Use Promo Code Randy for 20% off OutdoorClass

Tough Winter

Nemont

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 22, 2003
Messages
4,396
Location
Glasgow, Montana
This is a front page article in our local paper. I don't know if I remember 150 + antelope getting whacked by the train in a single accident.

Severe Winter Taking Toll On Antelope
Food Hidden Buried Under Snow; Train Hits Herd Of 150 Near Vandalia Dam
By Samar Fay Courier Editor

Published: Wednesday, January 26th, 2011


full_614621-2477693.jpg


With snow levels inching up on another record year, local wildlife is struggling to survive.
Birds are huddled under bushes. Hay yards are swarming with deer. Antelope that normally feed on sagebrush and other prairie plants are getting hungry and moving south to find food. Unfortunately, their instinctive migration is as difficult and dangerous as the winter weather.
They follow roads and tracks because it’s much easier than the exhausting slog through deep snow. But it can be deadly. Last week, there were two reports of trains hitting groups of antelope west of Glasgow and some were hit by a car on a county road.
On Sunday morning, there was a particularly disastrous event. A train hit a large herd of antelope west of Vandalia Dam. A game warden got a ride on a track truck to the site and found more than 150 animals hit. His painful duty was to shoot them.“It’s a tough winter for them and the other wildlife migrating,” said Mark Sullivan, the Fish, Wildlife & Parks wildlife program manager for Region 6. “It’s triggered by winter conditions back to November, the first snowfall. The lucky ones have made it further south. There a lot of roadblocks on the migration routes that never existed 200 years ago.”
Sullivan said he doesn’t blame the trains, which can’t possibly stop in time. The accidental slaughter is a horrible experience for the engineers, too.
Highways and subdivisions are additional modern problems for the herds to deal with, but the worst obstacle may be fences, Sullivan said. Antelope have evolved as the fastest land animals in the Americas, but they don’t jump very well. They crawl under fences, unless the bottom wire is set low or snow piles up and there is no way under.
Sullivan said there are definitely a lot of Canadian antelope moving south and the animals stack up on the Milk River bottom, because of the highway and a lot of fences. Even if they get down to Fort Peck Lake, it is not a particularly good wintering area. If the ice is hard, they can cross the lake and perhaps do better on the other side. A few years ago, scores of antelope drowned near Duck Creek when the ice broke under them.
Like deer and cattle, antelope are ruminants. Their four-part stomachs contain bacteria that break down plant matter. Unfortunately for winter-stressed antelope, their particular bacteria are not geared to hay. When they are in poor condition and are forced to eat hay, many can’t make the switch and they die.
There is not much that people can do to help, Sullivan said. One suggestion is for ranchers to leave gates open on empty pastures. This allows the antelope to find their way through and continue their migration. Another long-term suggestion is to place the lowest fence wire 18 inches or more above the ground, so antelope can more easily wiggle under.
Sullivan said FWP will probably cut back on hunting licenses for antelope next year. They do aerial surveys in mid-summer, in time to change the license quota in mid-July if needed.
You can’t stockpile wildlife population, Sullivan said. You can try bringing back a population by not hunting them and you get a winter like this. He said the resiliency of the antelope will depend on weather conditions for the next few years. If the summer has good growing conditions and is followed by an easy winter, there will be good fawn production.
“If there is a drought and a hard winter, they are just going to be hanging in there,” Sullivan said.
 
Same thing is happening in western Wyoming. I heard of several incidents of trains hitting large herds there recently.
 
Trains take out a ton of wildlife. We worked with the Engineers union in WY on several sportsmen's bills when I worked there, and the stories these guys would tell were incredible.
 
I really feel sorry for the game warden. Dispatching wounded animals in this number is probably what he signed up for.

Did the animal carcasses go to a food bank?
 
Craig,

I talked to one of the engineers who was on the train and he said much higher than 150. The report from the FWP guy said he shot 60 rounds and had to back and get more ammo.

There are pronghorns stacked up throughout the valley and they are going to have a big winter kill.
 
We're getting it pretty bad down here as well and the antelope definitely seem to be getting the worst of it. On the winter range area I watch the most it seems a couple a night are getting roadkilled as they crawl through the fences and try to get to haystacks.
 
Crap, that is terrible. Poor buggers don't have much of a chance in a winter like this. Is it looking as bad as '96-'97? Sure hope not.
 
I am babysitting a big herd just east of the house. They moved in over a week ago and just hunkered down in this small drainage. The snow is melting on some south slopes, but still crocth deep and crusted in the low spots and north sides. Be interesting to see how many don't make it out of there. I am fighting my curiosity and staying well clear of them until they see fit to move on.,
 
In the winter of 03, my wife's aunt, who lives in Saco, had 1800 antelope move on to the hay pasture. Most didn't leave. They had to pile the carcasses up and burn em.
 
Last edited:
This is not good for the east side. For those still looking wanting to hunt antelope in Montana, don't assume this is happening all over the state. Plenty of areas with nosnow and antelope herds in the hundreds.

The east side needs a break for sure. I'm sure the turkeys will take a hit also.
 
Wow! looks like a good time to be in AZ...

Interesting how they follow the tracks... makes sense considering the cleared out route... though for them not to move / scatter - ? Or those that do, they bouncing back and forth trying to figure where the herd was running?

Interesting about the fence and Pronghorn actions... Never knew they prefer to slip under than jump over. Though I have done just a couple 'lope hunts...

That is unfortunate...
 
I like how it reads "His painful duty was to shoot them." The shooting sounds like the fun part to me. But piling the carcuses or getting rid of them sounds like work....except if dumping gas on the bodies and tossing a match is involved.
 
I like how it reads "His painful duty was to shoot them." The shooting sounds like the fun part to me. But piling the carcuses or getting rid of them sounds like work....except if dumping gas on the bodies and tossing a match is involved.

Are you for real? I think your priorities as to whats fun, are off bubble.:confused: Shooting a herd of antelope that are wounded and dieing, would not be a fun thing to do. It would be like putting your pet dog, or cat down with a bullet. These animals that live in our state, are our's. You just lost a herd!:mad:
 
I like how it reads "His painful duty was to shoot them." The shooting sounds like the fun part to me. But piling the carcuses or getting rid of them sounds like work....except if dumping gas on the bodies and tossing a match is involved.

Damn...I hope you were joking.
 
Sad news for sure.

ND didn't have a season in 2010 because of the low antelope numbers. Guess there is no sense in making plans for this coming fall either given the current state of affairs.
 
Save $100 on the Leupold VX-3HD

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
110,811
Messages
1,935,288
Members
34,888
Latest member
Jack the bear
Back
Top