Mule Deer Harvest Sank 17% to 26% Across Utah, Colorado and Wyoming Following Winter 2022-23

IWinter aftermath

The following season brought a 17% to 26% harvest drop

Tag numbers declined alongside harvest. Utah reduced general-season permits by about 11% while Colorado lowered its female deer quota by about 24.5%. Among Wyoming's 35 annually reporting herds, active licenses dropped from 38,089 to 31,027. When applying following a hard winter, start by checking permit counts and quotas for each state.

The harvest totals come from the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) range-wide status reports, 2024 edition (archived copy). Because each report lists harvest from the previous season, the figures for 2025 appear in the report for 2026. Utah figures spanning 2019 to 2024 are drawn from the state's 2024 annual big-game report.

Our calculations put the harvest gains between 2023 and 2025 at about 36% for Utah, about 23% for Wyoming and about 5% for Colorado. Utah recorded 27,756 in 2025, exceeding the 27,536 recorded for 2022. Wyoming recorded 16,688 in 2025, remaining below the 17,785 recorded for 2022. Colorado slipped again to 28,520 in 2024, then climbed to 33,205 in 2025.

IIAgency explanations

The agencies in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming point to winter 2022-23

In the status report for 2023, Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) said Utah "broke all recorded measurements for snow water equivalent and observed unprecedented snowpack levels across the state". That report describes Northern Utah with "survival estimates were at 70% for adult does and 30% for fawns" and warmer Southern Utah with "adult doe survival was tracking at 90% with fawn survival at 80%". DWR also identifies drought in the report for 2026 and states "Extreme drought followed by severe winter conditions during the winter of 2022/2023 resulted in a statewide decrease".

In the report for 2026 the Wyoming Game and Fish Department states "Mule deer populations across Wyoming have shown signs of recovery over the past three years" while cautioning that "they remain below long-term averages". The department also wrote "This trend appears to be largely influenced by density-dependent factors and the significant winter-kill event of 2022/23". By putting winter kill alongside density-dependent factors, the department's account does not assign the change solely to winter. Wyoming's harvest had already declined every year between 2019 and 2022, moving from 24,178 to 17,785 before the winter.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) stated in the report for 2023 that "This decline will continue for 2023 because the winter of 2022-2023 was above average in severity on the entire Western Slope and was extremely severe in the northwestern portion of the state". CPW describes winter conditions as most severe in the northwest, while this article's harvest table covers the whole state. The report for 2026 states "Mule deer are recovering from the winter of 2022-2023".

IIIPermit changes

Female tags dropped about 24.5% in Colorado and Utah reduced general-season permits 11%

DWR reports that Utah's Wildlife Board approved 2023 general-season deer permits at 64,725, an 11% cut. DWR described the reduction as "largely in response to public concern about winter mortality". Biologists had proposed raising permit numbers in some units according to the same account. The Board "chose not to increase permits" and sometimes "further reduced permits for the 2023 season". DWR's explanation therefore includes public concern and the Board's choice alongside winter conditions.

The 2026 summary of CPW license recommendations lists an established-hunt female quota of 21,905 for 2022 and 16,531 for 2023. Our calculation makes that a reduction of about 24.5%. Cuts were about 7.3% for the male quota and about 12.3% for the total limited license quota.

For Wyoming, the mule deer job completion reports provide license counts covering 35 herds. Those herds had 38,089 active licenses in 2022 compared with 31,027 in 2023. By our calculation that is a drop of about 18.5%. Wyoming Game and Fish stated in the report for 2023 that "Harvest has been largely limited to bucks the past several years in response to declining deer numbers".

Utah raised permits again to 71,525 for 2024 and 80,200 for 2025. Within Wyoming's 35 herds the active license count climbed to 34,322 before reaching 35,922. In 2025 Colorado's male quota was 61,643, near the 62,127 set for 2022. Its female quota continued downward to 15,378.

IVHunter measures

The harvest per license stayed level in Wyoming as Utah saw harvest per hunter decline

In those 35 annually reporting Wyoming herds, harvest declined along with licenses. With licenses decreasing, harvest within those herds dropped from 15,026 for 2022 to 12,197 for 2023. The harvest per active license values were 0.398 for 2021, 0.394 for 2022, 0.393 for 2023, 0.396 for 2024 and 0.414 for 2025.

These data offer no closer substitute for a success rate than harvest per active license, although that ratio is not a measured success rate. Every seasonal value for 2021 to 2025 fell between 0.393 and 0.414.

Utah had 67,653 hunters afield for 2022 but 59,717 for 2023. Over that interval harvest per hunter dropped from 0.407 to 0.341.

By 2024 harvest per hunter had partly rebounded to 0.366. The table's peak rate belongs to 2022, while 2023 remained above the 2019 value of 0.328 and the 2020 value of 0.33.

VReading the limits

Harvest figures cannot separate winter deaths from tag reductions

Colorado's harvest totals include white-tailed deer, which account for about 5 percent in CPW's estimates. Both species fall under its license quotas. Only 35 herd units contribute to Wyoming's license totals and harvest per license figures. Those figures do not cover the whole state. Utah pools its regions into a statewide harvest total despite DWR's reports of very different winter survival between regions.

Harvest is the reported or estimated number of deer killed by hunters. It does not count the herd or show the herd's sex ratio. Agency accounts identify the winter, and Utah also identifies drought. Tags were reduced in 2023 too. With winter losses and tag reductions occurring in the same year, harvest totals by themselves cannot separate their effects. The agency statements we retrieved offer no explanation for Colorado's 2024 decline.

We calculated the percent changes along with the ratios of harvest per license and harvest per hunter.

VIOur read

Prepare for the possibility of fewer tags after a hard winter and review what each agency did

In our reading, the record shows the 2022-23 winter in both the decline in deer taken and the lower numbers of permits and licenses for the following fall. Before applying following the next hard winter, we'd look at the permit counts.

The rule we use is to review an agency's tag decisions before ruling out that state. From 2021 through 2024, Wyoming recorded harvest per active license between 0.393 and 0.398 even as license numbers declined and then regained some ground. Utah's season in 2023 had fewer tags along with reduced harvest per hunter.

Colorado bears watching because it had another harvest decline in 2024, and its female quota has yet to recover through 2025. In the report for 2026 CPW describes mule deer as recovering. For a more detailed look at Wyoming hunt areas, read Wyoming mule deer areas that keep leading.