Hunters Asked to Return Radio Collars

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is encouraging anyone who finds or harvests an animal with a radio collar or transmitter to return that collar as soon as possible to any Game and Fish office or employee.
Tim Woolley, statewide wildlife and habitat management supervisor, says that many animals from deer to moose are fitted with collars that collect data, which are important to wildlife research. While hunters can still harvest an animal that is wearing a collar, Game and Fish needs the collars returned so they can use them again, and know the animal they were tracking was harvested.
Game and Fish asks the collar be removed without cutting or damaging the band or radio. The collars can be unbolted or slid off the neck of the animal. Cutting the band can damage the electronic components that extend into the belt material, and the collar can not be put on another animal until repairs are made.
Throughout Wyoming, people may see collared big game animals including moose, mule deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep or elk. In addition, some game birds have been marked with radio telemetry devices as have large carnivores, including black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions and wolves.