Routes of Mule Deer in the Ruby Mountains, Nevada

The Area 10 mule deer population is one of the largest deer herds in the state, accounting for roughly 20 percent of the statewide mule deer population. The Area 10 herd is comprised of several sub populations that occupy the majority of the Ruby Mountains, are highly migratory,and exhibit long distance migrations from summer to winter ranges. Several key stopovers occur within the migration corridor for the Area 10 deer migration. The largest stopovers are located along the Harrison Pass Road on both sides of Toyn Creek,the west side of Pearl Peak and Sherman Mountain, Little and Big Bald Mountains near the Bald Mountain Mine complex, and Bourne to Orchard Canyons west of Warm Spring Ranch. The winter range encompasses a very large area and is distributed along the lower elevations of the Ruby Mountains from Interstate 80 to US Highway 50, a span of approximately 120 miles. Some extended migrations have occurred even farther to the south near Highway 6 in extreme winter years. Several migratory pathways in Area 10 face challenges to permeability including livestock fences, impediments to the migration path from mineral extraction, competition from wild horses, and increasing highway traffic in some portions of the range. These data provide migration routes for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Ruby Mountains, Elko County, Nevada. They were created using 333 migratoin sequences collected from a sample size of 155 individuals comprising GPS locations collected every 1-25 hours.