https://wyofile.com/mule-deer-death-rates-deepen-in-western-wyoming/The project affixed 330 GPS collars onto 200 does, 100 fawns and 30 bucks from five focal mule deer herds: the Wyoming Range, North Bighorn, Upper Shoshone, Sweetwater and Laramie Mountains herds.
Hall said. “We have pretty concerning survival numbers from the western part of the state — particularly the Wyoming Range — but we see notably different trends in areas that have experienced a different version of the winter.”
winter mule deer mortality rates are much less dire statewide.
Pockets of death
Combining numbers from the five focal herds, statewide survival rates on April 13 registered at 75% for does, 78% among bucks and 61% for fawns.
Northern Wyoming herds — North Bighorn and Upper Shoshone mule deer — have fared the best, with more than 90% survival of does, the reproductive engine of herds that are most important to populations. In the Sweetwater Herd, which dwells in central Wyoming’s Granite and Green mountains, doe survival was 86%. In the Laramie Mountains, some 81% of marked does remained alive.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department updated its fall 2023 hunting season proposals for Wyoming Range deer in winter’s wake. In the Wyoming and Salt River ranges and beyond in western Wyoming, mule deer rifle hunters will have a one-week shorter season. State officials are also planning to implement a new antler point restriction, requiring that any mule deer harvested have three points or more on either antler. Last, youth hunts have been altered to exclude does and fawns.
