Fri January 4, 2013 Disappearing Mule Deer A New Reality
Throughout Western U.S. Originally published on Fri January 4,
2013 7:02 pm ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: From NPR News, this is ALL
THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: And
I'm Audie Cornish. Scientists throughout the west are
investigating a mysterious disappearance. Mule deer are
vanishing. In Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, populations are half
what they were in the 1970s. From Aspen Public Radio, Luke
Runyon reports on some possible reasons. LUKE RUNYON, BYLINE:
When John Hilandras(ph) was just a boy growing up on his
family's ranch in the northwest corner of Colorado, his father
would take him deer hunting. Back then, it wasn't even a
challenge. JOHN HILANDRAS: We had literally thousands of deer.
There was just deer everywhere. It seemed like they were like
rabbits. RUNYON: That's not the case today. Mule deer throughout
the West are becoming more and more scarce. Hilandras runs his
own outfitting business out of his family ranch. His cus