Mule deer are still the vanishing icon of the West, and if you care about public land hunting, this conversation explains exactly why. Greg Sheehan, CEO of the Mule Deer Foundation, lays out the hard truth behind the decline, what changed after the mule deer heyday, and what hunters and conservation groups are doing right now to turn it around.
Greg brings a rare perspective to the problem. He’s spent decades on both sides of wildlife management, from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, and now he’s focused on one species and one mission - restoring mule deer and their habitat.
We break down the forces reshaping mule deer numbers across the West, including habitat loss, winter severity, drought, wildfire, migration barriers, invasive grasses, disease, and competition from other deer species. Greg also explains why modern mule deer management is so different from the 1960s boom years, why the old “good old days” are gone, and why today’s hunters are seeing fewer mature bucks on the landscape.
You’ll discover:
- Why mule deer populations surged in the early 1900s and peaked mid-century
- How severe winters in the early 1990s reshaped deer herds across the West
- The “menacing seven” threats hurting mule deer today
- Why fence removal, sagebrush planting, guzzlers, and habitat work matter so much
- How access on National Wildlife Refuges expanded and why that was a major win for hunters
We also get into the bigger conservation picture - how state agencies, federal land managers, and groups like the Mule Deer Foundation fund real on-the-ground projects, why membership matters, and what it takes to keep mule deer from becoming a rare opportunity instead of a mainstream hunt.Essential listening if you hunt mule deer, care about western habitat, or want to understand what’s really happening behind the numbers.
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