Fur-eezing cold: Where does Utah’s wildlife go during the winter?

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Animals in Utah are no strangers to winter, and they have all adapted to survive or escape it. Here’s what to know about how wildlife behaves, whether they’re hibernating in a cave, hunting in the mountains, or foraging in your backyard.

Read to hear from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ (DWR) experts on wildlife in Utah and learn about the unique ways Northern Utah’s animals spend winter.

Cougars

Utah’s big-cat predator, the cougar, is surprisingly active during the wintertime.

“Cougars, they just pretty much follow their prey, and generally speaking, their prey is deer. So when there’s deer, there’s probably cougars somewhere around in the area,” said Chad Wilson, DWR’s Game Mammals Program Coordinator, in an interview with ABC4. “They remain active throughout the wintertime.”

Wilson explained that as the snow and temperatures push deer down to lower elevations, cougars will follow. As deer come further into the valley, so will their predator.

“I don’t know that the concerns are any higher… I think that there’s the potential there at all times of the year,” Wilson stated when asked if people should be more concerned about coming across cougars. “They try to avoid people, so even if they are around, a lot of times we don’t know it because they don’t want to be seen. They don’t want that conflict.”

While the best way to stay safe from a cougar is to avoid them altogether by travelling in groups and making noise to alert them of your presence, DWR shared the following tips if you come face-to-face with one.

• Don’t run; it could trigger the cougar’s instinct to chase
• Maintain eye contact
• Stand up tall and avoid crouching or squatting
• Make yourself look bigger by raising and waving your arms or jacket
• Talk in a firm, loud voice and slowly back away
• Pick up any children or pets, or keep them close

According to Bryce Canyon National Park, mountain lions have adaptations that give them an advantage in winter. Large paws help them travel over deep snow, fur coats keep them warm, and they can use snow prints to track deer. Cougars are active all year, mostly around dawn and dusk.

Bears

The only bear species currently living in Utah is the black bear (though sometimes their fur appears brown). Wilson shared his knowledge regarding their winter behavior as well.

“Generally, they hibernate. It’s not a true hibernation, like they’re not all the way out… they can still be up and move around a little bit,” Wilson explained. “They go in about this time of year, so late October, beginning of November. Females go in sooner than males, generally.”

According to Wilson, bears will spend the winter relaxing in the den, and this is the time when female bears give birth and begin rearing their young. When the cubs come out during April and May, they’re ready to start learning how to behave like a bear.

“They just kind of take it easy, and mostly they den up to find protection from other predators,” Wilson shared. “Not a whole lot going on with bears in the wintertime.”

Sometimes black bears may briefly leave their den to see what the temperature and conditions outside are toward the end of winter, or to check on disturbances from other predators that could put them at risk, said Wilson. But in general, they spend the entirety of winter in the den.

“I think there’s always risk, but a very low risk is what I would say. I mean, you could come across [a den] if you’re in the backcountry, no doubt. They try to find places that are going to be difficult to come across, so chances aren’t very high,” Wilson stated when asked if humans should be concerned about disturbing bears during the winter.

He further clarified that bears are not in true hibernation, but they are also not at the top of their alert scale like they would be during the rest of the year. Wilson called the risk “minimal.”

“There’s always things we can do to mitigate risk… and a lot of them are combined with cougar or bear, but if we make ourselves large, generally don’t run to be acting like a prey species. So yeah, just making noise, doing other things just to make sure that they know that we’re around and that we’re there,” Wilson recommended to those who are concerned about coming across a bear or cougar.

Deer, elk, moose and pronghorn

Utah is home to several interesting hoofed species, such as mule deer, elk, pronghorn, and moose. Some species are elusive year-round, while others seem to become even more common during the winter, like the mule deer.

“As we transition from summer and fall into these winter months, we’ll see our deer start to migrate down, and usually they move out of the higher elevation habitats,” said Dax Mangus, Big Game Program Coordinator for the DWR.

Mangus explained that deer in central and northern Utah spend most of the summer at high elevations. However, as the cold sets in, they begin moving down to lower elevations so that they can forage more easily.

“It also coincides with the breeding season. So the mule deer rut — or breeding season — typically occurs from about early to mid-November into early December in Utah. During that time frame, you really see our deer more concentrated together,” he stated.

During this time of year, bucks will be moving around more frequently in search of does and then remain at that lower elevation for the winter. Foraging in the foothills and valleys is generally easier than trying to get through several feet of snow in the mountains, Mangus shared.

As deer move to lower elevations, however, the likelihood of them coming into contact with homes and humans increases.

“You’ll see this, you know, across the Wasatch Front on the East Bench as deer start coming down and you see more deer hanging out in town or on the edges of town. And we see it in other places in Utah, too,” Mangus said about deer coming closer to homes and humans. “So, yeah, you definitely see more deer closer to people, and there’s more possibility for interactions between wildlife, specifically deer, and humans during the winter.”

Although deer might be closer to humans, Mangus reminds people that they can still pose a danger and encourages giving them space.

“Deer, they’re beautiful animals. They’re really fascinating, they’re fun to watch. And a lot of times when they’re hanging out around homes and in yards, they can seem like they’re… they almost can seem tame… people get so used to the deer and the deer get quite used to people,” Mangus explained. “You’ve got to remember they’re a wild animal. Give them some space, you know, watch them through the window from inside the house or something.”

Mangus also stressed the importance of securing dogs around deer, as the animals can injure each other.

Winter is also a time of year when Utah sees an increase in collisions between vehicles and deer, Mangus says. He encouraged Utahns to keep an eye out for deer around dawn and dusk, and to remember that deer crossing signs are not placed randomly, and drivers should “slow down” and “be mindful.”

Elk behave very similarly to mule deer, moving to lower elevations for breeding season and winter. They also tend to form small groups or herds during this time.

When it comes to pronghorn, Mangus explained that they live in more sagebrush habitats. During the winter, the animals will group up and forage. Despite their appearance, pronghorn are “pretty well adapted,” he shared.

During the winter, moose generally eat a diet of bark and twigs, and live off of conserved body fat. They are easier to find during the winter, but can be aggressive during the fall breeding season, DWR warns.

“Winter can be a cool opportunity to see wildlife. You know, a lot of times I’ll see folks at like a strategic pullout where they have a good view sitting there with binoculars or a spotting scope. It can be a really fun time to watch wildlife,” Mangus advised. “It can be a fun time to look for animals and maybe check some species off your bucket list if you’re wanting to see some animals… but we just want folks to enjoy them from a distance.”

Rabbits, hares and other small mammals

Left: A cottontail rabbit. Right: A snowshoe hare. (Courtesy: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)

During the winter, Utah’s rabbit and hare species don’t spend their time hibernating. Instead, they brave the cold weather and forage for food.

“They are not quite as, you know, mobile as they are depending on the weather, but they do use burrows and brush piles, things like that, shrubs to hide,” explained Heather Talley, Upland Game Coordinator for the DWR. “For snowshoe hares, they’re going to hide in a lot of the spruce and fir, lodgepole pine forests. And so they’re going to hide in a lot of that conifer cover.”

Rabbits and hares have several adaptations that allow them to go out during freezing temperatures, according to Talley.

“Like other mammals, they do have thicker coats that they can grow in the wintertime,” she shared. “And then we have two hare species in Utah that have actually turned white in the wintertime… that’s the whitetail jackrabbit and snowshoe hare.”

The whitetail jackrabbit will remain in sagebrush areas and has long ears and strong hind legs that allow it to get around. The snowshoe hare, like its namesake, has “really big feet in proportion to its smaller body,” Talley explained, and leaves a “snowshoe-looking track in the snow.”

Another interesting adaptation Talley shared was coprophagy. After eating plant material, the rabbit’s “first fecal pellet is still moist” and has a lot of nutrition, so they will reingest it. This can serve the animals well when there are limited food sources during winter.

One difference she noted between rabbits and hares is that hares have precocial young, “meaning that they are born with all their fur, their eyes are open, and they can walk immediately,” whereas rabbits have altricial young, which depend on their mother because they are born hairless and with their eyes closed.

Although rabbits and hares might be easier to spot during the winter, they don’t generally come closer to humans or residences unless there’s “an artificial attractant.”

“You might see them maybe seeking shelter in a wood pile or under some decks or things like that. But they’re generally, a rabbit’s not just going to come up to you. It might be around your house more if you have like, a bird feeder that’s spilling seed or things like that that might be attracting it,” Talley stated.

She noted that if a wild rabbit is coming close or is moving really slowly, it may have a disease, and you should contact the DWR to check it out.

Winter is also hunting season for cottontails and snowshoe hares, Talley stated. Cottontail season runs until Feb. 28, 2026, and snowshoe hare season runs until March 15, 2026. Jackrabbits can be hunted any time of the year.

Other small mammals, such as mice and rats, may try to make their way into your home. If not, they will spend winter inside the dens they’ve created. Squirrels build nests and bury food that they depend on during the winter months.

Another native Utah mammal, called a Pika — closely related to rabbits — lives its life in the rocky Alpine environments of Utah’s mountains. According to the National Wildlife Federation, they spend most of the winter inside their den and create a food storage to survive when the weather is too extreme for foraging.

Birds

It’s no secret that a majority of birds migrate south during the winter to enjoy warmer temperatures. While that’s true for many of Utah’s birds, some instead choose to weather the snow and freezing temperatures alongside us.

A familiar sight to many Utahns is the large groups of black birds that travel around the state. These are European starlings, and they travel in these huge flocks to protect themselves from predatory birds. Up close, the birds aren’t actually black, but beautifully multicolored.

Other birds that spend winter in Utah are the California gull, golden eagle, Ferruginous hawk, American Goshawk, cardinals, Rosy-finch, and junco.

Some species that do migrate out of Utah are the burrowing owl, some sparrow species, Swainson’s hawk, hummingbirds, and most waterfowl.