Based on crash and carcass data, we account for about 6,000 big game animals like moose, bighorn sheep, elk, deer and antelope that are killed each year on Wyoming roads. Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Wyoming Department of Transportation work together to formulate this number. 

Crash data is collected when a driver reports a collision to the Highway Patrol; carcass data is collected on the number of big game carcasses that are removed from the road by WYDOT as a result of a collision. Those numbers are then analyzed against each other. Any that match on date and location count as one, and any stand-alone instances are counted as one also. 

The number 6,000 only represents the collisions we know occur. However, there are hundreds of crashes that go unreported and big game that die away from the road or on county roads. The public can help to improve data collection by reporting whenever they collide with big game on the road, even if your vehicle isn’t damaged.