Idaho’s Clearwater elk dodge bullet of tough winter
Idaho’s streak of mild winters was broken last year and deep snow – combined with cold temperatures – took a toll on some of the state’s deer and elk herds, but the Clearwater region seems to have been an exception.
“Southern Idaho had some really horrendous conditions and they had pretty high mortality rates on both mule deer fawns and elk,” said Dave Koehler, a wildlife biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Lewiston. “We had more snow up here than we have had in a while, but realistically in the backcountry our snow levels weren’t that much more than what historically has been fairly average.”
Koehler also noted that winter hit early and snow piled up in November and December, but by January the weather pattern shifted.
“It really warmed up back there and we got as much rain as snow from that point on and conditions never got any worse,” he said.
Based on data collected from a small number of elk calves wearing radio collars, there was higher winter mortality than winters of the recent past. But Koehler said the mortality rate wasn’t terrible.
“We might have lost 50 percent this year, which is higher than it’s been, but it’s certainly not a wipeout sort of year like 1996,” he said.
Deer in the region also appear to have survived the winter. Again, Koehler said there were some localized pockets where above-average winter mortality was reported but nothing out of the ordinary. He said most of the deer in the region drop to lower elevations like the breaks of the Clearwater, Snake and Salmon rivers or the lower elevation slopes around Dworshak Reservoir.
“They don’t really even have to be in snow much at all and this year when it warmed up like it did in January I don’t expect we had much in deer mortality above what you would see in a normal year.”
Going into winter, deer and elk populations in many, but not all, areas of the state and region were pretty healthy due in part to previous mild weather.
“We have had exceptional conditions for a number of years running all across the state, so populations were pretty good to start with. Even if we saw higher-than-average mortality, we still have a lot of animals out on the hill.”
The Lolo and Selway elk hunting zones are the exception. Elk numbers there have been down for two decades. Biologists did aerial surveys of the Lolo zone last winter and found mixed results. The overall number of elk in Unit 10 of the zone continued to be low. But biologists saw positive signs that the herd might slowly be stabilizing or even setting itself up for growth.
“We had 32 calves per 100 cows, which is really quite good, and we saw lots of spikes and a lot of sub-adult bulls, which would tell you we had good recruitment for several years running,” he said. “The disappointing part for a lot of people was just the total number of elk in there was pretty similar to 2010 (the last time it was surveyed.) But in 2010, we knew the population was still declining.”
Biologists believe that after the survey six winters ago, elk numbers continued to suffer and at some point bottomed out and started to rebuild. Koehler said the problem is growing a herd that has been hammered takes time.
“We are not talking about that many elk. (Herds) have the ability to decline a lot faster than they do to increase.”
Elk numbers in the Unit 12 portion of the zone were not as positive.
“We would like to see it at 25 or 30, and cow numbers were down in there, too,” he said. “Overall the (Unit) 12 count was less than 2010. For whatever reason it did not recover as well as (Unit) 10.”
The health of the region’s deer and elk herds is not always reflected in hunting season success.
Koehler said weather during the hunt often plays a bigger role.
“People get really focused on the number of animals on the hill but it seems like hunter success rates and harvest is driven as much by weather conditions during the hunt as anything,” he said. “If it’s hot and dry, hunting is tough. If it’s cooler and you get some precipitation, oftentimes harvest is a lot higher.”