Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Try the next-generation Data Catalog at catalog-beta.data.gov and help shape it with your feedback.

California Mule Deer Kern River Stopovers

Metadata Updated: January 21, 2026

The Kern River deer herd includes primarily California mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus californicus), but some Inyo mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus inyoensis) associate with California mule deer on the summer range. The population size peaked at 11,000 individuals in 1949, but in recent decades numbers have decreased to an estimated 3,500 deer in 1995 and 2,000 deer in 2001. The population size estimate is now, conservatively, approximately 4,000 individuals owing primarily to habitat expansion by the 2001 McNally Fire (California Department of Fish and Wildlife unpublished data). The Kern River herd winters in Sequoia National Forest north of Johnsondale and east of Slate Mountain. In the spring, they migrate northward to an area by Redrocks Meadows and along the Kern Canyon ridgeline to their summer range in Sequoia National Park. The herd’s annual range spans the watersheds of the Kern and Little Kern rivers in eastern Tulare County. Elevations range from 2,500 ft on the southern slopes of the winter range to over 11,000 ft on the northern summer range. Telemetry data over the past two decades show considerable mixing between this herd and the Manache herd on their summer ranges. Further research may support the hypothesis that these herds are actually sub-herds of a larger population. These mapping layers show the location of the migration stopovers for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Kern River population in California. They were developed from 69 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 27 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 2 hours.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date January 12, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 12, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_63650bd6d34ebe442507ce83
Data Last Modified 2023-10-04T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260121062710
Harvest Object Id 614aa4dd-c1bf-41a0-997a-747e2dce830a
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -118.6674, 35.9832, -118.6674, 36.5629, -118.2023, 36.5629, -118.2023, 35.9832, -118.6674, 35.9832}
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash f56635f0f0133353c69268151722449d8a41c915c7a89f6876b71236ee6327ad
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -118.6674, 35.9832, -118.6674, 36.5629, -118.2023, 36.5629, -118.2023, 35.9832, -118.6674, 35.9832}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.