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Wyoming Game and Fish details mule deer decline, outlines research and habitat focus
Summary
Wyoming Game and Fish told a legislative committee the state's mule deer population has fallen about half over 25 years and described monitoring, research and habitat actions aimed at stabilizing herds.
Wyoming Game and Fish officials told the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee on June 6 that mule deer numbers in the state have declined substantially and the agency is expanding monitoring, research and habitat work to try to halt and reverse the trend. Deputy Chief of Wildlife Justin Benton said the department’s current statewide estimate is about 231,000 mule deer and that numbers have fallen roughly 50% compared with peaks in past decades.
The agency said the decline is the product of many interacting factors — weather variability, diminished habitat quality, human development, competition from other ungulates, disease and predation — and that no single “magic bullet” exists. Benton told the committee that fawn survival has been below the level needed to sustain herds in 18 of the past 25 years and that the winter of 2022–23 produced unusually high mortality in some parts of Wyoming.
Agency leaders described a range of ongoing efforts. The department has boosted population monitoring using aerial counts, refined age/sex composition surveys and launched an intensive “focal herd” program that collars and tracks deer in five representative herds to measure survival, movements and causes of death. Benton and Director Angie Bruce said that research partners include the University of Wyoming, U.S. Geological Survey and other academic and private collaborators.
On habitat, staff said priority actions include prescribed fire where appropriate, sagebrush and aspen restoration, invasive annual grass control, riparian improvements, fence conversions and wildlife crossing projects on highways. Benton noted that highway collisions account for about 85% of wildlife–vehicle collision fatalities in Wyoming and estimated roughly 5,500 mule deer are killed on roads annually (a conservative figure).
Officials emphasized the department’s public engagement: local “mule deer community” meetings, hunter attitude surveys of tens of thousands of residents and stakeholder initiatives. Benton said hunters still report satisfaction with Wyoming’s season framework despite lower populations. The agency also described approaches to disease monitoring, specifically chronic wasting disease (CWD), which it said has spread beyond southeastern Wyoming and now appears in parts of western and central counties, and to predator, elk and white-tailed deer competition where these are locally influential.
The department did not propose unilateral hunting-season changes at the meeting; rather it emphasized continued monitoring, research and stakeholder processes and asked legislators and counties to consider habitat protection and collaborative solutions. The committee heard numerous technical clarifications from staff about seasonal ranges, body-condition effects on fawn survival and the importance of connectivity for migratory herds.
Officials said many solutions are long-term and multifaceted, including federal coordination on landscape issues, continued habitat funding and partnerships with counties and private landowners. The department will continue to report its monitoring results and recommended the committee direct interested constituents to public mule deer meetings and commission hearings.
Ending: The department urged participation in public conversations and said it would return with further data and recommendations; the panel scheduled no formal votes or immediate rule changes at the June 6 hearing.
