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Migration Routes of Mule Deer in Owl Creek Mountains Herd in Wyoming

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) along the Owl Creek Mountains display both a longitudinal and altitudinal migration as they depart the northern section of the Wind River Indian Reservation (fig. 28). Deer in this trans-boundary migration corridor move from areas under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho, to lands where the Wyoming Game and Fish Department manages wildlife. West of the Reservation, deer migrate to summer ranges in the Absaroka Range, the Mount Leidy Highlands, and the Gros Ventre River watershed, all within the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone National Forests. The herd numbers around 3,000. Arid winter ranges are a mix of shrubs, herbaceous grasslands and riparian ecosystems, within Tribal land as well as private land along the Wind River. Animals migrate an average one-way distance of 63 mi (101 km), ranging from as little as 14 mi (23 km) to as far as 141 mi (227 km). Summer ranges are predominantly lodgepole pine forests with smaller areas of open herbaceous grasslands. The population size of the herd has remained relatively steady over the last decade. There is minimal concern for these animals on winter range because Tribal Trust Land is under low risk of development, and the Shoshone and Arapaho manage deer hunting for sustainable harvest under a game code established in 1984. However, some of their winter range along Wind River is in close proximity to US Highway 26/287, putting deer at heightened risk of vehicle collisions. Critically, the migration routes extend through residential areas such as Dubois and the Hoback Basin with heightened risk of negative human-wildlife interactions (i.e. vehicle collisions, fences and barriers). Summer ranges within National Forests are of less concern. These data provide the location of migration routes for mule deer in the Owl Creek Mountains population in the Wind River Reservation. They were developed from 73 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 20 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 2 hours.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
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Identifier USGS:620e4b5cd34e6c7e83baa3ca
Data Last Modified 20220407
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
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Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -110.7552,43.0248,-108.4429,44.3566
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 40c09612dd10b453d004c1e4617f6071407eb63dc95ad73330b85737a8ca0e43
Source Schema Version 1.1
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