WYOMING — Two regional deer mortality surveys were recently completed thanks to dozens of volunteers who saddled up their ponies or laced up their hiking shoes to help Wyoming Game and Fish Department cover the winter range in search of mule deer that didn’t make it through the winter.
Some 17 citizen volunteers and five Game and Fish personnel hiked or rode horses for a total of approximately 97 route miles in Nugget Canyon on a survey of the Wyoming Range.
A total of 143 deer carcasses from the winter of 2018-19 were found. There were 63 fawns and 56 adults, and another 24 carcasses that could not be determined.
For the Uinta deer herd survey, six volunteers joined wildlife biologist Jeff Short and Evanston Game Warden Nick Roberts. Deer carcasses were abundant. A total of 125 deer carcasses were found from the winter of 2018-19, including 80 fawns and 45 adults. 12 out of the 45 adults were bucks.
Survey results confirm game managers’ fears that this was a bad winter for both the southern Wyoming Range and Uinta mule deer.
