winterkill

[kbb]

what's your thoughts about the lack of snow and cold, and how it will affect the numbers on all game? any predictions for this year? not alot of snow, affecting the winterkill, both natural or predators.?..
Maybe some seasoned hunters can throw some light on the subject..

[Kirby]

To early to tell. Could get one hell of a cold snap in February, snow and a late spring, or it might just be a nice easy year for the animals. If it stays like this hope we get good rain through the summer or it could be one bad bad year.

Kirby

[Ddog]

Like Kirby said, it is a little early to tell, although the lack of snow so far and what is predicted for the upcoming months suggests that there will be little to no winterkill. But mother nature is as cruel as can be and could turn in a second. One never does know until Spring has sprung and well into it.

[hunter1947]

I dought that we will see a change in the weather pattern the rest of the year ,alnino is here to stay..

It is a good thing that there will not be more animals left out there from a mild winter ,maybe some of us hunters will be able to put more meat in our freezers this up coming fall...

[Piperdown]

Hopefully the cold snap we had in December will be enough to keep the ticks down, otherwise they could become a problem.

[Caribou_lou]

All the animals I've seen this winter have been fat and healthy with no ticks. This lack of snow should deffinatly help to lower the number wolf kills. Hope the weather stays as is for the rest of the winter. and an early spring would be nice also.

[Darksith]

now it looks like the forest fires are gonna be the big risk in 2010. Been thinking about starting up a company for just such an event. Big bucks in emergency FF crews.

[300win]

Its an el nino year so probably a lot of rain??? fire, bugs (pine beetle) will like the weather but the animals (deer,moose etc.) should have an easier year out running predators. Looking forward to 2010!!

[kbb]

i was also thinking the fire crews will be busy this coming year. i hope not.

[one-shot-wonder]

i was also thinking the fire crews will be busy this coming year. i hope not.

Not necessarily a bad thing.........

[mark]

i was also thinking the fire crews will be busy this coming year. i hope not.

I hope they go on strike, letter burn! :-D

[Fido]

Just being bad, how about Gord, saying and this jump event with a guy mowing the lawn in the back ground.

[doubled]

I am with you Mark, let the bug crap burn and the forest regenerate - as well as the morel mushrooms!!!

[cariboobill]

Well boys the weather pattern is being effected by some pretty warm sea temps and persistent High over Indonesia, which then sets up an El Nino effect or the Southern Oscillation.

So this year a warmer and drier winter for the Interior, which will continue to get warmer and drier now the El Nino effect is in full swing. For more info go here http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/

Here in the Southern Cariboo, the deer and moose are in good shape and I have not seen any winter kill yet. In fact I have seen more deer than usual for this time of year. As to the summer and fires, I agree let the back woods burn all that fuel sitting on the ground and dead standing.

Cheers

CB

[ELKOHOLICBC]

Mark I also agree with some burning. Do you know why here in BC we don't do more controlled buring of areas like they do down in the states. I know RMEF really supports it down there.

[sawmill]

Mark I also agree with some burning. Do you know why here in BC we don't do more controlled buring of areas like they do down in the states. I know RMEF really supports it down there.

Pretty hard to do a "controlled burn" in a multi million acre bug kill pine forest.That`s like trying to put out a fire in a match factory.

There is a controlled burn schedual here in the EK ,Rocksteady would know more about that.

Besides,if we have a really hot and dry summer good `ol Nature will take its course and you will see a humongous fire in the interior.About the size of Belgium from the estimates of bug kill timber.

[rocksteady]

Do you know why here in BC we don't do more controlled buring of areas like they do down in the states.

Politics....Down in the States, the USFS as well as state agencies tend to have more flexibility to do such things without having to consult each and every "shareholder" with a vested interest (ranchers/ATV'ers/Guides/Outfitters/First Nations/mushroom Pickers/ etc etc etc ). Whereas in BC we do..The referral and discussion process is very onerous and can delay/derail the best intended plans made to improve the habitat...

Doing large clean up burns of the mountain pine beetle areas is tricky....some of it due to:

Right now the forest industry is in the toilet, but if we burn off 50000 ha to remove the beetle wood, then the industry turns around, all of a sudden the "burners" are going to be crucified for wasting that woodfibre.

If it was economically feasible (which right now it s not) to harvest all that dead wood and utilize it in bioenergy plants to create electricity, it would probably happen..Hopefully this becomes an option...

Do you watch the news about emissions/carbon neutral/carbon footprint etc???? I have a hard time believing that large scale burning in the province would be approved, when people are concerned about the "carbon footprint" of the generators (diesel) being used as media backups at the Olympics.....Maybe in a few years/ maybe not.

Large burns in standing beetle kill are potential "bombs". They are very unpredictable and volatile (because of conditions required to meet objectives). Logging the area first and then doing a slash burn to clean up is a lot lower risk...
____________________

From what I saw this year, on wildfires, the beetle kill is only one component of the size/ aggressive nature of the fires......

For example Tyaughton Lake, the red/dead pine was not really a big deal, but on the ground under it was a massive component of dead/down fuels from the previous beetle kill (10 to 20 years ago). This ground fuel raised the intensity/heat so high that it was running through the crowns of the red/dead with little or no wind....Excessive drought conditions from the previous winter....If the province gets its usual May/June rains, the drought gets nailed back and fires are less intense, until they re-dry (Say August versus June).

There are several burns scheduled for the East Kootenay Trench this spring, hopefully the weather window presents itself........You also have to remember that in times of economic downturns/fiscal restraint, the powers that be sometimes axe things that they feel are not important.....Even though we see it differently, as hunters...

[pete_k]

Minimal winter kill = more predators
More predators = less deer
less deer = less predators
less predators = more deer
And the cycle continues.