Wyoming Mule Deer Are Rebounding!

Recently the Wyoming Game and Fish Department released an update on their annual observational flights of the famed Wyoming Range and Sublette mule deer herds. These wintering deer largely make up what nonresidents know as Regions G and H – Wyoming’s classic high-country deer hunting areas. 

The Wyoming Range, in particular, felt the brunt of the losses from the winterkill two years ago with an estimated 80% of the deer lost from December until winter loosened its grip. The estimated number of deer went from 30,000 in December of 2023 to 11,000 the following December (which included a new fawn crop). Luckily, the incredible snowfall and continued precipitation turned into some of the best groceries for those deer to rebound on, and this year’s flights showed it. 

Game and Fish agencies across the West do surveys like the ones in western Wyoming to keep track of how many fawns are growing into the population, as well as maintain a specific buck ratio. In this part of Wyoming, however, surveys and studies have been even more intensive as these iconic deer herds steadily declined from a big peak of around 60,000 animals in the early 1990s. Especially after the hard winter of two years ago, WGFD has kept flying to get a more accurate read on how the deer herd is trending.

While the Wyoming Range herd is far from the numbers of individual deer from the 1990s, biologists say the fawn recruitment was as good as they had seen since the heyday of deer some 35 years ago. The 83 fawns per 100 does they saw from the air was only rivaled by one year since the historic peak in 2000. That means that on the backside of one of the most devastating winters, the habitat in the Wyoming Range provided the best fawn production since those winter ranges got cell service. 

The overall buck ratio for the herd was published at 28 bucks per 100 does, a notable increase from last year and just a bit outside of the 30-45 ratio objective set in this part of Wyoming. Looking forward, somewhere near half of the 83 fawns per 100 does this year are bucks, and a good chunk of those will be recruited into the population as 1.5-year-olds next fall with an antler point restriction still in place in these hunting areas. 

The Sublette mule deer herd did not feel the wrath of the 2022-2023 winter as harshly as the Wyoming Range deer did – in line with a normal bad winter and not a devastating one. As a result the surveys from the air were much more stable last year and this year. There was not as large of a see-saw effect in ratios, though significant improvements were seen from the air this year.

On the Sublette mule deer herd winter ranges over a year ago, WGFD saw buck ratios in their objective range at 34 and more normal fawn ratios. Fast forward to the most recent flights, and biologists saw an uptick in fawns but a consistent buck ratio of 34, which is in the objective range they are looking for. They found another sign of plenty in mother nature’s pantry on the landscape for mother deer, as fawn ratios came in at 76 per 100 does. The last time the winter range flights showed that many fawns was 2006 – the year Steve Jobs was working on coming out with the iPhone. 

Additionally, the Monteith Shop continued its annual analysis of the body fat percentage of deer on the winter range and found does with very good body conditions going into this winter. While there are still a few cold, snowy months ahead of us, the winter range looks good for another strong fawn production and survival year, across the board.  

Based on previous research out of the Monteith Shop, this should get big buck hunters excited for future prospects as the herd works to dig itself out of the overall population hole it is in. The studies show, fat and healthy mothers produce bigger bucks on average, and that means a good crop of buck potential in a handful of years. 

Keep in mind, there will not suddenly be 20 bucks this fall in basins that held three or four last year. Folks who like to climb up to the alpine basins of western Wyoming in hopes of one of the bucks that make this area legendary, are going to have to put in immense amounts of work to find them. 

However, in a time when mule deer are in a trough across the West, it’s encouraging for the future of mule deer hunting to find a proverbial yin to the crushing yang of winterkill; a winterkill that caused Wyoming, and multiple other states across the West, to hit historically low deer populations.