]

Deer walk down my street and thru my yard every day. if your Deer are used to people, they aren't being stressed. Getting chased by dogs is how they get stressed.