{"id":9368,"date":"2024-11-17T10:20:45","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T17:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=9368"},"modified":"2024-11-17T10:20:45","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T17:20:45","slug":"winter-storm-drives-150-antelope-to-their-deaths-including-53-from-one-truck-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/17\/winter-storm-drives-150-antelope-to-their-deaths-including-53-from-one-truck-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Storm Drives 150 Antelope To Their Deaths, Including 53 From One Truck Accident"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the perks of living here in Wyoming, is you get to see Pronghorn all the time once you get outside city limits. And we just saw some on our last trip to Fort Collins on Veteran’s day south of the Terry Bison ranch. They’re impressive to see in full gallop having witnessed one that ran and ducked under a bobbed wire fence where the ground dipped. And night driving on highways in the plains is not for the feint of heart, as our last trip coming down the eastern part of Wyoming had us see elk and deer not too far off the road along with a fox and racoon. And they blend in so well you don’t really notice them until you get close and you get an angular shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2024\/11\/16\/storm-drives-150-antelope-to-their-deaths-echoing-massive-2022-2023-winterkill\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
150 antelope were killed earlier this week when a winter storm blasted eastern Colorado with snow and sent the animals onto the highways. That includes 53 antelope which were plowed down in a single accident.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Mark Heinz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"What's
What’s being called a 20-year storm left much of Colorado under deep snow this past week, which crusted over and forced herds of antelope onto eastern Colorado roads, where about 150 were killed, including 53 at once. (Courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A storm left much of eastern Colorado covered in thick, crusted snow this week, which in turn drove antelope toward highways, were about 150 were hit and killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That includes 53 plowed down in a single incident involving at least one semitruck on U.S. Highway 36 near Byers, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Northeast region spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Echoes Of 2022-2023<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The storm\u2019s antelope death toll was reminiscent of the terrible winter of 2022-2023. Nearly continuous storms that winter killed thousands upon thousands of Wyoming antelope, deer and elk, and left highway crews picking up truckloads of big game carcasses<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The animals had either frozen and starved to death near the highways or wandered out onto the roads and been hit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colorado also suffered mass wildlife die-offs<\/a> that winter, as much of the region was buried under snow. In many places, the snow crusted up and froze over, leaving the animals trapped or unable to paw through the crust to forage below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it\u2019s hoped that the Colorado storm was a one-off event and not an indication that another absolutely brutal winter is on its way, leaving piles of dead animals in its wake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a specific, freak snowstorm,\u201d CPW Southeast Region spokesman Bill Vogrin told Cowboy State Daily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The antelope that died were mostly \u201ckilled by vehicles, largely trucks that drove through them at night,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Still Be A Hard Winter<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wyoming Meteorologist Don Day agreed with Vogrin\u2019s assessment that what hit eastern Colorado was likely a single huge, unusual storm and not a developing long-term pattern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no comparing it to the winter two years ago, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan we directly compare the two events? No. This was a one-time event, whereas the winter of 2023 was a series of events,\u201d he said. \u201cI would call it probably a 20-year storm that hit Colorado and New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that he was on a flight this week over central and eastern Colorado on the way to Minneapolis, and the snow blanket below \u201cwas amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, by the end to the week warmer temperatures were starting to melt much of it off, Day said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe storm missed Wyoming for the most part, he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Wyoming\u2019s turn will come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall and early winter have been relatively dry and mild so far, \u201cbut eventually, we\u2019ll get caught up,\u201d Day said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just getting started. We\u2019re going to have a harder winter than last year,\u201d he said. \u201cBut people shouldn\u2019t be making comparisons to what happened two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biggest Loss In A While<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Van Hoose agreed that it\u2019s still way too early in the season to predict another winterkill apocalypse, adding that nobody wants a repeat of what happened two years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still feeling the effects of that\u201d as big game herds struggle to bounce back from the massive losses, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the loss of 150 antelope over the span of about 18 hours during this week\u2019s storm stings, Van Hoose said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat the largest (loss) we\u2019ve had in quite awhile,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the perks of living here in Wyoming, is you get to see Pronghorn all the time once you get outside city limits. And we just saw some on our last trip to Fort Collins on Veteran’s day south of the Terry Bison ranch. They’re impressive to see in full gallop having witnessed one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wyoming"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9369,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368\/revisions\/9369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}