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Mule Deer Management in Wyoming

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Mule Deer Management

Population Status
Herd unit management
Management objectives
Management cycle
Public engagement
Weather
Habitat management
Migration corridors
Wildlife crossings

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Mule Deer Management

Population Status

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Herd Unit Management

Wyoming has 37 mule deer herds
Based on seasonal movements
Each of these herds has a Commission approved management objective
Social and biological constraints

Planned instead of reactionary management
Accountability
Public knows where we’re going

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Herd Unit Objectives

Based on public input and Commission approval
Measurable, numeric, quantifiable
Bounded by biological and social carrying capacity

D

E

R

A

B

U

N

D

A

N

C

E

Time

Biological Carrying Capacity

Social Carrying Capacity

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Herd Unit Management

128 Hunt Areas

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Mule Deer Management

17 Nonresident General Deer Regions

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Mule Deer Management

Sublette Herd Unit

HAs 130,131,138-142,146,150-156,162

September 15 Standard opener for 17 areas (Sublette and adjoining areas)

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Mule Deer Management

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Mule Deer Management

Management cycle – 4 Stages

Monitoring (Where are we at?)

Abundance, Composition, Harvest, & Habitat surveys

Objectives (Where do we want to be?)

Post-season population estimate & buck ratio goals

Actions (How do we get there?)

Hunting season proposals & stakeholder input

Evaluation (Did we get to where we wanted to be?)

Data analyses – Public engagement

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Mule Deer Management

Public involvement

Public surveys in 2006, 2012 and 2017
Annual harvest surveys
Field checks and check stations
2022 season setting

Draft regulations online
Regional presentations online
Public comments through 5:00pm

April 1

37 community meetings March 17 - 29

2022 Harvest Survey, n = 12,474 general deer license holders responded

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20% of general-license deer hunters hunt 2 or more hunt areas

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What pairs of hunt areas are common?

If you hunted in this area (shown in grey in the map) and reported hunting in an additional area, which “additional areas” were more common?

More common

Less common

* white areas have no general hunt

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What pairs of hunt areas are common?

If you hunted in this area (shown in grey in the map) and reported hunting in an additional area, which “additional areas” were more common?

More common

Less common

* white areas have no general hunt

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What pairs of hunt areas are common?

If you hunted in this area (shown in grey in the map) and reported hunting in an additional area, which “additional areas” were more common?

More common

Less common

* white areas have no general hunt

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What pairs of hunt areas are common?

If you hunted in this area (shown in grey in the map) and reported hunting in an additional area, which “additional areas” were more common?

More common

Less common

* white areas have no general hunt

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Mule Deer Habitat

How weather and habitat impact mule deer

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Weather

Climate and weather are key components of population performance

Winter severity and drought can have population limiting effects

2022 winter has been mild

Lack of moisture moving into spring will reduce quality and quantity of forage

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Drought Patterns

January marks the start of a critical period for mule deer

Drought conditions this early in the year can be problematic

March 2022 drought map shows conditions have further degraded

Lack of soil moisture limits future shrub growth, a critical component of mule deer winter diet

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Mule Deer Initiative (MDI)

MDI began in 2016

WGF Commission has approved $3.4 million of MDI funds

Approved 69 projects to date

9.3 million acres have or will be treated or researched

Project types include invasive annual grass work, aspen enhancement, sagebrush treatments, improved connectivity, and management research

Habitat management practices have been implemented by Department personnel, private landowners and federal land management agencies for many years. We also now have the ability review past efforts and make adjustments to prescriptions to management strategies due to the monitoring program we have, and the length of time since habitat management practices started in Wyoming. Some of the photos you see here are habitat treatments that are commonly occurring across the state. Sagebrush mechanical treatments, which frequently occur with a tractor pulling an implement like a mower or Lawson aerator are designed to treat a mosaic of older sagebrush which will release resources for younger and better nutrition quality plants and more growth by understory plants like grass and forbs. Aspen management is critically important due to fact that aspen are used extensively by a variety of wildlife. When confers naturally start growing in an aspen stand they can eventually take the water and sun resources from aspen and the lush understory if they are not periodically removed. Many times we use prescribed fire to set back succession and increase the resources for an aspen community to thrive again. While aspen themselves are important to many species, mule deer in particular are drawn to aspen communities for the other values like lush understory plants, shade and general proximity to water or moisture.

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Invasive Annual Grasses (IAG)

Cheatgrass, ventenata, and medusahead are a main concern for the Department

IAGs threaten habitat that mule deer rely on

Outcompete native plants

Degrade landscapes, pose increased fire risk

Other challenges we are working through include invasive annual grass invasion from plants such as cheatgrass, ventenata and medusa head. Invasion from these species is arguably one of the largest threats to wildlife rangeland habitat in our state and across the West. The Department and our partners have invested significant resources into managing invasive annual grass over the last decade. In 2021, xx acres of IAGs were treated with herbicide. We developed a strategic plan for managing invasive annual grass which was adopted by the Commission in 2021. As part of this plan, we have developed a scoring process to evaluate projects for Department funding. A lot of great folks are working hard on this challenge, and the Department is one of the players at this table due to the importance of this issue to mule deer and other wildlife dependent on sagebrush ecosystems.

(Seems like decadent shrubs are covered in the weather/climate section. But if you want to add competition in here, go for it.)

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�Aspen Enhancement�

Aspen habitats provide important food and cover for mule deer

Aspen understories are diverse and contain important shrubs and forbs

Common treatments include prescribed fire, logging, and chainsaw treatments

Treatments encourage aspen to regenerate

Habitat management practices have been implemented by Department personnel, private landowners and federal land management agencies for many years. We also now have the ability review past efforts and make adjustments to prescriptions to management strategies due to the monitoring program we have, and the length of time since habitat management practices started in Wyoming. Some of the photos you see here are habitat treatments that are commonly occurring across the state. Sagebrush mechanical treatments, which frequently occur with a tractor pulling an implement like a mower or Lawson aerator are designed to treat a mosaic of older sagebrush which will release resources for younger and better nutrition quality plants and more growth by understory plants like grass and forbs. Aspen management is critically important due to fact that aspen are used extensively by a variety of wildlife. When confers naturally start growing in an aspen stand they can eventually take the water and sun resources from aspen and the lush understory if they are not periodically removed. Many times we use prescribed fire to set back succession and increase the resources for an aspen community to thrive again. While aspen themselves are important to many species, mule deer in particular are drawn to aspen communities for the other values like lush understory plants, shade and general proximity to water or moisture.

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Sagebrush Treatments

Sagebrush provides critical nutrition that deer rely on seasonally

Typical treatments include Lawson aerator and mowing

Treatments release resources to improve nutritional quality of sagebrush and increase grass and forb production

Habitat management practices have been implemented by Department personnel, private landowners and federal land management agencies for many years. We also now have the ability review past efforts and make adjustments to prescriptions to management strategies due to the monitoring program we have, and the length of time since habitat management practices started in Wyoming. Some of the photos you see here are habitat treatments that are commonly occurring across the state. Sagebrush mechanical treatments, which frequently occur with a tractor pulling an implement like a mower or Lawson aerator are designed to treat a mosaic of older sagebrush which will release resources for younger and better nutrition quality plants and more growth by understory plants like grass and forbs. Aspen management is critically important due to fact that aspen are used extensively by a variety of wildlife. When confers naturally start growing in an aspen stand they can eventually take the water and sun resources from aspen and the lush understory if they are not periodically removed. Many times we use prescribed fire to set back succession and increase the resources for an aspen community to thrive again. While aspen themselves are important to many species, mule deer in particular are drawn to aspen communities for the other values like lush understory plants, shade and general proximity to water or moisture.

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Improved Connectivity and Research

Working statewide to improve mule deer passage

Research has provided information on seasonal movements and survival rates

WGFD has worked to modify fences to wildlife friendly specifications using data from collaring efforts

GPS collar data is used to inform habitat treatments

Habitat management practices have been implemented by Department personnel, private landowners and federal land management agencies for many years. We also now have the ability review past efforts and make adjustments to prescriptions to management strategies due to the monitoring program we have, and the length of time since habitat management practices started in Wyoming. Some of the photos you see here are habitat treatments that are commonly occurring across the state. Sagebrush mechanical treatments, which frequently occur with a tractor pulling an implement like a mower or Lawson aerator are designed to treat a mosaic of older sagebrush which will release resources for younger and better nutrition quality plants and more growth by understory plants like grass and forbs. Aspen management is critically important due to fact that aspen are used extensively by a variety of wildlife. When confers naturally start growing in an aspen stand they can eventually take the water and sun resources from aspen and the lush understory if they are not periodically removed. Many times we use prescribed fire to set back succession and increase the resources for an aspen community to thrive again. While aspen themselves are important to many species, mule deer in particular are drawn to aspen communities for the other values like lush understory plants, shade and general proximity to water or moisture.

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WGFD migration efforts are guided by policy

2016 Ungulate Migration Corridor Strategy

2018 DOI Secretarial Order 3362

2020 Wyoming Mule Deer and Antelope Migration Corridor Protection Executive Order

WGFD has received some federal funding to implement projects in line with above policies

Riis

Migration Corridors

Three particular pieces of policy direct management of migratory habitat in Wyoming. In 2016 the WGFC adopted the Ungulate Migration Corridor Strategy which directs the Department to manage ungulate corridors as vital habitat through applying the best available science to our decisions. Then in 2018 the DOI established the SO 3362 which directed DOI agencies, in particular the BLM in Wyoming, to prioritize the needs of mule deer, elk and pronghorn winter range and migratory habitats. This not only influences land use decisions but made significant amounts of funding available through NFWF for implementing conservation work on the ground. Lastly, the Governor signed the Mule Deer and Antelope Migration Corridor Protection EO in 2020 which established how WGFD, WYDOT and partners are to manage habitat within the corridor, how to designate or identify corridors through a public process and maintain private property rights and multiple use within the corridors. These have all been important pieces of policy that have set Wyoming up as a leader in bug game migration throughout the West.

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Wildlife Crossings

Wildlife crossings have been occurring in Wyoming since the early 2000’s but in recent years the momentum has been building, like many western states, to improve permeability of barriers to migrating wildlife. With improved GPS collar technology, we are better able to understand the effect of roadways as far as direct mortality to wildlife, the precise locations where wildlife are crossing roads and the impacts of lost habitat when roads to not allow for movement to occur. While these underpasses and overpasses, combined with high fencing, have been wildly successful they are very costly and can require several million dollars to construct depending on the overall complexity of the project. The wildlife conservation license plate has been a very successful way to raise additional funds needed for these projects. While federal DOT funds are a potential source of project funding, matching funds are nearly always a requirement and many times can limit the opportunity for us to leverage larger levels of funding coming to Wyoming. The most recent large scale projects Wyoming has worked on include the Dry Piney crossing project between Big Piney and LaBarge and the Kaycee project on I-25. The Dry Piney projects includes 16 miles of high fence and 9 underpass structures. The project will take two years to complete and is set to break ground in May of this year. The Kaycee project is working through the final bid process and as long as the bids come in within the funding level we have available, we anticipate that project to start in 2022 or 2023. The project will likely only take one season to complete because it includes constructing 15 miles of high fence with no new structures required. There are also a wide variety of less flashy but extremely important wildlife crossing projects occurring throughout the state, including ROW fence modifications, installing additional paired gates to allow for easier passage of wildlife, use of VMS signs and clearing ROW vegetation to improve driver sightlines.

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