UNBELIEVABLE wildlife MIGRATION! - Story of Wyoming’s Mule Deer
Migration is key to the survival of mule deer and other wildlife. Understanding migration paths is a key to conserving mule deer and other wildlife for generations to come. As our landscapes become more developed conservation of migration corridors is becoming more important. This is the story of Wyoming's mule deer. Ongoing migration research is setting the standard for mule deer conservation across the West.
The ORIGINAL Wyoming Living Legends, watch now: • UNBELIEVABLE MULE DEER...
This buck SHEDS BOTH ANTLERS at once! • Buck Drops Both Antler...
Mike Eastman frees a pair of LOCKED-UP bucks: • Big Bucks with CHEATER...
A public land mule deer hunt during the late season: • Hunting the Winter Ran...
Watch all of our winter range deer videos here: • Winter Range Mule Deer
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I fully supported the Wyoming Mule Deer Migration Initiative and think it's invaluable scientific work. It's a huge piece of the mule deer puzzle. I would like to question why nobody talks about the summer range pressure. This is where the deer get nearly all of their high quality food to help survive the migration and the brutal winters. The advertising of these unique areas of Wyoming by Eastman's and numerous others have increased the scouting and hunt pressure exponentially . Regions G & H are very well known. These regions are heavily scouted all summer by a huge amount of people. The pressure on these high country deer has to been experienced in person. I live in Wyoming and have been part of the problem. Archery hunters have increased in numbers that I could never have imagined. Rifle season is like a war zone. Opening day shots ring out and the deer go into the timber to survive. These timbered up deer are not eating. For nearly two months these deer are hiding from the pressure. The advances in long range shooting, archery, optics, maps and hunt statistics algorithms are changing the hunting game everywhere. Regions G & H are experiencing pressure in these high country basins which the deer instinctual return to every summer. Look at what's showing up on the winter ranges near Pinedale and LaBarge. The trophy class buck numbers are way down and have been steadily declining. In my opinion, they are getting killed by some of the best hunters in the west. When's the last time a big buck made news on the winter range? Wyoming Game & Fish is so dependent on hunting revenue it will never change and hunt quality will continue to decline. 27 bucks collared only 3 taken by hunters is great data but the trophy deer are not on the winter range. Do they ever tell you the bad data?
Fantastic documentary! Back in 1980’s the mule deer foundation held their first national convention in Salt Lake City. I had saved up for years to purchase a Dall Sheep hunt with Arctic Red River Outfiters. Do to a sports injury I was sidelined with a full reconstructive knee surgery. I told my friends that I may have missed my lifetime sheep hunt but I was not missing the convention. My buddies wheel me through the show for about thirty minutes and the abandon me in a wheel chair at the side of a booth that had a couple of seasoned mule deer hunters talking about the good old day of monster mule deer. The gentlemen talking were Ted Riggs and Gordon Eastman. I sat there for hours listening and asking questions of these two men. Each time my buddies showed up to push me around, I said I was good. After about two hours another gentleman showed up by the name of Tom Jennings and at this time I was in second heaven as I shot competitive Archery and I had read much about Tom Jenning
In ending this story, I can tell you that I had the time of my life recounting the adventures these legends where reliving. Your grandfather Gordon reached out and give me a sheep call that he had just developed and consoled me on my missed sheep hunt. I will forever be thankful for those few hours and the impression they had on me. Thanks for the memories!
Awesome research and compilation of unforgettable deer! I have all of those old clips on VHS and really enjoyed revisitng the memories!
Did you ever run across a VHS called cow talk with Don Lunbach. He came up with the idea of bungling in big bulls
Excellent video! Thank you Eastman's and anyone that cares enough to recognize we still have time to save this exceptional species, but we are at a tipping point. The mule deer herds here in Southwestern Montana are in a dire situation and have been for going on two decades. Vehicle/animal collision is by far the leading cause of mule deer deaths through the Pintlar Corridor. It is a sad sad state of affairs.
Never had a bad conversation with Gary. It was good to finally put a face to the name! Good stuff
Top notch. I expect nothing else from the Eastmans. Thank you for the great video.
Thoroughly enjoyed watching this report guys. I work in conservation in West Africa and our issues are different and in some ways the very same. I love to see stories of people coming together from different backgrounds, ethnic groups and political persuasions and begin to realise how important our wildlife and wild areas are to our communities and to our children's children. It is refreshing to see government doing good and looking at the whole picture. I am particularly impressed and encouraged to see the efforts made in making safe crossings for wildlife on major highways. It is such an easy solution and one that came make a huge difference. I just drove from Oregon to Denver and back and I was encouraged to see wildlife fencing and corridor funnels incorporated into the interstate highway systems. Hats off for a great discussion and good perspectives.
Nice show good job Eastmans
Glad you enjoyed it
This is the best KZhead video you've done! I love seeing all that the Eastman family is doing for these deer in Wyoming! So much information being collected to benefit these deer. Every year I take my young boys and wife out to La Barge and Big Piney in mid to late November to look at these big bucks that out smart hunters year after year! Thanks again to the Eastman family and all those involved in learning how to help these deer!
Thanks for the kind words! We just hope we can move the needle even just a tick to better mule deer conservation for the future.
Glad the Eastman's have turned a bright light on the issue of deer migration corridors and fragmentation. Interesting to hear Fralick say ultimately does are the ones who determine how big the bucks get. Great video and a worthy project that will benefit more than deer. Thanks for this, keep it up.
Thank you for watching the film Oscar. Yes, Gary and the research team are very convinced of the fact that does are the primary factor in both good herd quantity and buck quality. One single doe killed on the highway or during an antlerless season could be equivalent to 3-5 bucks killed by hunters.
Keep all the good stuff your bringing us. Like seeing your dad on stuff. Always loved your grandfather's stuff when I was a kid.
Thanks for the Eastman family's passion and dedication to the wild life we all love, thanks again for supporting the researchers and everyone involved, the future result is for our kids to carry on the outdoor life tradition!!!
Much appreciated, thank you for the kind words!
Thank you sir.
Thank you
@@EastmansHuntingJournals your welcome, takes a lot of sacrifice and grit to raise a family and build a business!!! Good hunting, come see us in Florida!
Seeing all the classic footage plus all of the new brings a lot of memories! Let’s hope the research will help make memories for all of out kids in the future!
That was great, I really enjoyed that. Mule deer management is something near and dear to me. I hunt and help with mule deer conservation here in WA. I find them extremely interesting on many levels. They're an amazing animal.
I learned a hold lot about our 🦌 deer migration. We are grateful for the Dept. Of Interior. My passion was Wildlife Management with door open to me, starting in the Fisheries North Sacramento Region. A lot work has been done there in the migrating of C. Salmon and Steelhead Trout northern coast of Calif. And the Sacramento River. In our world today we are thankful for States Biologists across this Northern Continent. Min. T.L.W.
Incredible video documenting great wildlife management! Man I love Wyoming! This video gives me hope that there are still good people doing good things. Thank you Eastmans and thank you Wyoming for what you're doing
This is fantastic work fellas. Great video.
Well done guys. Thank you for being so informative and passionate about the wildlife in Wyo. Keep it up.
Great video, and very educational! Thank you Gary, and Dr. Kevin for your work in the backcountry.
Incredible presentation and work! Thank you!
That was just an AWESOME and incredibly educational video!!! Thank you!!
As it turns out, my uncle and his son (my cousin) and I hunted VERY near to Popeye's summer range a few times between '96 and '05 - just a mile or 2 away. The big ones were elusive and nocturnal, but we were able to tag a few fairly decent bucks. The good ole days for sure! I hope to be up there for a final hunt next year, 2022. 11 deer points, 13 elk points, 8 antelope points. The preference points say "yes" but the oncologists are not as optimistic. 20 years ago or so I stopped at the Eastman booth at the Utah Sportsman's Show in the South Towne Expo Center, now the Mountain America Expo Center (Sandy UT). Mike was giving away some kind of spiff - a video, I think. I asked him what it would take to get one. He said I would need to signup for the Eastman's Journal magazine. I let him know that I had just signed up for a 2 year subscription the prior week. Expecting that he would honor my recent subscription, he basically he told me no and ignored me after that. As much as I enjoyed the Journal for the next 2 years, I decided not re-up my subscription. I really could have cared less about the video or whatever the promo was.
Absolutely amazing, thank you so much for making this so that anyone can get this information and learn of the importance of the ecosystems of the animals. I so wish that we could have dinner this in the west 30-40 yrs ago. But we didn't and probably didn't have the means, butt we do now and it's amazing the knowledge that we are learning and taking action to correct. Thank you again for all us hunters and conservationists!! I have seen first hand what development has done to my mule deer and elk hunting grounds. And it's horrible what the impact has had.
Awesome video, very informative. I love learning the science behind the animals.
Fascinating. Spent time in Idaho watching mule deer in the Sawtooth National Wilderness area and was amazed by their presence. Was never interested in hunting them.
what a inspiring story THANK YOU Eastmans
That there is mule deer heaven, I've hunted in Colorado twice and heard after all that hard hunting that Wyoming is where it's really good hunting, and I believe it!
Fabulous piece, we all owe the Eastman's a debt of gratitude for keeping these special deer relevant, they are a class bunch of people...
We appreciate your feedback and thanks for you watching! Please share this film with anyone you think would enjoy it. Half the battle is spreading the word and educating hunters.
Nobody brings up chronic waist disease. Fish and game have been studying it for 40 years and still don't have a clue
Wow that was good work guys. Thanks for hard work
Much appreciated Zac, thank you for watching!
You guys are the best I’ll definitely will be trying to put my part in all of this. years after years I’ve seen how bad mule deer population has gotten in utah and it’s time I make a change and start trying to help along with the others that want mule deer to last many more year !!
Thanks this was a great video.
In British Columbia Canada we have a very big problem with deer getting hit on our highways. I've suggested to several people that we need to petition the government to fence off some of these travel corridors and build underpasses or overpasses so that there are less deer and vehicle incidents. But I can't get anybody to listen too me, nobody including any of the hunters I know want to spend the money it will take. Instead they'd rather complain about the lack of deer they're seeing and that nobody is doing anything about it.
Wow! Keep up the Great work Guys. Best Wishes! M.H.
Utah could learn a few things here...keep up the good work fellas..
You can add Commiefornia to that list
It sounds like the work in Wyoming is spurring to work in other states, all is not lost!
Wyoming is the tip of the spear on this work. More states will be following our lead in the coming years. California is actually very high on the list of migration priority.
@@GuyEastman Thanks for the reply. I've seen our deer herds dwindle to a fraction of what they were when I started hunting nearly thirty years ago. I'm happy to see that it's the sportsman once again rising to meet the challenge.
Montana needs to follow as well.
I have to add in 2018 my property burnt up in the Spring fire. Now it is the best deer and elk habitat around. Everything growing is soft and green. As I am able to clear my road of fallen burnt timber the deer and elk use it as their roadway because the down timber, lodge pole, has made large areas nearly impassable for the wildlife.
Great documentary big thanks!
Incredible video! So informative. I'm writing this in July of 2023 after the bad winter that has killed at least 80% of the mule deer population. I didn't really know the extent of the damage until I saw it myself. I never knew the quality of this resource. I would love to see a follow up of this video after the great winter kill of 2023. On another note. Those are gas well heads, not oil and there isn't any fencing to impede wildlife around them. The only fencing is of grazing and land boundries.
Well put together! Kudos to all these guys' dedication to this important issue. Can we get some of these guys to move to idaho and change perspective and the future of idaho mule deer!!
There was also a great migration between California and Oregon I got to be in the middle of it when I was young 69 now so 60 years ago approximately!
Awesome video. I've met a few people involved with this at the Western Hunting Expo. Really good people doing really good work there in Wyoming. I've also tried to get involved with groups in Utah, including the Mule Deer Foundation with not very successful results compared to Wyoming. In theory the banquets are good; however, they're very expensive and cost prohibitive. There's lots of people I've seen who'd love to get involved but can't afford 2 tickets to go to a banquet, let alone participate in the auctions & other fund raisers there. From what I've seen, there are a lot of people wanting and willing to get involved with time and energy but may be more limited on financial resources, but there's not really much place for them to help out because the focus is if you don't have lots of $$$, these people get ignored. Just an observation. In my opinion, while there's a lot being done, there could be a lot more if people who have less $ could help with time, labor, etc. Wyoming is doing a stellar job and this is a good example of it even if this video has a lot of the Eastman's financial & historical influence. You don't have to be an Eastman to get involved in Wyoming that I've seen. 👍
Absolutely great points. Hopefully our various departments of fish and game will help more people who want to be able to be involved with the wildlife and habitat management. Volunteer organizations should be able to assist with various services and activities. Especially if there’s any way to connect with the next generation of sportsmen and sportswomen that will be vital to the wellbeing of our natural resources. The only thing that to many young people seem to be interested in are the video games and the virtual reality lifestyle. Any chance we have to involve our young people in the natural world is valuable beyond any dollars saved. They are the whole future for management and conservation areas. If they have no stake in the resources and no knowledge of how much of the natural world is connected, they will never be able to make a responsible decision for future generations. Really we don’t want to go backwards to the time when our decisions were made by politicians who maybe were being motivated by their backers more so than wildlife biologists. Some of us are older and we remember some of the disastrous things that resulted from the political decisions. We have come a long way for wildlife and conservation, but it is still only one short generation away from being right back where we were 40-50 years ago.
love Eastman j, still watch the old VHS tapes.
Most people don't understand that it's the hunters and fishermen who are most interested in the overall welfare of our wildlife.
They also don't realize we're the ones funding it too via license/gun sales and being part of conservation groups like the Mule Deer Foundation.
Everyone should see a 30” mule deer buck!
Love ya vids!
Really enjoyed the video
Great video.....Thank you
You've been there for a while. Gotta ask. How many Sasquatches have you seen? Or maybe heard? Beautiful land
Well done, very educational.
Thanks for your feedback 👍
THANK YOU !!!! THANK YOU !!!!! THANK YOU !!!!!!!
Very cool video. It’s just neat to see this stuff. I was lucky enough to take a B&C typical Wyoming high country muley at the age of 15.
That's awesome! What a memory to take a deer like that. Congrats and thanks for watching. Let's keep fighting the good fight to conserve our mule deer.
This is really cool! I moved to this area this past Spring, been chasing Elk out here for a few years now, and have some friends already in the area. One of the big draws for me besides the gorgeous country and isolation was the hunting and fishing opportunities out here. I live about 5 miles out from that airport (can see it from the upstairs windows), and we already have mule deer moving into our area for the winter - not a lot yet, but the neighbors say about 40-60 move into just our small section, along with a moose and her calves if she has any. Really neat to learn more about their migration patterns aside from just seeing them in the high country in late summer/fall. Thanks for this!!!
great video!
Glad you enjoyed it. We definitely had fun putting this together.
Amazing
Nice work Wyoming game and fish in saveing the deer. Now i hope UTAH follows closely what it takes to manage the mule deer properly so they will be here for my granboys to enjoy and hopefully there's as well and thanks
My grandpa took Mark on a summer pack trip
I live in Nebraska and where I hunt their use to be a bunch a mule deer but they were killed and haven’t been their in 30 years until this year
That was great a video
Hunting pressure through Dec. 31st..? Wow- I've seen a LOT of giant deer in Wyoming between Christmas and New Year's. I can't imagine having a tag for them. Shootin fish in a barrel really.
I truly believe that here in NW Montana, that our Moose and Mule Deer Population drop is directly related to the decline of logging and other Natural Resource Management. Wildlife Management's basic premise is that no food, no young, and all the basic forage for these species are virtually non-existent. I base this on 6 decades of observation of two of my favorite species. The Whitetail Deer remains stable, but disease and declining food are starting to show. 2020 is a prime time to document all species basic health and population dynamics, cause all are in decline, (even human)....and all are related to habitat ...Aldo was right!!!!"Wildlife are the Barometer of Human Existence" ........................................................................................
Utah DWR take note!
Yah. Wyoming manages for the best interest of the animals. Utah manages deer/wildlife as financial and political commodities and then they contract with a Nevada company to manage the rest of what's left. Utah has shown some improvement in fishing access in some places, but that's about it.
this is what we need to do in BC Canada
Saw popeye first hand years ago, what a monster he was!!!
Nice wonder if it is still going on
This last hunting season my dad took me where he seen Popeye for the first time ever a long time ago then where he had escaped him and his hunters and where he stayed all the time during hunting season. My sad was a guide for a really long time and even knew where Morty and Goliath stayed. He even showed me that area too. Also pointed out where Goliath got shot. Told me the only reason why the guy shot him was because he was able to sneak up on him while he was sleeping and showed me exactly where he was bedded when he got shot. Sadly my dad quit being a guide because he needed to be a father to me and my siblings and because the hunters he started getting were always fighting with him and so he didn't beat someone to a pulp he stopped.
The country those deer lived in is pretty special isn't it? Thanks for sharing your story with us. We always enjoy hearing tales about Wyoming's Living Legends.
@@EastmansHuntingJournals yes it is. My dad could tell you alot of stories about those deer, but isn't very open to sharing them.
Man, I hope I get a shot at one those titans this Fall. Hunting southeastern Wyoming, you'd think it was a Western honey hole with Colorado to the south and the Nebraska Sand Hills to the east. Don't seem to be as many deer today as there were when I first started hunting Wyoming back in the early 90s. Plus, the nonresident tags are harder to draw, given the preference point systems.
You never know! Definitely won't happen if you don't get in the hills at all. Good luck to you in all future draws 👍 thanks for watching
@@EastmansHuntingJournals You're welcome, friend!
Great video but there are a lot of things I have my own opinion on. Saskatchewan Canada has the best mule deer population and they love the flat lands here.
Great to learn but you don’t need to announce to the whole world the valleys or exact area to public to hammer an area now for hunting that people worked hard to find
I honestly believe that the decline of mule deer is mostly due to advances in technology. Mule Deer are the "most loyal" ungulates, I agree. This makes them very predictable, and easily hunted. They are hunted for 3-4 months around the west by the most lethal predator to ever walk the Earth. Optics that allow us to spot these critters from miles away. Phones and GPS systems that allow us to mark them on a map. Rifles with scopes that shoot out to 1000+ yards. Muzzleloaders that now reach 400+ yards. Compound bows with the most advance sighting systems allow for the most accurate, and longest archery kills ever. More horses, ORVs and time off of work for us to hunt them. Then they have to avoid other predators, harsh winters, vehicles, and human encroachment. The more people want to experience hunting, the worse its going to get. :-( :-(
Harvest statistics are well know. If anything, that technology is allowing people to take older more mature, male animals which would have no negative effect on populations
@@paularman8141 Id like to see the data showing average deer age at harvest has gone up, I highly doubt that. But do you have an idea of why WY deer populations are down 60%.? I'd love more thoughts my friend. I wish we could see all the numbers, from all sources of deer loss. I'm only 39, and its not like it was even 20 years ago... 😥😥😥
@@Jay-ku3ur I do agree with the idea that age of harvested animals has gone up, however it’s only in a small group of hunters. I wish they would manage my area better here in western CO. We have, in my opinion, way too many young bucks taken. We have good genetics but they just don’t get a chance
You fly a 182 RG?
Worthy
Why'd you switch to mystery ranch? Made in Pakistan and Vietnam.
We have to make sure these routes are not molested to the point that deer forget how to go south. Amazing footage! What a shame that they've destroyed the back country with all these roads and oil well pads. It's almost impossible to put things back the way they were. That's fantastic that Popeye lived out his entire life in the field.
I got a mule deer that chills outside my window sometimes I feed him carrots and apples
Being an Australian I've never heard of mule dear .why the name an what's the difference.
Southern Colorado on the front range has a mule deer problem. They have moved into the towns and cities because they are much safer there. People grow everything they need to eat. If I try to grow scrubs they have to be in a deer proof enclosure. They pass through my yard in waves 15 to 30 deer at a time. They are like cloven hooved rats yet I have to apply for a license to harvest one. The state claims these animals belong to all the citizens yet the deer that were born and grew up on my property have never set foot on public land. When buying hay for my livestock I have to place a deer proof fence around it and move it each day to get to the hay. I'm really tired of them and the bears. Luckily our lion population is doing well and helping with the problem but they are timid and don't usually come to town. If they do they hunt more dogs than deer.
I believe it was 92 in Oregon that the winter slaughtered the desert mule deer. Canyons where you could find 50 deer and then after that winter you were lucky if you could find 1 deer. Almost 30 years later the deer numbers have never come back to what they were. As for wyoming I lived between kemmer and cokeville So I'm gonna say winter of like 82/83 must of been bad because in the fall of 83 I remember going with dad hunting and we got up into the junipers. I believe dad shot a 3 point but what I remember most is the piles of deer carcasses. Hundreds in just a small area. No idea if they got blocked in or what but lots of skeletol remains. Poaching is the biggest problem I think though. Can only imagine how many illegal kills are in the record books. In wyoming as a kid like 80 to 84 we would snowmobile. We non stop find deer with their heads cut off. Super common issue and way irritating. Its a problem everywhere though. This last winter not far from where I live in idaho people found a few deer missing their heads that had been seen on the hoof and they were nice bucks. Poaching and brutal winters. But what I want to know is what is the role of fish & game. In idaho elk are fed alot. Fish and game says they feed deer as well but where is it done and what is used. Im told hay is no good for them thats been cut. Again they claim to feed them but In winter of 2018 deer starved and got wiped out in Western Idaho around weiser id. And in Eastern Oregon same winter the antelope got decimated and deer... I just feel like none of these animals should starve
The winter of 92 was a really rough one for a lot of mule deer populations!
You are 100% correct Kelly. The winter of 92-93 was the fourth worst winter we've experienced over the past 30-years. The winter of 2016-2017 even eclipsed 1993. We hope for a mild winter this year. So far so good down there this month.
Thoughts on shooting mule deer does?
Are there wolves that follow the migration? if so what kind of toll does it have on the population of deer?
This is a great question. This area is outside of the wolf management area. They are controlled by hunters, so this is not as big of an issue as the human impact.
It’s all about water during fall. When they have drought. If anyone isn’t doing anything about that then you might as well do nothing
Utah's deer herds are in trouble way over hunting tons being hit by cars lots of poaching and they don't seem to care just the money it's getting bad!
I'm a huge shutterbug and observe and take pictures of humans to animals📷
#deer
Over 10 minutes in and I'm beginning to wonder if this was supposed to be about animals or humans needing an ego boost
just keep the outftters and wind towers away.
I hope Wyoming doesn’t go through with raising prices it will kill the sport
You cant hear a nature show without the holy word "diverse"...10 seconds in...in this case. Its about harmony...not diversity.
B
Lot of basic common sense verbiage, Africa taught us this 75 years ago! WE ARE SO FAR BEHIND THE CURVE, SIMPLE IS AS SIMPLE DOES . RICH AND FAMOUS, 4OOO. TO 8,000 FOR A HUNT. YEE HAA
I know lets sell their migration routes to the rich for trophy homes.
Ooh, look, the big brave man kills an innocent living breathing sentient creature with his big brave gun. The big brave man makes a video of the killing to post on KZhead for millions of KZheadrs worldwide to view and vicariously experience killing an innocent living breathing sentient creature. The big brave man's family and friends will want to hear all about the hunting down and killing the innocent living breathing sentient creature. Ooh, look, the big brave man keeps a scrapbook chock full of all the innocent living breathing sentient creatures that he has killed. Golly, what a big brave man he is!
I not going to believe crap Mike says
Mike Is full of crap my grandpa owned the hunting camp with Popeye
Hunt for sheds, not deer.