Dec. 2021 - 26

A pronghorn looks for food across a snowy, wind-swept area. (Photo by Chris Martin/WGFD)
T
here are plenty of winter days when we look
at the thermometer and think, " Baby, it's
cold outside, " then put on an extra layer
before stepping into the elements. After being
outdoors for a while, we head indoors chilly and
hungry. How a hearty meal warms and satisfies!
That's how big game animals like elk, deer
and pronghorn survive the winter, too. Of
course, they don't sidle up to a hot wood
stove with a steaming bowl of stew. Instead,
they put on a thick layer of fat, seek shelter
in the timber, a depression in the topography
or behind a hay bale and fill their bellies
with grass, sagebrush, spilled silage and other
winter forage depending on the species and
their location.
" Wildlife have a winter budget, meaning
they store fat, " said Corey Class, Wyoming
Game and Fish Department wildlife
management coordinator in Cody. " It's a
high-stakes gamble with lots of variables. If
an animal gets through the winter with some
fat still in its budget, it wins. If it doesn't, it
dies. Good body fat is highly related to a better
chance of survival. "
26 | December 2021
Summer vs. winter range
Class said in addition to putting on fat,
animals employ another winter survival
strategy - migrating to a more hospitable
location. Simply put, an animal's summer
range is where it spends the summer, and its
winter range is where it spends the winter.
Commonly, summer range is a higher elevation
and winter range is lower, but not always.
" Migration is highly variable, " Class said.
" Take elk. Some go to lower elevations. Some
go many miles and some stay put, especially
if they are on agricultural land where food
is plentiful. It can vary between males and
females, too. "
Class points to the elk in the Bighorn
Mountains as an example. As winter
approaches those wapiti generally move 5 to
10 miles downhill from alpine and subalpine

Dec. 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dec. 2021

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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2024
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/wyoming-wildlife-may-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2023
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-iak-special-issue
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