{"id":43788,"date":"2021-11-10T18:42:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T18:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-parks-and-wildlife-asks-residents-to-put-away-yard-hazards\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:15:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:15:38","slug":"colorado-parks-and-wildlife-asks-residents-to-put-away-yard-hazards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-parks-and-wildlife-asks-residents-to-put-away-yard-hazards\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Parks and Wildlife asks residents to put away yard hazards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mule
Mule deer can get tangled in hammocks, game nets and porch swings during the fall rutting season, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman John Livingston said. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mule deer antlers are long and pointy. They are excellent for rutting, when male deer face off to determine the mating hierarchy. They are also great at getting tangled.<\/p>\n

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are asking Coloradans to remove tangle hazards as the mule deer mating season kicks into high gear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time of year mule deer bucks are rubbing their antlers on trees and a lot of different things, and a lot of times they will find hazards,\u201d said John Livingston, the southwest region spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year our wildlife managers have to go respond to some of those issues and try and help those animals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deer and elk across the state have been getting tangled in yard hazards this fall. In October, an elk was found with a child\u2019s swing seat attached to its antlers in Jefferson County. CPW officers had to tranquilize the elk to cut away the seat.<\/p>\n

Last week, two bucks were found tangled together in a badminton net in Evergreen.<\/p>\n

And on Oct. 29, a buck died after getting caught in a hammock in Parker. The hammock was wrapped around the buck\u2019s head and body, cutting off circulation to its back leg as the animal tried to free itself, according to a CPW news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll stress the animal out,\u201d Livingston said. \u201cThey\u2019ll be thrusting around trying to get out of that situation and they can cause harm to themselves, which can make it hard for them to survive in the wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammocks, volleyball and badminton nets, Halloween decorations such as artificial spider webs, Christmas lights, and back porch swings can all be hazardous for deer, Livingston said.<\/p>\n

If an animal does tangle itself, report it to CPW rather than attempting to remove the object.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to help these animals out as much as we can, and if people do have an animal tangled up in anything at their house, don\u2019t try to go fix it yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cCall our Durango CPW office and we\u2019ll get a wildlife manager out there right away to help that animal out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just don\u2019t want anybody to mess around with an animal that\u2019s stressed like that and injure themselves as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The hope is that by proactively working with residents, CPW can limit entanglements and allow nature to take its course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are cases where we will have to remove the antlers and we don\u2019t want to do that to a mule deer buck during the rutting season because that means he likely won\u2019t get a chance to mate,\u201d Livingston said.<\/p>\n

From early to mid-November, the rutting season peaks in Southwest Colorado. Residents should be especially careful during this two- to three-week window.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut up your hammock when you\u2019re lying in your hammock and as soon as you get out of it take it down,\u201d Livingston said. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to set up a badminton or volleyball net to play on the weekend, just take it down once you\u2019re done.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the holiday season nears, he recommends tightly wrapping decorations like Christmas lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally the best practice is anytime you\u2019re not using it take it down,\u201d Livingston said.<\/p>\n

Residents who see an entangled deer can call CPW\u2019s Durango office at 247-0855.<\/p>\n

ahannon@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

can tangle themselves in hammocks and holiday decorations during rutting season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1031,1030,28,976,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-parks-and-wildlife","tag-environment","tag-headlines","tag-outdoor-recreation","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85845,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43788\/revisions\/85845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43788"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}