In January, Western Ecosystems Technology, Inc. released a report – prepared in 2007 for the Bureau of Land Management, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and Questar Exploration and Production – documenting mule deer trends in Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline, an area undergoing natural gas development. Whitetails have not been affected.

The report focused on the Mesa mule deer population, the population within the larger Sublette herd that is in close proximity to natural gas development operations. The researchers found a 30 percent decline in the Mesa population during a seven-year period (2001-2007) of intensive energy development.

Energy development at the Mesa site resulted in 1,520 acres of direct habitat loss, primarily at well pad sites, which accounted for less than 3 percent of the Mesa area. Indirect habitat loss, however, extended much farther. The model-averaged estimate predicted that mule deer avoided energy development sites by 2.6 to 7.5 km, depending on the level of human activity.

In the September issue of Deer & Deer Hunting, field editor Les Davenport will investigate another trend concerning Western deer. Be sure not to miss this article, "Save a Mulie, Shoot a Whitetail," on sale at newsstands beginning later this summer.

— Daniel E. Schmidt