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Winter Kill?

mdeerjunkie

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I was out today looking for some sheds and came across about 8 dead deer and elk all in the same basin. All within under a 1/4 mile of each other. I don’t remember us having that bad of a winter….

Any ideas? This was near Kremmling.
 

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I wouldn’t say we had a bad winter, but there was quite a bit of snow on the winter ranges in some areas relative to the Snotel readings at higher elevations. In the long run, it should be good for range conditions.
 
How close to a road? Talking to the game warden out their during my antelope season he said the wound loss can be insane up there with the heard shooting that takes place at times. Could also be animals hit by a vehicle. If neither of those ar e the case I’m at a loss. Faces seem to be to intact for cat kills.
 
How close to a road? Talking to the game warden out their during my antelope season he said the wound loss can be insane up there with the heard shooting that takes place at times. Could also be animals hit by a vehicle. If neither of those ar e the case I’m at a loss. Faces seem to be to intact for cat kills.
It was about 2-3 miles from the closest road.
 
Quick observations are that the hide and rib cages are pretty intact. It doesn’t speak to large predators to me, but I am no expert.

This is what I’m seeing around us with blue tongue and hemorrhagic ravaging populations. Disease in the area?
 
As I have flown over winter-range areas of western Colorado which are covered in deep snow this year, it occurred to me that not one ungulate on the landscape has any experience with dealing with this kind of snow-pack; they have all become drought acclimated.
 
A cow elk on the side of the road just south of Craig two days ago. Bony and pregnant? They were hungry enough they didn’t care if we stopped and took a photo.F516CD48-5865-4B96-B05F-F698CDC6B431.jpeg
 
Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

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