September 2023 - 49

The winter of 2022-23 was harsh on wintering mule deer in Wyoming. (Photo by Elizabeth Boehm)
in different parts of the state and feature many
unique characteristics, which may allow Game and
Fish to understand why some herds perform better
than others.
" It is an unprecedented effort for the state, " Hall
said. " To have this sample size and this geographic
breadth is incredible. Oftentimes because of the
expense, we have to do all these measurements on
a small subset of a herd and then assume all the
other deer behave the same way and extrapolate out
those estimates. With this project we don't have to,
which is such a gift. "
Of those 1,112 deer, 643 were still alive at the
time this article went to press. Plans are being made
to collar more deer in all the focal herds starting in
November so researchers can continue to collect
robust data.
NO WINTER WONDERLAND
The winter of 2022-23 will go down as one of
the more significant and devastating to mule deer in
Wyoming history, especially in central and western
Wyoming. Sustained snow, wind and cold temperatures
took its toll. For example in the Wyoming
Range herd, all 100 juveniles collared for this project
died during the winter.
" Hopefully it will be a while before we see a
winter like this again, " said Gary Fralick, Game
and Fish biologist in the Jackson Region who has
done extensive work and research on mule deer in
the Wyoming Range throughout his 30-plus years
with the department. " It's going to take a long time
for this deer herd to bounce back. "
Despite the harsh winter and mule deer deaths
in some parts of Wyoming, other focal herds came
out of the winter quite well.
Sam Stephens, Game and Fish biologist based
in Greybull who works with the west side of the
North Bighorn herd, said despite lots of snow and
numerous below-zero cold snaps, mule deer in his
area made it through the winter well.
" We had 89 percent of collared does survive,
and juveniles fared relatively well at around 81
percent, " he said.
Zach Turnbull, Game and Fish biologist who
works with the North Bighorn herd in the Buffalo
and Sheridan areas, said the winter was one of the
most severe in Johnson and Sheridan counties since
the 1980s. However, mortality for juveniles was
about 35 percent and around 12 to 15 percent for
bucks and does.
" Not great, but not horrible, " Turnbull said.
Wyoming Wildlife | 47

September 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2023

September 2023 - 1
September 2023 - 2
September 2023 - 3
September 2023 - 4
September 2023 - 5
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