Couple ol' time deer racks

At least you have some big animals to get you....to brag about. Fried food and cigarettes seems to do us in.

I am glad we found a meat that Fossilman has an aversion to. I think possum is a competitor for worst meat.

If a cold snap can kill elk i hate to see what it can do to a human.

I guess i need to coax those guys down to warmer weather:)

Well, it is odd that nature would have that high of a death rate. Seems a bit like a trap. Wander to north Yellowstone and suffer or struggle or die.

That logic irritates me. Totally understand a occasional wipeout. Must be natures way of feeding the carnivores. That does make perfect sense.

The concept of large hoofed animals being eaten by bears is abstract. But no different that coyote on a fawn or gators catching wading deer...

Yeah, it is good for a country to have the wilderlands whose stories push the bounds of most sensibilities. Fact is, Montana is no better than similar parts of the states that surround us, and I readily agree we are dwarfed by much of Canada and Alaska.

Very good instincts and perception, James. It is not natural. Back when, there would have been virtually no elk or deer wintering in such a harsh habitat such as the higher lands in the Park. Elk and Mule deer are by design, plains animals. A Mule deer has those big ears for hearing well over distance, not in deep timber. And they bounce when they run, to see over tall sagebrush and junipers. That is why it is strange to see Mulies bouncing up a ridge thick with mature lodgepole.

First they(elk & deer) were pushed off the plains and breaks into the mountainous country, and for the larger herds, Yellowstone is their last stand. They have lost most of their traditional winter ranges, and man owns much of the lands that surround the park. Same for the Bison. Now, there is a set number that the Park area can support, which is why bison must be culled from time to time.

Now with the re-introduction of wolves, the elk are being eaten faster than they are being born in many parts of the state.

I knew a pastor who had a hunter who shot nuisance and dangerous animals for the state in his church. The state paid a bounty on what he shot but let him keep hides and meat. He brought a cougar stew to a potluck and told no one till afterwards when he told the pastor. The pastor swore him to secrecy fearing major drama if some were to find out.

Lee

Froze my fingers and feet at 12 years old,walked in a blizzard to a buddies house(brother and I)(he had the same)That was in Montana!!! Froze my face in the oilfield (working)ND and Montana....Stings like hell when being thawed out,but what can ya' do when you have to get things done..LOL
One year in North Dakota,I think around 1984 or 85,a cold front moved in for 14 days straight,temps went down to -70 below zero,(air temps)-100 below zero with wind!(Cars wouldn't even start,even when they were plugged in...
We shut down the tank batteries and pump jacks for two weeks....Steel would snap with any type of pesssure on it! People in trailer homes had to check their sewer vents(on roofs) so they wouldn't ice up and gas the people inside...
Roads were shut in,snowmobiles were used for medical uses,like groceries,medicine,etc.....Crazy time,but you deal with it....
I've met guys from Alaska that told me they wanted to go back home,because it was to freakin' cold in ND(No trees for wind breaks or insulation)..LOL
A lot of people froze to death because they were being brave and most of all stupid!!! In the winter months there,its your call,not Joe Blow or John Doe,your life,not theirs,always make the decision to deal with the cold...Cold weather gear and provisions a must!!!It was a part of life for us,drilled into your head at a young age....
Every job I had in ND and Montana was outdoor jobs and the weather played a big part in my life..(I could go on with cold weather stories,but won't)..LOL
56 years of that crap was enough for this old man,I'm glad my old butt is here in Oregon now-it might drop down to 20 degrees in the winter,snow about a half inch all winter,I like that...LMAO

PS: Now get me into hot weather,like Arizona or Nevada,I melt like butter and not worth a crap,just throw me into a corner and call me done-body doesn't like hot at all!!
Lived in Arizona for a year(Phoenix are)it sucked,to freakin' hot,so I moved back north..LOL

Nice racks! The more the merrier! That is a heck of a nice palm on that moose shed.

It is another world working outside Fossilman. Great March-May and October-December in these parts. But the heat june- August and the cold Jan and Feb is still hard on a person

Could never ever imagine super cold. And cold is OK. But add wind and it is brutal. I stopped to gas my car in North New Mexico in December with a 40 MPH and 30F . Holy cow. Coming back
from the hot Mojave desert. WAKE UP call. Could not imagine open range w/that kind of wind and 0-10 degrees.

I will say that long days in 85- 95 high humidity is brutal. And 20 and windy aint bad if you can go down low in the trees. But building a barn out in the open field-ouch.

Inland Florida in the summer is another notch up in brutality. Long daylight hours. 84F at 6AM. No wind. Cut humidity w/knife. Sun radiation intense from clear ocean air above.

But cold wind will kill you. If it kills elk then it must be brutal.The cold strong wind would rank worst in my book.

James, I think they are all on somewhat equal hoofing as far as surviving cold goes.
From FWP
Deep winter snows are a major influence on population dynamics of white-tailed deer in the northernmost portion of their distribution, including most of Montana

During the severe 1996-1997 winter, an estimated 70% of the white-tailed deer died in the study area in north-western Montana, including over 90% of fawns.

On migration
Although theories abound, no one can adequately explain the expansion of the whitetail’s range. Some biologists believe the migration to new haunts stems from an overpopulation of the prolific deer’s traditional range. Others believe the whitetail, an incredibly adaptive animal, is simply moving into niches under-utilized by other creatures.