2023 Winter Kill Information
It’s technically spring, and Colton Heward is starting to think about turkey hunting. He’s been taking his spotting scope out to glass the hillsides of sage and cedar trees near his home in southeastern Idaho, 10 minutes from the Utah border and 40 minutes from Wyoming. But instead of watching turkeys scratch their way across the snow, Heward sees dead deer picked apart by scavengers. Sometimes he sees four or five carcasses in one quick scan of the landscape. The obsessive big game hunter and guide is getting nervous.
“Deer and elk are hardy. They’re made to withstand some brutally cold temperatures. But this winter is just never-ending,” Heward tells Outdoor Life. “I’m hearing people in the core area of western Wyoming, southeast Idaho, and northern Utah talk about up to 70 percent mortality in adult deer and near-100 percent mortality in fawns. That is devastating.”