Last Winter's Snow Devastated Northern Big Game

Monday, November 05, 2007 04:00 AM

Farmers and ranchers in the Ft St John, Dawson Creek and Peace River area say this year will go down as one of the worst years in recent memory for the population of deer, moose and elk .

They say the record snow falls last year resulted in the death of an estimated 1,000 animals in the area between the Alaska Highway, and the junction of the Peace and Kiskatinaw River.

Ben Tschetter of the South Peace Colony says "We think that the Elk may have wintered the best, but there is no doubt the deer population was decimated by the snowfall. There were days when we where taking 10 to 12 dead animals away from our cattle feed troughs every single day. We felt so sorry for them but there was nothing we could do. "

Tschetter says the wildlife would eat whatever they could find "The Mule deer and the White tail’s were coming to our yard for feed and while we didn’t want to not let them feed, they were dying with full bellies from eating hay and alfalfa that they were not accustomed to eating."

As for the moose population, ranchers say they suffered a double whammy. Two years ago there was a heavy infestation of ticks and a lot of the Moose came out of the winter last year in very poor shape only to be hit with a record snowfall.

One rancher said he was shocked at the low numbers of animals he has been seeing. "Where I used to see 8 to 10 moose in a field every day, I have only seen one cow moose for the past 2 months."

Meantime the butcher shops who regularly see a huge increase in their business starting from late August to October 31^st, say the season has been a bust.

One butcher reported he normally would cut and wrap about 130 to 140 animals a year. He was down to just 28 this year.

Everyone is hoping this winter won't be as bad as last year , fearing another heavy snowfall will wipe out the deer, moose and elk population.

But as one rancher put it, it is all a matter of balance "It’s amazing what Mother Nature can do when the populations of animals have been high like they were up here for the past several years. "

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Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on November 5 2007 7:58 AM

Heavy snowfalls should be good news for the mountain caribou then. These caribou like lots of snow because the predators die of starvation before the spring/summer when caribou take the biggest population hits.

Did you know that caribou "click" when they walk? They have a tendon that slips in the first knuckle above the hoof. They can't walk quietly! How's that for an evolutionary dead end when it comes to avoiding cats and other predators.

Posted by: northman on November 5 2007 8:30 AM

The railroad kills at least 5 moose a week in the winter between Prince george and Fort st James.

Posted by: BCRacer on November 5 2007 8:42 AM

Last year they moaned and groaned about there not being enough snow and now they complain there was too much....would be nice if they got together and figured out which it was.
And yes railroads vs wildlife is very one sided. It happens in the summer as well, granted not as often.
Any snow is to much but the life in the north is loaded with it so I endure. Can think of no other place I would want to be.

Posted by: northman on November 5 2007 10:19 AM

" But as one rancher put it, it is all a matter of balance "It�s amazing what Mother Nature can do when the populations of animals have been high like they were up here for the past several years. "

-It just goes to show no matter how much mitigation and managment we put towards something nature will balance itslef out in the long run. Now if we quit screwing around with the forests so much maybe nature will balcance them out again.

Posted by: kevin1006 on November 5 2007 5:36 PM

Well said Northman.

I would also add that it makes it twice as hard on the wildlife in a hard winter when we've taken all the best winter range for ourselves, namely in the form of cattle. There is also the fact that older forest keeps more snow bound up in the canopy and not on the forest floor where these animals have easier access to food. Clear cuts put all the snow on the ground. Not hard to figure out this does not help the wildlife.

Our constant "management" is the problem, not the solution. When you violate every rule that nature makes plainly obvious you are bound to just create problem on top of problem. When the magagement of land is predicated on the worship of money - every decision made to benefit making money first - then everything else is going to suffer. Moose and Elk in BC go hungry and die so people in Atlanta can have a particle board house. Not that Elk and Moose didn't die during harsh winters 200 years ago, it's just that then the numbers were much higher than now, so the population could take the hit. We've so altered the landscape that they are no longer able to take big hits in population like they once could.

BC's future lies in other areas than logging. The worst sin we humans are committing against our planet, among them anyway, is the clear cutting of the world's forest's. Eating cows is another one for the harm raising cattle is doing on a global scale. I love a good steak as much as anyone but have mostly given up eating beef because of the harm cattle ranching is doing to our world.

Do your research and then act.