Mule Deer Fanatic

Before the winter even started, five years of drought helped stack the deck against western Wyoming mule deer, said Game and Fish biologist Ron Lockwood.

The extended drought could take a significant toll this year on the Wyoming Range herd — the state’s largest — which winters around Pinedale, Big Piney, Kemmerer and Cokeville.

“The cumulative effect of five years of drought has definitely decreased forage production in mixed mountain shrub habitats, and therefore deer are going into winter in poorer condition,” Lockwood said. “The snow depth and the cold temperatures are going to increase mortality, especially in fawns.”

But the rates of mortality will be determined, ultimately, by how harsh the remainder of the winter is, he said. Before the wintry weather arrived, the deer looked to be in pretty good condition, considering they have been dealing with the drought.

Gavin Lovell, a biologist with the Bureau of Land Management, said the BLM, in cooperation with Game and Fish and other agencies, has been working on improving the habitats where the Wyoming Range herd roams, and they’re starting to see improvements there. But those improvements aren’t going to help deer this winter, as long as the foliage stays buried.

“You can make all the habitat in the world, but once the snow gets deep enough, the wildlife can’t get to it,” Lovell said.

Mild winters

Wyoming’s mule deer population has been increasing for the last couple of years, Schmidlin said, mainly because the animals have endured relatively mild winters.

That trend could change this year.

The Game and Fish regional office in Lander is getting reports of fawns that are too small, that look ill or are underweight as a result of diarrhea, Schmidlin said. Fawns in that condition will have a hard time surviving a harsh winter.

Many of the deer in cities and towns supplement their diets with foliage found around houses and buildings, such as bluegrass and lilacs, especially when other food sources are scarce. This type of vegetation is not as nutritious as the native sagebrush and bitterbrush are for the deer, and might be the cause of, or at least contribute to, the digestive problems in fawns.

Mule deer evolved as browsers, which means they rely predominantly on bushy material for sustenance. Elk, on the other hand, are grazers, and eat more grass.

But elk are also more adaptable than deer, and can switch between different types of vegetation more successfully. Because of this — and because elk are generally hardier animals — Schmidlin doesn’t expect them to struggle as much as deer could this winter.

In the short run, Game and Fish expects some losses to the deer population in the west, but if the cold weather moderates, the rest of the winter could be easier on the herds.

Preference Points for Elk, Deer and Antelope

FOR NONRESIDENTS ONLY

The Department shall allocate not less than seventy-five percent (75%) of the available nonresident Elk, Deer and Antelope licenses to a preference point drawing and twenty-five percent (25%) of the available nonresident Elk, Deer and Antelope licenses will be assigned to a random drawing in which all unsuccessful applicants from the preference point drawing shall be placed.

For party applications, the number of preference points for each applicant within the party will be averaged for the preference point ranking to be used for the ranking in the preference point drawing.

Purchasing ONLY A PREFERENCE POINT can ONLY OCCUR from July 1, 2008 through September 30, 2008. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PURCHASE A PREFERENCE POINT ONLY during any of the initial license application periods. YOU MUST WAIT until July 1st to purchase only a Preference Point. The price is $50.00 for Elk, $40.00 for Deer and $30.00 for Antelope ($10.00 for youth for each species). There is NO APPLICATION FEE TO PURCHASE A PREFERENCE POINT ONLY.

REMEMBER, a PREFERENCE POINT ONLY PURCHASE is DIFFERENT THAN an application for a license with a PREFERENCE POINT OPTION. THE PREFERENCE POINT OPTION takes place during the initial license application periods. If you elect this OPTION when applying for an Elk, Deer or Antelope license, the fee, which you must remit with your application for a regular elk license, is $641.00 ($14.00 application fee, $577.00 license fee and $50.00 preference point fee). Regular deer license is $366.00 ($14.00 application fee, $312.00 license fee and $40.00 preference point fee). Regular antelope license is $316.00 ($14.00 application fee, 272.00 license fee and $30.00 preference point fee).

To purchase a Preference Point, an applicant must be at least eleven (11) years old at the time of application and be at least twelve (12) years old by December 31 of the year of application.

An applicant may fail to apply for a license or fail to purchase a Preference Point for one (1) year without losing accumulated Preference Points. However, if an applicant fails to properly apply for a license or purchase a Preference Point for two consecutive years, the accumulated Preference Points will be deleted.

The Preference Point system is designed to award a point for each unsuccessful draw attempt in a hard to draw area for individuals who elect the PREFERENCE POINT OPTION and remit the additional Preference Point fees, yet not penalize those who wish to list an easier to draw area on their second or third choice. If a person draws on the second or third choice when electing the PREFERENCE POINT OPTION, a Preference Point will be awarded even though a license is issued. If the person is successful in drawing his or her first choice, then all Preference Points are deleted but the preference point fee paid for that year is refunded. DRAWING A SECOND OR THIRD CHOICE DOES NOT CAUSE PREFERENCE POINTS TO BE DELETED.

Some suggestions when applying for licenses with the PREFERENCE POINT OPTION: DO NOT apply for an easy to draw area for your first choice. If you do and are successful, then all of your accumulated preference points will be deleted and the odds of drawing a license in a hard to draw area may be greatly diminished for the next couple of years. For example, a person applying for Antelope might list area 57/type 1 as a first choice and area 26/type 1 as the second. Based on past years, drawing odds in area 57/type 1 are less than ten (10) percent but area 26/type 1 has been a 100 % draw on all choices. Under the Preference Point system, a person, if not drawn for area 57 would be issued a Preference Point for Antelope if he or she elected the PREFERENCE POINT OPTION, and would also be awarded an area 26 Antelope license if the additional Preference Point fee was remitted as identified above.

To summarize, please remember there is a difference between PREFERENCE POINT ONLY PURCHASES and an application for a license with the PREFERENCE POINT OPTION. A PREFERENCE POINT ONLY PURCHASE APPLICATION (no chance to draw a license) CAN ONLY be submitted from July 1, 2008 through September 30, 2008. An application for a license with the PREFERENCE POINT OPTION can only be made during the applicable initial draw periods.

If you have any doubt, please call (307) 777-4600 or go to our Web Site at http://gf.state.wy.us where the difference between PREFERENCE POINT ONLY PURCHASES and PREFERENCE POINT OPTIONS WITH LICENSE APPLICATIONS will be further explained.

“Wyoming’s Wolf Plan Offers ‘Adequate Regulatory Mechanism’ to Manage Wolves, Feds Say”

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. Dec. 14 –The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has approved Wyoming’s Gray Wolf Management Plan, calling it an “adequate regulatory mechanism” that meets the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.

Formal notification of the approval came in a letter yesterday from Service Director Dale Hall to Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Terry Cleveland.

In the letter, Hall wrote, “After careful review and consideration, we determined that the 2007 Plan will provide adequate regulatory mechanisms for conserving a recovered wolf population in Wyoming after delisting and meets the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.”

“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s acceptance of Wyoming’s wolf plan is an encouraging sign that wolves in our state will soon be removed from the Endangered Species List, and that Wyoming will be able to manage wolves on its own terms,” said Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal. “It has been a long and difficult road, and in our discussions we have achieved compromise on issues like the dual classification and the state’s ability to manage wolves in relation to their impact on elk and deer. I salute Wyoming Game and Fish Director Terry Cleveland and his staff for their hard work in developing the management plan. What remains, in terms of process, is for the feds to delist wolves by Feb. 28 of next year.”

Wyoming’s original wolf plan was rejected by the Service in 2004. With the passage of House Bill 0213 by the 2007 Wyoming Legislature, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission had latitude to adopt a new plan that met the requirements of the Service. The plan approved yesterday was adopted by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on November 16, 2007. The Commission worked with the Service to make several significant changes to Wyoming’s original wolf plan and reviewed public comments before approving the plan and submitting it to the Service.

Under Wyoming’s approved plan, after delisting the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will assume management of wolves in that portion of the state where wolves will be classified as trophy game animals. In the remaining portions of the state, gray wolves will be classified as predatory animals.

The Service has determined that 15 breeding pairs of wolves will ensure Wyoming’s share of a fully recovered population. Wyoming’s plan commits the Game and Fish Department to maintaining at least seven breeding pairs of wolves in the state and primarily outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway. The remaining breeding pairs will be located primarily within Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway.

“Approval of Wyoming’s plan is a major step forward in the recovery of wolf populations in the northern Rocky Mountains and should help clear the way for removing them from the Endangered Species List this winter,” said Cleveland. “We’re pleased that the Service has worked with us to find a compromise. Credit goes to the Governor, the Legislature, the Attorney General, and the Commission for their hard work and efforts in moving wolf delisting to this point. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is fully prepared to assume management of wolves in Wyoming, and we are committed to ensuring a recovered population while managing this species in a way that makes sense for people who live and work in wolf country.”

To see the full text of the Service’s letter approving Wyoming’s wolf plan, go to the Wyoming Game and Fish website at: USFWS 2007 Final Gray Wolf Management

Contact: Eric Keszler (307-777-4594)

Hal Sawyer of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department claims this is the largest mule deer herd anywhere. Do you believe it?

The largest herd of mule deer in the U.S. is at the Green River Valley in Wyoming. There are some 30,000 deer there.

Using GPS collars, biologist Hall Sawyer has tracked the movements of the deer herd. He’s examined how the population has performed for the past five years. His research showed that much of the herd migrates more than 50 miles between winter and summer ranges, and that drought and severe winters have claimed an estimated 20 percent of the herd.

Preserving migratory bottlenecks, minimizing habitat loss, and building wildlife-friendly fences are some ways that Sawyer said might help conserve Wyoming mule deer.

Here they are:

These photos were emailed to me. This is reportedly a Wyoming buck. Maybe Idaho.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the story behind this photo which was emailed to me, but these are a couple of dandy Wyoming Monster Muley Bucks from the 2007 season.

Two mule deer killed by hunters in October tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Deer Hunt Area 163 – according to the Star Tribune in Casper, Wyoming

WYOMING’S POPULAR MULE DEER

10/27/2006

– This fall, Wyoming’s estimated 480,000 mule deer will attract around 63,000 hunters from places as local and colorful as Point of Rocks to as international and historic as Munich, and a multitude of places in between.

This large-eared symbol of the West lures hunters in all sizes, many nationalities and both genders. Mule deer accommodate hunters in open country and rugged mountains and with better than every other hunter bringing one home, the mule deer is truly an equal opportunity big game animal.

Not as large or prone to seek thick timber as elk, but then not as visible as antelope, the mule deer over the years has been the state’s most popular game animal. But in his book, “The Mule Deer of Wyoming,” Neal Blair wrote from studying the diaries of Wyoming’s early trappers and explorers that mule deer were an infrequent sight in the 1800s and the men subsisted mainly on antelope, bison and bear with deer a rare camp meat entry.

Although the trickle of early travelers reported few deer, the herd now attracts a legion of repeat customers that rank Wyoming’s mule deer hunting as some of the nation’s best.

Nonresidents migrate here by all modes of transportation from private plane to buses or motor homes customized expressly for hunting. Because their home territory usually either offers only whitetails or limited mule deer opportunity, they come to hunt in the stirring setting of forested peaks, sagebrush canyons and rocky outcrops. For others, the $273 nonresident license and the expense to get here are bargains for an opportunity to hunt good habitat, compared to the cost of buying a private lease in their home state.

Here at home, some school districts traditionally close their doors the first couple days of deer season to allow the kids to follow their elders into the golden aspen in search of some winter meat.

To locals and migrants alike, the quest for delicious venison or an exalted rack and the abundance of animals in a variety of settings induces hunters to inject over $28 million into the state’s economy in pursuit of a mulie.

In September, mule deer swap their brown summer coat for the gray of winter and the bucks polish the last velvet off their antlers. After most seasons end, the bucks’ necks swell for the rut as thoughts turn to propagating the species. Unlike elk, buck mule deer don’t establish a harem but rather “play the field” with their polygamous breeding activity hitting a peak in late November. Although up to 28,000 bucks were harvested prior to then, enough remain that any barren does are likely the result of physiological problems.

Rut is a stressful period for bucks. They fight between themselves, nearly quit eating and about the time they’ve recovered it’s time to contend with winter.

Deer spend the spring and summer gorging themselves to accumulate energy reserves in preparation for the ominous season. To cope, deer migrate to lower elevations where sagebrush, mountain mahogany and bitterbrush extend above the snowpack to provide winter browse.

The availability of good winter range can make or break a mule deer herd. A herd is better off entering winter with slightly fewer members than the winter range can support so the habitat is not severely abused. In the event of a severe winter like 1983-84 or 1992-93, deer on good winter range make it through in better condition and their fawn crop is not severely diminished.

Bucks begin dropping antlers in January and the whole herd is bald by April. Mule deer have forked branches on their antlers contrasting with whitetails where all points come off the main beams.

The does’ seven-month gestation period generally ends the first two weeks of June. The first pregnancy typically produces a single fawn with twins the norm in following years.

With white spots their first 5-10 weeks, fawns are a thrilling sight for summer tourists. A doe with trailing fawns strolling naively along has been the highlight of many a family camping trip.

Deer and other big game in Wyoming are managed on the “herd,” or population, concept. A herd is a distinct population of deer, which keeps to itself, engaging in very little breeding or interchange with neighboring deer herds. Individual herds tend to remain in certain geographic regions (although the regions can be quite large) and use traditional fawning, summer and winter habitat from year to year. The populations of Wyoming’s 39 herds range from 500 in the Chain Lakes or Shoshone River herds to 58,000 in the Powder River Herd.

“Across the West and in Wyoming, mule deer numbers have declined since the ‘good old days’ of the ‘50s and ‘60s for a variety of reasons,” said Daryl Lutz, chairman of the Game and Fish’s Mule Deer Working Group. “The most recent decline took place during the early 1990s due primarily to the combined effects of drought and severe winters. Unlike declines and recoveries in the past fawn productivity and survival have remained at depressed levels. These, relatively low recruitment levels in concert with the harder winters ’92-93 and 2001-02 and several dry summers have resulted in mule deer populations remaining lower than the department and public desire.”

Of the continent’s 11 mule deer sub-species, the Rocky Mountain mule deer which inhabits Wyoming has the widest geographical distribution and a population larger than all of the other subspecies combined.

(contact: Daryl Lutz (307) 473-3400 or Jeff Obrecht)

-WGFD-

ANTLER PICK-UP PROTOCOL CLARIFIED BY G&F

1/27/2007

CODY – In the Cody area alone, wildlife officials know that at least two bull elk and three mule deer were poached last winter and one deer this winter – not because someone needed the meat – but because someone wanted their antlers.

These incidents have prompted the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to reconsider how they enforce the laws in issuing an Interstate Game Tag, the tag required to possess certain wildlife parts.

“When someone finds a dead buck deer or bull elk in the field, they have stumbled upon a potential crime scene,” said the Game and Fish’s Cody Region Wildlife Supervisor Gary Brown. “If that same individual cuts the head off of the carcass before notifying us of their discovery, the crime scene is compromised and our chance of apprehending the poacher or poachers is lessened.”

According to Brown, protecting wildlife is a high priority. “Our job is to enforce the laws and regulations that protect our wildlife resource and we have a responsibility to investigate the illegal killing of our game animals,” he said. “Of course, not every dead buck or bull found in the field has been poached. Predation, disease, weather and old age also kill animals.”

When someone finds a skull with attached antlers they must contact a Wyoming Game and Fish Department law enforcement officer as soon as possible and arrangements must be made to game tag the antlers. This same procedure applies to road-killed animals.

According to Brown, the “soon as possible” reference means just that. “With the advent of cell phones, soon as possible will be immediate in some cases and in others, contact should be made as soon as a public telephone or cell phone service is available,” Brown said. “Failing to notify us is a violation we will strictly enforce.

“Once we have been contacted and obtain detailed information regarding the dead animal and its location, it is possible that the person who found the skull will be allowed to bring it in and have it properly tagged. If we feel it may have been poached, we will investigate.”

If illegal activity is suspected the Game and Fish will likely retain the antlers.

Naturally shed antlers and antelope horns do not require Wyoming Interstate Game Tags nor does the department need to be notified when they are found. All bighorn sheep horns picked up must be reported to the Game and Fish within 15 days for registration, plugging and interstate game tagging.

There are no antler hunting seasons in Wyoming however, the Game and Fish urges all antler hunters to avoid moving elk and deer while they are on their winter ranges, especially when deep snows or cold temperatures persist. Some Game and Fish and U.S. Forest Service winter range areas are closed to all human activity during the winter period.

For more information about winter range areas or the proper procedure for tagging or plugging pick-up skulls contact your local game warden or nearest Game and Fish regional office.

-WGFD-