CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s (WGFD) Mule Deer Monitoring Project tracks the survival and movement of Wyoming’s herds over a span of five years, in order to more fully understand why some herds thrive and others decline.
The project began in 2022 with the goal of gaining greater insight into mule deer abundance, composition, data management, survival, herd health and harvest management, according to WGFD.
The project is a collaborative partnership between WGFD, the University of Wyoming (UW) and the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab and UW will process all the data provided by collars.
A total of 1,112 collars were placed on mule deer in Wyoming’s five focal herds — the Wyoming Range, Laramie Mountains, North Bighorn, Sweetwater and Upper Shoshone. In each herd, 80 does, 30 bucks and 100 juveniles were collared. Focal herd managers receive real-time data and a report each Monday highlighting current survival, the number of mortalities in the past week and a map of recent movements, according to WGFD.
Each focal herd has unique characteristics, survival rates and migration movements depending upon the geographical region. For instance, the harsh winter of 2022-23 impacted mule deer differently across the state.
The Wyoming Range herd had a high mortality rate due to sustained snow, wind and cold temperatures. All of the 100 juveniles collared for the project died, according to WGFD. Focal herds in the Bighorns and the Sweetwater herd in central Wyoming fared much better. According to Game and Fish Biologist Sam Stephens, 89 percent of collared does in the western bighorn herd survived, along with 81 percent of juveniles.
“Being able to see some of that statewide variation was super interesting,” Game and Fish Science, Research and Analytical Support Unit Supervisor Embere Hall said. “I think it’s easy to wring our hands and say ‘winter was terrible and we’re losing all the deer.’ Actually, that’s not true. We lost a lot on the western side of the state. That population really took a hit. The eastern part of the state wasn’t that bad.”
Game and Fish hunter harvest surveys will also provide critical information, including how many animals were harvested in each area.
During the next four years of the project, Game and Fish officials plan to collar more deer in order to keep the sample size of each herd at or as close to 80 bucks, 30 does and 100 juveniles. Data collection and analysis, along with lab work will continue.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg of what we’re going to learn,” Cody Game and Fish Wildlife Biologist Tony Mong said. “The project has shown us that we weren’t catching all the areas mule deer use or all the different routes or pathways they’re taking to get there. This is a catalyst for learning so much more about our mule deer. I feel in five years we’ll be able to make much better management decisions and have the data to back that up.”
A recent news release by WGFD illuminates the project’s data and history.
