Next two months critical for game herds
A small herd of mule deer pause on the Flathead National Forest last week.
The next two months will determine how game herds will fare from this snowy winter. With body weights down, March and April are critical for ungulate herds.
Region 1 FWP spokesman Dillon Tabish said last week that biologists aren’t seeing any die-offs west of the Divide. While snows are deep, there hasn’t been any prolonged cold spells this winter, which would further stress game.
“We’ll have a better picture when we conduct surveys in April,” he said.
Herds have moved down to river bottoms. In the North Fork, elk have even crossed the river from Huckleberry Mountain, which is the usual winter range, to the west side of the river, where snows are a bit deeper, but there’s browse in the post-fire landscape.
In the Middle Fork, elk and deer have also dropped down into the valleys, particularly near Bear Creek, looking for browse.
On the east side of the Divide, there’s also concern about deep snow.
How animals go into the winter – in good or poor shape – largely determines their chance of survival, FWP notes. Deer and antelope store up the necessary fat reserves in the summer and fall to survive winter.
If the summer and fall growing seasons were lush with lots to eat, then chances are good of surviving a harsh winter. If the summer and fall were dry and the landscape like a desert, then deer and antelope will have a tougher time of getting through a long winter season.
Second, whatever shape deer and antelope are in now, they have switched their gas tank onto reserve. A cold and snowy winter season that drags on into late April and even May will be tough to survive. It’s far better for herds to have an early spring.
Feeding is not a good idea, and it’s illegal.
Deer in particular take time to build up the necessary gut microbes necessary to digest bales of hay. For a deer to switch now to hay may still allow the animal to die of starvation, even with a belly full of hay, Bruce Auchly, FWP Region 4 spokesman notes.
He also noted that artificial feeding tends to unnaturally concentrate animals, allowing diseases to pass more easily among animals, and bring in predators, like mountain lions.