Deer - Conservation and Management
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Video: Colorado's Mule Deer Story
Colorado's Mule Deer Story
What’s Happening To Our Mule Deer?
They’ve got big ears. They bound around on spring-loaded legs. Tourists love to see them. Hunters enjoy the sport they offer and the meat they provide for the table. They live throughout Colorado and are a valuable part of Colorado’s wildlife heritage. They’re mule deer, the iconic deer of the American West. But a declining trend in population numbers of Colorado “muleys” in the western part of the state has biologists, hunters, wildlife watchers, and the general public asking, “What’s happening to our mule deer, and how can we work together to have sustainable deer populations into the future?”
T hey’ve got big ears. They bound around on spring-loaded legs. Tourists love to see them. Hunters enjoy the sport they offer and the meat they provide for the table. T hey live throughout Colorado and are a valuable part of Colorado’s wildlife heritage. T hey’re mule deer, the iconic deer of the American West. But a declining trend in population numbers of Colorado “muleys” in the western part of the state has biologists, hunters, wildlife watchers and the general public asking, “What’s happening to our mule deer, and how can we work together to have sustainable deer populations into the future?”
Because hunting is a long-standing tradition in Colorado, and important economically for many communities and families, public input is an important component of CPW’s mule deer management planning process, which takes into account not just biology but social and cultural factors.
The Deer With the Big Ears. Muleys . . . even the nickname conveys the affection westerners have for this long-eared animal.
Herd Management Plans
Deer Herd Management
The purpose of a Herd Management plan (HMP) is to integrate the plans and intentions of Colorado Parks and Wildlife with the concerns and ideas of land management agencies and interested public to determine how a big game herd in a Data Analysis Unit (DAU) should be managed.
Big game populations are managed to achieve population and sex ratio objectives established for Data Analysis Units. A DAU is the geographic area that represents the year-around range of a big game herd and includes all of the seasonal ranges of a specific herd. Each DAU usually is composed of several Game Management Units (GMUs), but in some cases only one GMU makes up a DAU.
Draft Herd Management Plans
There are currently no draft plans open for public comment. When comment periods are available, they are open for 30 days.
About the Draft Plan Process
Traditionally, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff have presented one herd management plan at a time for approval to the Parks and Wildlife Commission. In order to address the large numbers of HMPS that need to be updated, staff have taken a new approach to develop a regional roll-up of all HMPs in a CPW region for a single big game species to update or establish new population and sex ration objectives. The regional plans also describe the significant management issue for herds within each Region, what public input was used to develop proposed objectives, and the individual HMPs for each herd.
Finalized Herd Management Plans
- Northwest Deer
- Includes HMPs for D01, D02, D03, D06, D07, D08, D09, D11, D12, D13, D14, D18, D41, D42, D43, and D53.
- Southwest Deer
- Includes HMPs for D19, D20, D23, D24, D26, D29, D30, D35, D36, D40, D51, D52, D56 (replacing D31 and D37), and D57 (replacing D21, D22, and D25).
- D4 - Red Feather/Poudre Canyon
- D5 - North Tablelands
- D10 - Big Thompson
- D15 - Cottonwood Creek
- D16 - Cripple Creek
- D17 - Bailey
- D27 - Boulder Creek
- D28 - Arkansas River
- D32 - Trinidad
- D33 - Mesa de Maya
- D34 - Wet Mountain
- D38 - South Park
- D44 - South Platte River
- D49 - Bijou Creek
- D50 - Rampart
- D54 - South Tablelands
- D55 - Arikaree
About Preparing an HMP
In preparing an HMP, agency personnel attempt to balance the biological capabilities of the herd and its habitat with the public's demand for wildlife recreational opportunities.
The primary decisions needed for each HMP plan are how many animals should exist in the DAU and what is the desired sex ratio for the population of big game animals (e.g., the number of males per 100 females).
The selection of population and sex ratio objectives (which are set for a 10-year period of time) drive important decisions in the big game season setting process, namely:
- How many animals must be harvested to maintain or move toward the objectives
- What types of hunting seasons are required to achieve the harvest objective
Colorado West Slope Mule Deer Strategy
Studying and Managing Mule Deer
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has a long history of studying and managing mule deer, dating back to the agency’s origins. In recent decades, CPW has invested millions of dollars annually to manage, monitor and study mule deer, with many of these efforts focused in western Colorado. To capture this history and set the stage for moving forward, CPW produced a three-page publication titled Colorado's Mule Deer Story.
Together with the public and stakeholders, CPW will work to stabilize, sustain and increase mule deer populations in Colorado and, in turn, increase hunting and wildlife-related recreational opportunities.
CPW’s Mule Deer Studies
CPW is conducting several ongoing studies to determine the role that predation, energy development, recreation, and development play in mule deer survival. Studies are made available upon publication, which follows extensive peer review.
West Slope Mule Deer Strategy
In recent years, mule deer populations in Colorado have decreased in several areas on the West Slope. The agency hosted a series of public meetings in 2014, designed to gather input from sportspeople and others interested in conserving the species.
The outreach culminated in the development of the West Slope Mule Deer Strategy, a plan consisting of seven components specifically aimed at addressing the decreasing numbers.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission initially allocated up to $5 million through 2024 to support the Strategy. These funds are used for continuing efforts to monitor mule deer, conduct research, and improve habitat.
Big Game Hunting
5-Year Season Structure
Every five years, the Parks and Wildlife Commission adopts a Big Game Season Structure (BGSS) to provide an overall framework for hunting.
The five year time frame which is designed to provide sportspersons, hunting-related businesses, landowners, and communities an opportunity to plan ahead for the upcoming seasons by considering what, when and where types of big game hunting is available, and how the timing of hunting opportunities is divided among hunters.