As January winds down, concerns among wildlife managers about the welfare of Colorado’s big game herds have eased. Despite heavy snows in some mountain regions, wintering deer, elk and pronghorns across most of the state appear to be in good condition.
“The winter’s been average to mild in most of the state, and I haven’t heard of too many problems from our biologists,” said Andy Holland, Durango-based big game manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
About the only area of concern has been the Craig/Maybell area. Rain and wet snow early in the season formed an ice crust when temperatures dropped. Additional snow followed, forcing elk in search of food onto livestock-feeding areas along the bottomlands of the Yampa River.
In the southwest, including the Gunnison Basin that was especially hard hit in 2007-08, conditions have improved from the early winter.
“The way it started, I was thinking: ‘Here we go again. It’s 2007-08 all over again,’ but then it warmed up,” said Scott Wait, senior terrestrial biologist for the DOW’s southwest region. “Now we’re getting to the point that even if we some heavy snow, they can make it through the winter.”
In the best of times, about 35 percent of deer fawns die each winter, according to research in the Piceance Basin. Fishing with a president:
Steve Brown, a Denver native who splits his time between Telluride and Honduras, is prominently mentioned in an article by former president Jimmy Carter appearing in the current issue of “Fly Fisherman” magazine.
The piece describes fishing on Guanaja Island, about 50 miles off the coast of mainland Honduras, where Brown is a fly-fishing guide. Brown, a graduate of Cherry Creek High School and Colorado College who has a master’s degree from Colorado State, also guides for Telluride Outside and Gunnison River Expeditions.
“It was a great honor,” Brown said. “It’s also an insight into the kind of relationship that we have. . . . Of all the people I’ve guided, (Carter is) the one I enjoy fishing with the most.”
Karl Licis, Special to The Post
