The Idaho Fish and Game reports mule deer and elk herds across the state are healthy following a mild winter.
In December and January each year, the department radio collars a few hundred deer fawns and elk calves to track them throughout winter. Last month, they determined that 67% of deer and 93% of elk had survived the winter. The population is bouncing back from the 2022-2023 season, when only 46% of deer fawns survived.
“We very rarely see elk populations affected by a hard winter. But we see that fairly often with mule deer,” said Fish and Game spokesperson Roger Phillips. “Elk calves are quite a bit hardier. They're a bigger animal. They're less susceptible.”
But this past season, the mild temperatures gave the fawns a break.
“It’s a good sign because on an average year we're typically growing mule deer populations. And we like to see that,” Phillips added.
Survival rates depend on two things: how much fat animals have accumulated by the end of the fall and how harsh the winter season is.
“If they're a little bit light, they have a harder time getting through winter,” he said.
Late winter and early spring is when the population sees its highest mortality rate. As the fawns’ fat reserves dwindle, the transition to eating green vegetation can be rough.
“Their bodies have to be able to adapt to that higher nutrients. And if they're in a really weakened state, sometimes that's what will ultimately kill them rather than them starving during the winter,” Phillips explained, cautioning people to look out for encounters with smaller animals.
“Even though people are really getting out and recreating this time of year with the nice spring weather, a lot of these animals still aren't out of the woods yet,” he said. “Give them a break. Try to avoid them. If you see them kind of turn and go someplace else.”
