Tom Spezze deliberately went out looking for trouble. Went to the toughest, meanest neighborhood he could find. Even had a sidekick packing a gun.
So why is this man smiling?
“There were no problems anywhere,” the Southwest Region manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife said of his scouting expedition for signs of winter woes among deer and elk.
“I started in the worst possible place. I went to the Gunnison area first. It hasn’t been anything like last year.”
Ah, the Gunnison country. A year ago, this large, frigid basin was the epicenter of the worst winter die-off of deer — and, to a lesser extent, elk — the state had seen in a quarter-century.
Precise postmortems are not yet complete but casualties numbered into the many thousands. The carnage caused the wildlife agency to severely slash license allocations for the 2008 hunt, a key element in what, for several reasons, became a disappointing season.
What a difference a year makes. Spezze’s excursion, with area wildlife manager J Wenum, revealed none of the previous woes.
“Snow depths are just 25 percent of a year ago. Things have settled drastically and it’s not hardpacked and icy,” Spezze said, describing a condition where soft, sugary snow allows animals to move freely and dig easily for food.
“That’s just the report for the Gunnison area. Everywhere else, things get even easier.”
In the northwest, where 2008 snow and cold caused considerable mortality in specific locations, regional manager Ron Velarde expressed similar relief, saying: “Overall, things are looking great for wildlife. Animals are wintering without stress.”
Such a situation has allowed the agency to totally avoid any feeding of wildlife, another stark contrast to the $2.5 million expenditure for feed, fencing and personnel across western Colorado last winter.
Velarde’s lieutenants have performed limited baiting operations in the Elk River Valley north of Steamboat Springs to lure animals from ranchers’ feed lots. But no actual feeding has been required.
Heavier snows made Steamboat the only real problem area for his region, Velarde said, but snow cover quickly evaporates farther west toward Craig.
“Even when we got a lot of snow, we usually had 4-5 days of good weather in between. Last year, there was no time to recoup,” Velarde said.
Better still, a general warm- up across most of western Colorado has caused conditions to improve further in recent weeks.
“Temperature in Gunnison drops close to zero at night, but during the day it has been rising into the 30s or even low 40s,” Spezze said. “That’s amazing for January and February.”
This, coupled with a favorable tilt to the sun’s rays, resulted in widespread melting of south-facing slopes. In many places, winter ranges already have come free of snow.
Barring some freakish turn in the pattern, Spezze believes the worst is past.
“I feel if we get into February, we’re over the hump. Things are more springlike. Even if it snows a lot, daytime temperature allows it to settle and melt.
“It’s a welcome change. We need a break after last winter.”
