12/02/2025
It’s amazing how far some mule deer migrate every year. Migration corridors are very important to survival of mule deer in some areas and they definitely benefit from good habitat found on both public and private land along the way.
Migration Tracking Week 3 🦌🦌🦌 Deer 665 migrated along the foothills of the Wind River Range, traveling 32 miles from Boulder Lake across the Big Sandy River to the Prospect Mountains. She’s now 125 miles from her summer range on Teton Pass, having migrated for 21 days with no stopovers so far.
Deer 665 began week three in the sagebrush south of Boulder Lake. She had her longest day of travel for the week on October 26, making 10 miles through the foothills of the Wind River Range across Silver Creek and Cottonwood Creek to arrive at Pocket Creek. She migrated another five miles on October 27.
On October 28 Deer 665 crossed a private ranch stewarded by the same family for the past century. The ranch includes more than 1,000 acres placed under a voluntary conservation easement with the to support mule deer, sage grouse, and other species.
Deer 665 made seven more miles on October 29-30, crossing Muddy Creek and the Big Sandy River near a historic wagon ford on the Lander Cutoff of the Oregon Trail.
On November 1 Deer 665 traversed broad expanses of sage near Little Prospect Mountain, a timbered ridge with vistas toward high peaks of the southern Wind River Range.
Moving south, Deer 665 crossed the Little Sandy River and entered the main range of the Prospect Mountains on November 2. Her arrival at this major mule deer migration stopover closed out her third week of migration.
The Prospect Mountains are where thousands of mule deer in the Sublette Herd congregate each fall for the mating season known as the rut. Next week we’ll share more about that with an update on Deer 665’s fawns.
Do you think Deer 665 will take her time in the Prospects in week 4, or will she keep migrating into the Red Desert? One thing we have learned about this deer is that she doesn’t lallygag when she has a destination in mind. Thanks everyone for following Deer 665’s amazing journey. We’ll update you on her progress next week!
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The data for this map is thanks to collaboration between our team at the University of Wyoming and biologists with , , , and .
Cartography by Naim Ferris and Joanna Merson, our Wild Migrations atlas partners at the Department of Geography, University of Oregon InfoGraphics Lab, with WMI's Ian Freeman.
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,
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,
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,
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).
