Migration Routes of Mule Deer in the Mesa Population in Wyoming

The Mesa mule deer population is part of the larger Sublette herd that winters in the north-central portion of the Green River Basin, east of the Green River and west of U.S. Highway 191 (fig. 32). The Mesa wintering area supports 3,000 to 5,000 deer that migrate northwest to summer ranges in the Wyoming Range, Gros Ventre Range, and Salt River Range. The Mesa winter range, which has been fragmented by a large natural gas field, has experienced 30–40 percent declines in deer abundance since this development began. Mitigating winter range impacts continues to be a challenge for managers. These migratory deer have benefited from six underpasses and two overpasses constructed along U.S. Highway 191 in 2012; the project has reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions by 85 percent. These data provide the location of migration routes for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Mesa population in Wyoming. They were developed from Brownian bridge movement models using 133 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 33 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 2-8 hours.

[
  "010:12"
]

[
  "geospatial"
]