Region 7B Winter Kill?

[boonerbuck]

I may be going back into the Prophet/Besa for elk this Sept but this years heavy snowfall have me seriously worried about the winter kill.

How are the animals(elk mainly) fairing in that area? Did north of Fort St John get hit as hard as the Dawson Creek area? Are they expecting a serious kill off up there?

I will have to keep an eye on the situation before I commit.

[Tank]

I may be going back into the Prophet/Besa for elk this Sept but this years heavy snowfall have me seriously worried about the winter kill.

How are the animals(elk mainly) fairing in that area? Did north of Fort St John get hit as hard as the Dawson Creek area? Are they expecting a serious kill off up there?

I will have to keep an eye on the situation before I commit.

I would expect that with the dry summer combined with the deep snow and cold temps of this winter, there is going to be a larger winter kill than average this year. I believe the last big kill off up there was in the late 90'...and that resulted in the mule deer quota getting temperarily bumped back to 1 every 3 years.

[bwhnter]

It is getting pretty bad up here the winds have been howling alot so the snow is getting hard enough for the wolves and coyotes to run on but the deer are falling through still. They can hardly paw through and what they get isn't enough. I know that when I start the tractor to feed my horses I get over 20 mule deer that head to the feed yard.
In one area South of FSJ the drifts across the road were said to be over 15 feet.

[Husky7mm]

Dont forget to bring your gun on all your travells so you can shoot a few wolves or coyotes to help out the game.

[luckynuts]

Definately a huge concern right now the wind of late has put a very hard crust over the fields but not the timber. the fields can almost support me and i'm 180 soaking wet so over 200lbs with all my gear on. The moose have even began to tear into any bales left out in the fields.

I work north of town and yeah the snow is as just as deep if not deeper. Will be interesting to see what spring brings for sure. Hopefully a slow melt as last year it greened up in the heavy timber before the road edges and cutlines due to the drought. Definately not seeing the animals bunched up as much as last year.

W.

[LeverActionJunkie]

I'm with Husky! Whenever I'm up that country or most any country for that matter I carry my mini-14 or some form of predator control. A number of times I've spotted coyotes from the Hwy, turned off on the closest road gone couple hundered from the HWY and popped the little *******s. Once a farmer seen what I was doing and come up the road I thought I was in sh#t! He rolls down his window and asks If I wanna stop by the other side of his property the next day and shoot a couple yotes that where running his yearlings!

[ARC]

I went out to take some pictures about 10 days ago, just outside of town and the snow was about knee deep. I spooked a decent mulie buck and he was having trouble running through the snow with any speed.

I talked to one rancher who gives me permission to hunt on his land, and apparently the deer are hitting his bird feeders and any hay left out pretty hard. He's come across two dead fawns so far.

Hopefully we get some warmer temperatures early this spring.

[boonerbuck]

So....what about the elk?

[boxhitch]

I can only think that the conditions are affecting those critters that are habituated to dining on cultivated land. There is still lots of woodland areas that should support deer and elk just fine. Should ease the farmers woes about having crops damaged.
Booner - tough to judge what is happening in the remote areas ? Elk can survive deep snow just fine. Worse case would be a thaw/freeze cycle in the spring. JMHO.

[Jetboat]

When I first came to the north Peace in the late seventies, a normal winter would see three feet of snow and daytime temp's would hang in the -35C range for weeks. Everything was just fine. Seems like now anytime the temp gets below -20C and we have over a foot of snow, people are worried. Relax, the game will be fine. We will see normal winter kills as that's the way it goes, but nothing out of the ordinary. Booner, the elk are tough and will get through this winter as they always have. So plan your hunt and enjoy.

[CanuckShooter]

This winter is really bad in all of Region 7a and b...I would elect to hunt the Kootenays !! :lol: :lol: and apply for leh only in the Kootenay region!!
Way more animals there and less distance to travel...

[boonerbuck]

Thanks guys.

It would be irresponsible for me not to look into the situation, if there is one I mean.:)