This forum has been suffering a drought; much like the Western hunting grounds have been the last ten years. But it appears the drought is over in the far West. Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada have had a rather wet winter. It also looks like parts of Idaho, and Montana are recovering from the drought. Wyoming, parts of Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico are in the world of hurt. Even part of Alaska is suffering from drought. Last summer a number of large fires burned Eastern Alaska.
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.htmlMany locations in Northern California are 30 percent above normal and ski areas are reporting 15 to 20 feet of new snow in March alone.
I have not heard any reports of major die-offs of big game animals this winter. There should be a lot of feed for game animals this summer and fall. I recommend tracking the weather for the areas you plan on hunting. In areas that have had a lot of moisture hunting maybe tougher. There will be more feed and game will not have to travel as far for water. In turn some areas may carry game that have not carried game during dry periods. There maybe some new oppertunities.
Hunters may have a more difficult time getting into some areas. Reports of road slippage are common. Either the old logging roads are having material slide into them or the roadbed has slipped into the drainage. Ted Kennedy put the end of road maintain money for Federal lands a number of years ago. The heavy snow may keep many high country roads closed until July. Some of the guys normally do their scouting during a summer fishing trip.
I have been reloading the last few weeks. The snow level has moved up the mountain and it is warm enough to get into the garage and do some loading. The problem is that high stream levels are keeping me out of one shooting location and deep snow is keeping me out of another.
In California there are concerns about the mosquito population. West Nile disease has been found in Northern California. This is carried my mosquitoes. The old timers named a number of locations after that bug. Sites like Little Mosquito Lake, Big Mosquito Lake, Mosquito Ridge got their name for a reason. These critters hatch in the wet ground litter. Last summer I met my son and grandson at a lake for a day of fishing. I towed my boat up there early in the morning. They spent the night before in a campground. There was a reason I did not campout. The next morning they told me how they retreated to the car to eat their dinner. That evening they headed home, bugs won.
