Wyoming Winter Survey Doesn't Look Good

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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR ANNUAL DEER MORTALITY SURVEYS

5/2/2011

GREEN RIVER - Wildlife managers with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department are expecting above average mortality for the Wyoming Range and Uinta mule deer herds in western Wyoming this winter and spring. The game and fish department is asking members of the public to join them for their annual mortality surveys conducted to assess the impacts this past winter has dealt.
According to wildlife biologists and survey coordinators Gary Fralick and Jeff Short, the annual surveys are conducted on mule deer winter ranges to assess overall mortality for the herds and to evaluate which age classes have been impacted the most.
"It's looking like the Wyoming Range mule deer herd will experience substantial over-winter mortality this year on all of the big winter ranges from Evanston to Cokeville in the south, and from Kemmerer to LaBarge and Daniel in the north," Fralick said. "Deep, persistent snows arrived in November and developed into hard crust which made foraging and movement very difficult for mule deer. These conditions, coupled with extended periods of below-zero temperatures and poor shrub conditions on winter ranges, resulted in a rapid depletion of mule deer energy reserves by mid-winter. Conditions have not relented much with cooler temperatures and lingering snow slowing the annual green-up of spring grasses and forbs. Similar conditions occurred on winter ranges associated with the Uinta mule deer herd, especially the large winter complex near Leroy."
Fralick said that fawns typically make up the majority of the winter losses, but in a year like this there will also be losses to the older age classes of the population. "These are the type of winters that impact all age classes of deer in the population," Fralick said.
Wildlife enthusiasts have been joining managers to conduct the deer mortality surveys for the past 18 years. Fralick reports that, in that time, the southern winter ranges have been experiencing fairly substantial winter losses about every three years while the northern segment of the population has fared much better, with relatively high over-winter survival for the past seven years.
"The last significant loss of mule deer on the northern winter ranges was the winter of 2003-2004," Fralick said. "That's the major reason deer hunting has been good the last several years in the Wyoming Range herd. The southern portion of the herd did see fairly significant winter mortality during the winter of 2007-2008."
"Based on this survey, we can offer some predictions about what the upcoming hunting season may offer to deer hunters who hunt in the Wyoming Range, Greys River and Smiths Fork," says Fralick. "I think it is safe to say, hunters will see fewer deer in the Wyoming Range in the coming years."
On a more positive note, the six wildlife underpasses constructed by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) in 2008 along U.S. Highway 30 in Nugget Canyon have proven to be a major improvement for wintering deer.
"Monitoring results show the underpasses have allowed over 12,000 deer to pass safely beneath the highway during the 2010 fall migration," Fralick said. "That is huge. I can't say enough about the success of the wildlife underpasses."
The Cokeville area surveys will run Saturday, May 7. Volunteers will meet at 9 a.m. at the Stateline gravel pit, three miles southwest of Sage Junction on U.S. Highway 30/89. The Leroy Surveys for the Uinta mule deer herd (east of Evanston) will take place Saturday, May 14. Volunteers should meet at the Leroy exit (exit 24) off Interstate 80 at 9:00 a.m. Participants should bring a lunch, water and dress appropriately for weather conditions. Surveys are conducted on foot or horseback. The public is welcomed to bring their own horses or mules if they choose to conduct their work from horseback.
New volunteers will be required to fill out a volunteer form upon their arrival in order to participate in the mortality surveys. To receive more information on the Cokeville surveys contact Gary Fralick at 1-307-883-2998. For more information on the Leroy surveys contact Brian Baker at 1-307-789-3285.
(Contact: Lucy Diggins-Wold (307-875-3223)
-WGFD-
 

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