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.
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.
Echoes Of 2022-2023
The storm’s 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.
The animals had either frozen and starved to death near the highways or wandered out onto the roads and been hit.
Colorado also suffered mass wildlife die-offs 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.
However, it’s 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.
“This was a specific, freak snowstorm,” CPW Southeast Region spokesman Bill Vogrin told Cowboy State Daily.
The antelope that died were mostly “killed by vehicles, largely trucks that drove through them at night,” he said.
Will Still Be A Hard Winter
Wyoming Meteorologist Don Day agreed with Vogrin’s assessment that what hit eastern Colorado was likely a single huge, unusual storm and not a developing long-term pattern.
There’s no comparing it to the winter two years ago, he said.
“Can we directly compare the two events? No. This was a one-time event, whereas the winter of 2023 was a series of events,” he said. “I would call it probably a 20-year storm that hit Colorado and New Mexico.”
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 “was amazing.”
However, by the end to the week warmer temperatures were starting to melt much of it off, Day said.
“The storm missed Wyoming for the most part, he added.
But Wyoming’s turn will come.
Fall and early winter have been relatively dry and mild so far, “but eventually, we’ll get caught up,” Day said.
“We’re just getting started. We’re going to have a harder winter than last year,” he said. “But people shouldn’t be making comparisons to what happened two years ago.”
Biggest Loss In A While
Van Hoose agreed that it’s still way too early in the season to predict another winterkill apocalypse, adding that nobody wants a repeat of what happened two years ago.
“We’re still feeling the effects of that” as big game herds struggle to bounce back from the massive losses, she said.
And the loss of 150 antelope over the span of about 18 hours during this week’s storm stings, Van Hoose said.
“That the largest (loss) we’ve had in quite awhile,” she said.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
