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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

#Deer665's route shows the bigger picture of ungulate migrations in the American West: Animals move from desert winter ranges to lush summer ranges, maximizing the extreme contrast of the seasons to their advantage. These migrations support abundant herds and intact ecosystems. #Deer #Science

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

In South Park of #JacksonHole, #Deer665 bounded across busy US 26/191 and passed ranch lands, a golf course, and conservation easements before swimming the Snake River. Then she climbed over the 8,400 crest of #TetonPass to reach summer range.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

#Deer665 made it to summer range on Teton Pass in western #Wyoming. Her spring migration was 173 miles long, and took 35 days, including 18 days moving & 17 in stopovers. The last leg after 6/4 involved crossing a 5-lane highway and the Snake River. #deer #nature

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

That's it for week 4 of #deer665 migration tracking. We'll keep you updated with week 5! ( #deer (Drone clips of Granite Creek by Tanner Warder et. al.)

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

On June 3rd, Deer 665 crossed Granite Creek and headed up the Boulder Creek drainage where she finished the week of migration on June 4. (Image of another #deer nicknamed Jo, that we tracked in Granite Creek back in 2020, Credit Tanner Warder, Wyoming Coop Unit). @deerposts.bsky.social

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

By June 2nd, Deer 665 had climbed to a spot 1.5 miles north of US 191 where it enters the east side of Hoback River Canyon. This is close to where Deer 665 was born in June 2021, a story we are excited to share in the coming weeks. (Image of Hoback Basin pronghorn from May 2018)

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Deer 665’s fourth week of migration started at the Raspberry Ridge stopover from May 28-31. She was likely eating wildflowers like sticky purple geranium, arrowleaf balsalmroot (shown here), lupine, and mules ears (wyethia), before she started migrating again on June 1st.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Migration Tracking Week 4🦌🦌🦌🦌#Deer665 left her stopover in Hoback Basin after seven days, trekking 18 miles further through the Gros Ventre Mountains. She has migrated 147 miles in 31 days of migration, spending 17 of those days foraging in stopovers.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Thanks everyone for following along, and we look forward to sharing week 4 of the #deer665 migration! (This is her from last November 2024, with her GPS collar in the Prospect Mountains, credit to field technician Phoenix Bennett.) #nature #wyoming #Deer #wildlife

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

#Deer665 has migrated a long way to reach these slopes of wildflowers, aspen and pine that offer food and security. Raspberry Ridge is one of #Deer 665’s favorite stopovers from previous years. She spent five days here in May 2024, and two weeks in June 2023. (Clip from 2018.)

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

#Deer665 came within 1/4 mile of the Rim Station on May 23, leaving the Upper Green and entering Hoback Basin (shown in photo). She stayed north of US 191. By May 24, #Deer 665 made it to Raspberry Ridge, where she spent five days on stopover to close out week three of her migration on May 28.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

On May 22 #deer665 bounded across the Cora highway WY 352 (shown in this Joe Riis photo) and splashed across the Green River later that day.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

From there #Deer665 crossed the Soda Lake Wildlife Habitat Management area on May 21, and passed another bottleneck at Willow Lake. (Deer foraging on lupine near Willow Lake in May 2018, credit Gregory Nickerson - Wyoming Migration Initiative)

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

This effort is a great example of migration data leading to targeted, voluntary conservation.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

The Luke Lynch wildlife refuge was named in memory of the #Wyoming director of @theconservationfund who raised more than $2M to purchase and restore the land & donate it to WY Game and Fish Dept.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

The map shows her swimming across Fremont Lake bottleneck outside of Pinedale on May 20, though our GPS didn’t pick up the exact crossing location. From there #Deer 665 moved through the Luke Lynch Wildlife Habitat Management Area.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Migration tracking week 3: 🦌 #Deer665 migrated 37 miles through the finger lakes near Pinedale, WY to a new stopover in the Hoback Basin. So far she has migrated about 129 miles in 24 days since leaving her Red Desert winter range, with a full two weeks spent in stopover.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Bureau of Land Management – Wyoming, The Nature Conservancy, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Sweetwater Royalties, Ghost Town of Superior Wyoming, and Wildcat Coal (for private land access).

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Biodiversity Institute of UW – Don and Judy Legerski Fellowship, Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship, the UW Science Initiative Graduate Fellowship, USGS Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative, Wyoming Governor's Big Game License Coalition, Teton Conservation District,

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Muley Fanatic Foundation – Southwest Wyoming Chapter, Muley Fanatic Foundation Upper Green Chapter 10 Country Chapter of The Muley Fanatic Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation of Wyoming, Mule Deer Foundation Headquarters, SITKA Gear, National Science Foundation,

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

The Red Desert Mule Deer Study is generously supported by many partners and funders, including: Knobloch Family Foundation, George B. Storer Foundation, Safari Club International Foundation and 100 Hunter Legacy Endowment Fund, Muley Fanatic Foundation Headquarters,

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Cartography by WMI's Ian Freeman, based on maps by our Wild Migrations atlas partners at the Department of Geography, University of Oregon InfoGraphics lab.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

The data for this map is thanks to collaboration between our team at the University of Wyoming and biologists with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Monteith Shop, Bureau of Land Management - Wyoming, and USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

So far it looks like #Deer665 is in a hurry to cover ground. Her rate of travel varied from four miles to 10 miles per day. How far do you think she’ll move in the coming week? Twenty, 30, or 40 miles? Leave your guess in the comments and we’ll let you know how she traveled next week!

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

#Deer 665 must jump or slide under dozens of barbed wire fences. This is risky, because deer can tangle in the wires and get trapped. Fortunately people have retrofitted hundreds of miles of fences, adjusting the height and adding smooth wire to be more wildlife-friendly. Photo by Tanner Warder.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

#Deer 665’s herd traverses working lands owned by BLM, state of Wyoming, and private ranchers. Several properties along the route are protected as Game and Fish Wildlife Habitat Management Areas, or private conservation easements.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

This migration used by #Deer665 and thousands of mule #deer persists because there is so little development. Access roads are generally gravel with low-traffic. Livestock grazing and targeted conservation have kept the land open, which allows wildlife to move through relatively easily.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

#Deer 665’s route is wildlife highway each spring and fall, with braided trails winding through the sagebrush. She’s following well-beaten deer trails marked by scent, scat, and browsing. We can’t know for sure, but #Deer665 is likely moving in a small group. Photo by Tanner Warder/WY Coop Unit.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

#Deer665 spent May 18-20 stopped over at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's Fall Creek Wildlife Habitat Management Area and Pole Creek, which drains Half Moon Lake.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Deer 665’s specific route took her from the Prospect Mountains across Big Sandy River on May 12. She swam the East Fork River on May 14, and splashed across the outlet of Boulder Lake three days later. Photo: Deer in the Prospect Mountains in 11/24 by Gregory Nickerson

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Migration helps them optimize their nutrition, so they can recover from winter, nurse their fawns, grow antlers, and put on fat for next winter. That's #deer665 with the collar in a photo taken in Nov. 2024 by field technician Phoenix Bennett in the Prospect Mountains.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

This part of her route runs through the foothills of the Wind River Range, paralleling the Lander Cutoff of the Oregon Trail. #Deer 665 is just one of thousands of mule deer heading north on this corridor to find better springtime forage.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Migration tracking week 2 🦌 #Deer665 trekked 40 miles north to a new stopover in her second week of migration. So far she’s migrated 92 miles in 15 days after leaving her Red Desert winter range — while pregnant with twins! #deer #Wyoming #wildlife #nature

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Our group of wildlife researchers and cartographers at the University of Wyoming aims to share the science of big game migration to engage the public and promote conservation of migrations across Wyoming and beyond. You can find us at migratioinitiative.org

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Migration tracking is a big part of what we do at the Wyoming Migration Initiative to show people the amazing journeys that migrating animals make. Along the way we show the challenges animals overcome, and the solutions people have for keeping these animals on the move.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

#Deer665 has a long way to go to reach summer range. This year, as in previous years, she started migration late compared to the rest of the 1,800+ animals in her herd. She travels quickly, making stopovers to forage on springtime plants, and we think she's headed for summer range near Teton Pass.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

In 2024 #Deer665 gave birth to twin fawns, but they were nowhere to be seen when she was migrating south last November. Hopefully this year she'll successfully birth and raise her fawns through their first fall migration.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

#Deer665 is four years old, and was born in June 2021. We have shared her migrations since summer 2022, when she made an ultra-long distance migration from Wyoming's Red Desert across the Teton Range into Idaho. She is only the 2nd deer from this herd we have tracked across the Tetons.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

#Deer665 ended winter with 5.9% body fat and is pregnant with twins. That's her with the collar in this image from last November 2024 by field technician Phoenix Bennett.

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Wyoming Migration Initiative @wyo-migrations.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

For our first-ever post on @bsky.app we're sharing a map of a mule deer on spring migration in Wyoming. #Deer665 started migrating 5/5/25 and made 52 miles to the Prospect Mountains in week 1. We'll share weekly updates until she reaches summer range. #deer #Wyoming #nature

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