Did some walking around the Kamas West Hills WMA and the Rock Cliffs area today and I saw a lot of dead deer. One may have been a buck but was badly decomposed, maybe 5-6 does and one fawn. In addition to the dead deer there was also a good deal of fur from deer and rabbits all along the trail and along the creek in the WMA. The strange thing is that one doe was completely unmarked except for seeming to have a broken neck, another doe may have been unmarked but was pretty decomposed. All that said I saw at least 200 head of deer today, unless some were repeat sightings a mile away. Without any optics I did see at least three bucks, definitely saw good sized knobs developing between their ears.
Jedidiah
This is the time of year when the cumulative effects of winter starts taking its toll on the deer herd. The period between mid February and April is when winterkill is at its peak, so what you observed is normal attrition from a normal winter season.
I'm also guessing the unmarked dead deer you found died as a result of disease or malnutrition rather than a broken neck. A broken neck suggests predation by lion but a lion will hardly leave the carcass unmarked, and even if uneaten, a lion will drag the carcass into the brush and cover it for later consumption.
As a houndsman I'm out on the winter range at least a couple days a week from November to June. I too noticed the increasing number of deer carcasses littering the landscape this past weekend, but nothing unexpected or out of the ordinary.
I'm also guessing the unmarked dead deer you found died as a result of disease or malnutrition rather than a broken neck. A broken neck suggests predation by lion but a lion will hardly leave the carcass unmarked, and even if uneaten, a lion will drag the carcass into the brush and cover it for later consumption.
As a houndsman I'm out on the winter range at least a couple days a week from November to June. I too noticed the increasing number of deer carcasses littering the landscape this past weekend, but nothing unexpected or out of the ordinary.
Not unless someone's bred one that's developed some kind of super speed. Given the amount of deer up above the hills and the way they would need to come down to access the water and avoid Victory Ranch's other quality development up there, I suspect Kevin D is right and it's just a high traffic area for animals trying to reach water.
This is just a vague suggestion, but I've read that mountain lions typically kill prey with a single bite to the neck and sometimes leave the carcass untouched. It makes sense in winter --- they're essentially leaving it "in the freezer" in case they get hungry.
I found a dead doe that fit your description in Wallsburg WMA in mid-January.
EDIT: I just saw Kevin D's response above. The doe I found seemed like it may have been partially buried, but the mountain lion wouldn't have been able to do much because of how thoroughly frozen and snowed-over everything was.
This is an old post but last spring I heard something about them eating at the dump there last winter and dying. - ok Found a story printed May 20 2019 fox 13. dozens of dead deer.
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