Wyoming's Deputy Chief of Wildlife Martin Hicks wanted to do everything he could to help create some precipitation before presenting some bad news to the Game and Fish Commission.

"I even washed my car before the meeting," Hicks told the commission to some chuckles.

However, paying the price for a mild Wyoming winter isn't going to be easy, Hicks said. A dry summer will bring on challenges for wildlife, resulting in many consequences, including a tough hunting season this coming fall.

"It's important to remember that climate has a significant impact on our populations, more so than what we do through harvest," Hicks said.

From December through March, temperatures across the Cowboy State averaged between 5-10 degrees F higher than the 30-year average. Here in the Big Horn Basin it was at least 10 degrees warmer over the period. People were playing golf in February and Northwest College students were sunbathing when people typically spend their time skiing local slopes.

The situation on the ground for wildlife is dire. Snowpack is significantly lower for the Cody region, as well as across the state. Many basins are reporting more than a third less snow/water equivalent than last year and it is concerning to industry, ag interests, residents and recreation enthusiasts.

For example, the Big Horn Basin saw 104% snow/water equivalent last year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The most recent report puts the basin at about 70%. And that's just for the 30-year average. Spread that out over the past 60 years and you can probably cut the current average in half, if that, according to climate officials with the federal government.

Using mule deer herds in Wyoming as an example, Hicks didn't pull any punches. He claims the forecast, combined with this past winter, will reduce populations.

"Climate and weather are key components of population performance," Hicks said.

Lacking the snowpack to grow vegetation, which deer rely on coming out of winter and into birthing season, can cause multiple problems, especially for fawns, he said.

The forecasted dry summer climate will also increase wildlife diseases. For example, in mule deer populations Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) will see an uptick. With EHD, dry weather allows midges to be more prevalent and their bites are deadly to ungulates. Some neighboring states have seen EHD epidemics kill about 90% of deer in regions heavy hit by drought.

During the summer of '23 when we had good moisture, the state still had some EHD outbreaks, mainly along river corridors, where you anticipate to see those.

"Will that continue again this year? Time will tell. But if you based it on past experiences where you have drought conditions, you don't get a hard freeze in the fall, you're going to have these midges that carry that vector, and you're going to have high mortality rates, particularly on white-tailed deer and possibly pronghorn," Hicks said.

The Big Horn Basin has already seen concerning prevalences of CWD, reaching 50% or more in some local herds. An uptick in prevalences will definitely lower populations, especially among bucks. In addition, we've had a lot of excessive wind across the state this past winter.

"So you have warm temperatures coupled with winds, and you're going to have a higher evaporation loss. So our soils lost a lot of that water, moisture that are crucial for growing our native vegetation. So it wasn't a good situation there either," Hicks said.

The Big Horn Basin had the highest evaporation rate in the state this past winter and federal forecasters predict extended drought through at June 1. The entire state is in one level of drought or another, with some preparing for the possibility of an overactive fire season.

"So, not a rosy picture," Hicks said. "When you have drought, you have a lot of other things that accompany [it]. One of the first things is wildfires."

Since the beginning of the year, there have been over 160 fires in the state, and this was up through March of 22, burning almost 12,000 acres. The largest was in the Big Horn Basin; Bighorn Canyon National Wildlife Recreation Area, near Lovell, saw thousands of acres of critical habitat burn up earlier this month. Due to the rough start to fire season, at the end of March 10 counties in the state of Wyoming were under fire restrictions, and since then two more counties, Converse and Natrona, issued fire bans. The Kane fire burned over 2,000 acres, according to Forest records.

"Typically, this time of year we like to do prescribed fires. This was not a prescribed fire. This is an actual wildfire. We are not doing prescribed fires right now because of drought conditions," Hicks said.

Fire and drought isn't a good combination for wildlife coming out of winter and into drought conditions.

There is a high energy demand on females to produce milk and carry fawns to term. If they aren't getting their nutritional needs now until they give birth in a May or early June, fawns will be smaller, weaker and with diminished chances of survival.

It's also likely to cause more human/wildlife conflicts, Hicks said. And, unfortunately the climate trend is tightening.

"We know based on previous years, when we have drought conditions, we're going to have disease outbreak, particularly episode hemorrhagic disease or blue tongue; two viral diseases that impact mainly white tailed deer and pronghorn. Typically, we see an outbreak every 10 years. This cycle is starting to tighten up a little bit, Hicks warned. “We're starting to see this almost every five to six years."