My observations are as follows, whitetails took a big hit this past winter. The predators seem to have hit the whitetails in the mountain timber areas. Whitetails seem to be more vulnerable to harsh winter and predadation. On the other hand, I am seeing a resurgance in the Mulie numbers around here. Over the last couple of decades, whitetails have taken over a lot of areas that were once mule deer domain. I am finally seeing some reversal of that pattern. Mulies are coming back around here and whitetails are a bit on the decline.
The Elk numbers, in my observations are as good or better than ever, but some reports do contradict my observations. A lot of blame is being placed directly on the explosion of predators, including the reintroduction of wolves. Again, what I am seeing is an increase in the numbers and range, so I have to wonder how much of the reports are linked to the rhetorical battleground of western issues.
What I do see is a change in behavior of local elk. Some of the change I attribute to increase in predator numbers (thats a really big increase) and some of the change is attributed to changing of land ownership. Some local property owners have created new safe havens for elk. The new ownership are often not running a cattle opp., leading to a decrease in bovine numbers on the ranges and as a result of those two factors, the number of elk in these areas are exploding. Traditional logic is that, the further you get from human presence, the more elk you'll find. Around here, the opposite might be the "new norm". Elk are leaving the wilderness areas and heading into their wintering areas on private land earlier and earlier every year. Last year, on the first day of hunting season, the wilderness area I was in had beaucoup predators and almost no elk. The elk were already down on their wintering grounds where they used to wait until December to head down there. Now in other areas with traditional land ownership (hunter friendly ranchers) the opposite is true.
Where safe havens do not exist, the elk are staying up on the peaks longer, because later starting winters allows them to linger up high and out of reach to a lot of hunters.
