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Migration Routes of Mule Deer in Wind River Indian Reservation Herd in Wyoming

Some of the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the southwestern section of the Wind River Indian Reservation are unique, because their entire migration routes are within Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho lands (fig. 29). In the spring, deer migrate from the foothills of the Wind River Range upslope to the Tribes’ Wind River Roadless Area, or northwest into the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton National Forests or Grand Teton National Park, demonstrating how the reservation is part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The herd, which numbers around 1500, winters entirely within the Reservation, from the western boundary of the Reservation to south of Fort Washakie. Winter habitats consist of upland shrubs, sage, grasses and riparian areas. Summer ranges are largely lodgepole pine forests, mountain meadows, and alpine areas. Animals migrate an average one-way distance of 29 mi (47 km) ranging from as little as 4 mi (6 km) to as far as 131 mi (211 km). The population has been stable during the last 10 years. Winter ranges of these animals are largely secure under management by Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes Game and Fish, and Tribal policies that limit where rural housing and development can occur. The migration routes are a more serious concern because some are relatively long, and US Highway 26/287 is one of the highest-priority areas in the state for reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions. Additionally, a portion of the population moves through residential subdivisions near Dubois. Once the deer reach summer range, the habitats are under Federal management, and aside from timber harvest and grazing, the land is largely free from development. These data provide the location of migration routes for mule deer in the Wind River Indian Reservation population in the Wind River Reservation. They were developed from 152 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 48 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 2 hours.

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Author(s) Matthew J Kauffman orcid, Blake H Lowrey orcid, Jeffrey Beck, Jodi Berg orcid, Scott Bergen, Joel Berger orcid, James W Cain orcid, Sarah Dewey, Jennifer Diamond, Orrin Duvuvuei, Julien Fattebert orcid, Jeff Gagnon, Julie Garcia, Evan Greenspan orcid, Embere Hall, Glenn Harper, Stan Harter, Kent Hersey, Pat Hnilicka, Mark Hurley, Lee Knox, Art Lawson, Eric Maichak, James Meacham, Jerod Merkle orcid, Arthur Middleton, Daniel Olson, Lucas Olson, Craig Reddell, Benjamin S Robb orcid, Gabe Rozman, Hall Sawyer orcid, Cody Schroeder, Brandon Scurlock orcid, Jeff Short, Scott Sprague, Alethea Steingisser, Nicole Tatman
Publication Date 2022-04-07
Beginning Date of Data 2018-01-01
Ending Date of Data 2021-06-01
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DOI https://doi.org/10.5066/P9TKA3L8
Citation Kauffman, M.J., Lowrey, B.H., Beck, J., Berg, J., Bergen, S., Berger, J., Cain, J.W., Dewey, S., Diamond, J., Duvuvuei, O., Fattebert, J., Gagnon, J., Garcia, J., Greenspan, E., Hall, E., Harper, G., Harter, S., Hersey, K., Hnilicka, P., Hurley, M., Knox, L., Lawson, A., Maichak, E., Meacham, J., Merkle, J., Middleton, A., Olson, D., Olson, L., Reddell, C., Robb, B.S., Rozman, G., Sawyer, H., Schroeder, C., Scurlock, B., Short, J., Sprague, S., Steingisser, A., and Tatman, N., 2022, Migration Routes of Mule Deer in Wind River Indian Reservation Herd in Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9TKA3L8.
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Metadata Date 2022-04-07
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License http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
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Harvest Source: ScienceBase
Harvest Date: 2022-04-08T04:39:48.789Z