A total of 181 wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) were recorded in the 2017-2018 Teton County Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Report. The annual report, compiled by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, includes incidents recorded between May 2017 and April 2018. This total represents a 50% decline in WVCs between the same months of 2016-2017. The decrease was largely driven by a decline in mule deer casualties, which dropped from 265 in 2016-2017 to 105 in 2017-2018. Both elk (49) and moose (20) casualties saw slight increases.
This continues a trend of sharp peaks and valleys corresponding largely with winter severity. The relatively mild winter in 2017-2018, combined with the effects of a severe winter in 2016-2017, partly explains the sharp decrease in WVCs from May 2017 through April 2018. Winter 2016-2017’s high mule deer mortality rate also likely led to localized population declines, which could have contributed to the WVC decline.
While the report confirms the number of WVCs decreased on the majority of roads in Teton County, 2017-2018 was a bad year for moose causalities along Wyoming Highway 22, which saw 14 confirmed moose collisions – an increase from 8 in 2016-2017, and 5 in 2015-2016. Two moose WVCs were recorded on Wyoming Highway 390 in the 2017-2018 reporting year.
The Teton County Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Report combines annual WVC data from the Wyoming Department of Transportation, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and Nature Mapping Jackson Hole (a program of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation). WVCs occurring in Grand Teton National Park are excluded from this report, as the park maintains its own database.
The 2017-2018 report was delayed to ensure data integrity as public agency databases were combined. The 2018-2019 report (May 2018-April 2019) will be available later this summer. This database is likely a significant underestimate of WVC occurrences in Teton County, as many collisions go unreported or animals are hit and die out of sight from roads.
Visit jhwildlife.org to read the full report.
- Improvements for Jackson’s Curtis Canyon - April 24, 2024
- Music on Main Launches May Concert Series at Pierre’s Theatre - April 24, 2024
- Wyoming Game and Fish Department Starts capturing Grizzly Bears - April 23, 2024