Ongoing mule deer project will begin capturing end of January

According to the Game and Fish, mule deer in Wyoming and throughout the West have declined in recent decades. The most recent population peak in Wyoming was in 1991, when about 578,000 mule deer inhabited the state, but by 2016, numbers were reduced to an estimated 396,000 animals.

Initiated by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, The Mule Deer Monitoring Project, seeks answers as to why this decline has happened and to identify potential solutions. 

The study is being conducted in partnership with the University of Wyoming’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit and the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab. Through various methods, the project will collect data on five focal mule deer herds around Wyoming for the next five years. 

Entering into its second year, personnel will begin to collar deer at the end of January, replacing the numbers lost over the previous year. Wyoming Game and Fish Public Information Specialist Christina Schmidt made the announcement during an appearance on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse.

C. Schmidt

Visitors and residents may see low flying helicopters through the Bighorns around this time as with past research, animals will be netted from a helicopter by a professional wildlife capture crew, fitted with a GPS collar at the capture site and released. Captures will take place on both public and private land.

C. Schmidt

Data gathered in coming years from the Mule Deer Monitoring Project will aid wildlife managers to better measure herd performance, assess causes of mortality, evaluate harvest strategies, update seasonal range maps and more.

To learn more about this five year statewide effort, click here.