Deer migration

[champs]

I have been hearing in the last several years about this "mass migration" of deer to the Fraser River. Could someone please explain this to me? From how far away do deer travel to go to the Fraser River? When does this happen? Will deer in say the Merritt area migrate to the Fraser? Princeton? Kelowna? Seems a little unbelievable to me. I trust that deer must descend when deep snow forces the issue, but can't they just descend in their local range and have the same results. Puzzled and interested. Thanks.

[mark]

merrit, princeton, kelowna.....NO.
They come from the mountains and drainage's on either side of the river.
The farthest some deer travel to the river, is from the mountains to the east of 100 mile area from what I understand.

[Weatherby Fan]

Im no expert by any means but Im sure the deer in the Princeton area don't migrate to the Fraser to winter,most deer in BC don't have to far to their wintering grounds to be on some arrid river benches or south facing slopes,some areas its a matter of the the north side of the the hill to the south side of the hill or mountain,
I'm sure there's some that migrate a fair ways alright but not when the deer of Princeton have beautiful wintering grounds all around the Princeton area.

[elkdom]

is it true when the deer get to the Fraser River,,, the deer then snorkel across to the other side? ,,,

who supplies these deer with snorkels ?


or is all this a rumor ?:cry:

[Weatherby Fan]

is it true when the deer get to the Fraser River,,, the deer then snorkel across to the other side? ,,,

who supplies these deer with snorkels ?


or is all this a rumor ?:cry:

Elkdom someone with your experience should know they have built in snorkles along with the hollow hair !

[mark]

is it true when the deer get to the Fraser River,,, the deer then snorkel across to the other side? ,,,

who supplies these deer with snorkels ?


or is all this a rumor ?:cry:

While I realize yer joking, deer swim across the fraser like they are walking.
Ive seen whole herds jump in and cross like a walk in the park!

[dana]

Mule deer migration from summer range to winter range can be as little as a few kms to as much as 120-150 kms. The Fraser migration comes from as far away as where the South Chilcotin Range and the Coast Range meet on the West and the Caribou Mtns on the East. They don't always just go to the closest winter range to them.

[champs]

I was throwing out Kelowna and Princeton because they seemed so preposterous to me.... but...


They don't always just go to the closest winter range to them.

any ideas as to why not Dana?

[Lone Ranger]

I used to work right on the Fraser in Tilbury (Delta) for a local shipping company, and we used to see deer swimming across the river from Burns Bog to east Richmond. Yeah, marine traffic and rough water doesn't seem to bother them much at all. We used to park our shunt trucks on the end of the dock with the highbeams on to illuminate the river and watch them all swim across in herds. Pretty amazing to watch. LR

[dino]

Finding winter and summer ranges for deer is online. If you want to find out where they come from and where they go the info is out there. Finding out when they are moving from one staging area to the next is up to you to find out. The deer from the mountains Dana's talking about"chilcotin" start to migrate early even when there is very little snow, deer in the princeton area migrate to their wintering grounds after the season closes. There are winter ranges that only a few animals will stay in and others that there are many deer in. I see this from when im out sledding all winter. Merrit, Princeton, and Kelowna are all wintering ares for deer,theres no need for them to move to the fraser, they have the Thompson or the similkameen valleys to winter in, although I think some do go towards the Fraser from Merrit west. This info is just my personal experience and what I believe and I am no expert.