City completes deer count

The deer population within Green River appears to be stable according to a recent survey of deer.

Police chief Tom Jarvie said several officers and volunteers conducted a visual count last Thursday morning throughout the eight sections of the city.

While the deer count this year was lower than the last couple of years, there were some notable changes in where the deer were located.

There were significantly fewer deer found in the Hutton Heights area than previous years and significantly more in the area that included Pioneer Park, with volunteers county 20 deer within the mobile home park.

Jarvie said only four deer were counted north of the railroad tracks.

“We know more deer are commonly in this area so some must have been bedded down in land away from the populated areas,” Jarvie said.

The city tries to be consistent in the timing of the year, and time of day for the counts, but weather and the deer themselves can be variables.

Jarvie said vehicle crashes resulting from deer remain fairly low with only six such crashes reported to the GRPD during 2021.

He said a review of other calls involving deer revealed three incidents of injured or dead deer and two cases of people warned against feeding deer.

Jarvie said there was one unique report on Jan. 2, 2022, where a coyote was witnessed attacking a deer along the Bitter Creek, where it meets the Green River.

The officer responded to the area and located the injured deer which was euthanized at the direction of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Other reports showed the streets department has taken a total of 37 deceased deer to the landfill during 2021.

This number had not been tracked in previous years as carcasses had been placed in trash containers. Wyoming Waste Services prohibits dumping carcasses in containers, giving the city more data regarding how many deer are dying annually.

Jarvie said the cause of death in those instances is not determined, so it is unknown how much is a result of an unreported vehicle collision, illness or natural aging.

The counts have been done each year with the help of volunteers, the local WGFD employees, and the GRPD. Counts have been monitored to help determine if there is a need for a culling program similar to other communities. Jarvie said the total deer numbers remain far below that of municipalities with culling programs but they will continue to monitor, count, and report.