1st Reported by Jackson Hole News: Grand Teton National Park biologists are in the early stages of studying at least three newfound mule deer migrations that link Grand Teton National Park and the Shoshone and Wind River basins. The mule deer movement corridors, which cross the Continental Divide, were discovered while biologists were looking for evidence of remnant migrations that led westward from the park into Idaho. Instead, deer fitted with tracking collars in places such as Lizard Creek, Colter Bay and Jenny Lake were found wandering the other direction, toward the plains on the east edge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Grand Teton park senior wildlife biologist Steve Cain said.
“To date, we’ve put GPS radio collars on eight mule deer, and so far seven of them have gone to either the North Fork or the South Fork of the Shoshone River west of Cody,” Cain said.
Another mule deer collared this summer in the Moose Basin west of Jackson Lake headed south, then abruptly turned east and trekked through the Gros Ventre River drainage all the way to Dubois.
“All of these routes that have a connection between Grand Teton National Park and those wintering areas are new,” Cain said. “They’re not new routes in terms of the deer, it’s just new knowledge to us.”
The migration discoveries are based on 6-week-old data, Cain said. Two mule deer collared in 2013 made similar movements toward Cody, he said.
The Grand Teton National Park Foundation funded the tracking collars that allowed the discovery.
Cain made his findings public while giving a talk Thursday at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Symposium. The park’s senior wildlife biologist said the discoveries have clear implications for conservation.
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