[MadHunter]

I wish I would have been able to take pictures....
Coming back from Grand Junction on Saturday we were treated to a spectacle between Soldier Summit and Spanish Fork. We saw more deer and elk than I ever have in 35 years of driving that road. My wife was so giddy and excited with the amount it was like watching a kid on Christmas morning. The sad part is that we were cruising at 70mph and didn't have any good chances of taking pics without stopping and spooking the lot.

The best part of the spectacle was about a mile above the diamond fork turnoff. There was a big mature mountain lion that was just standing no more than 100 feet from the road watching a group of about 50+ deer. In all the years I have been hunting I have only seen 1 other lion and it was about a mile away through the scope. I am wondering; how have you folks here seen the herds now that were into the winter with plenty of snow. Being that a the barometer was dropping with a a storm a brew'n; Was this the deer feeding before hunkering down? or is this just a push of the herds to the lower lands by the snow?

Thoughts?

 

[Critter]

Heavy snow year and you hit the canyon at the correct time of day.

As for the cat, they need to eat and follow their food source. He was quite likely trying to figure out which one he wanted for dinner.

 

[MadHunter]

That he was looking at the menu I have no doubt. Probably wondering if he'd go for the tender loins or the back straps first. It was about 2:30 give or take so I put my mind to the notion that the storm was rolling in. I do hope the herd numbers are that high in other areas too and that I was not looking at some climate conference the deer were holding.

 

[Critter]

Where I live right on I-70 I commuted 30 miles one way to work, and if you hit the time of day right, you could see a lot of deer and even elk.

But if we were a half an hour earlier all the animals would be back in the trees.

Sent from my SM-A426U using Tapatalk

 

[middlefork]

The snow is definitely getting deep enough to concentrate the animals. Near as I can tell most in my area are moved down to the 6500 ft level or lower.


Nice you could glimpse a cat. That doesn't happen often driving down the highway.

 

[colorcountrygunner]

When I went up Diamond Fork a weekend or two back I saw more deer up there than I have ever seen the past 5 years or so. The turkeys were weird too. Rather than being all huddled up in the general area they usually are they were scattered pretty widely. Many of them were still sitting in their roosts until well after sunrise.

 

[taxidermist]

The things you see when you don't have a tag and a weapon Makes you want to run out and grab one of the S&S lion permits.
That area loads up with deer and elk. I'm sure the deeper snow up slope has moved them down farther than it has in the years past. I know the three units in that area have game going back and forth all the time crossing the Highway.