It’s almost Christmas and the deer are taking to the skies. Utahns looking skyward may have seen an odd sight earlier this month when the state’s Department of Wildlife Resources airlifted deer to a staging site.

“These aren’t Santa’s flying reindeer! Each winter, our biologists capture and place GPS collars on approximately 1,200 deer throughout the state,” Utah DWR officials said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. The deer are collected so that Utah DWR staff can put GPS collars on them and give them an annual health check-up.

After the check-up, the deer are let back into the wild. The collars help wildlife officials better observe and understand how, where and when deer migrate through Utah.

“The challenge comes when deer are exposed to hiking and other disturbances day after day for months in a row. Having to constantly flee from people can wear deer down during a time of year when they need to conserve their energy and not burn the fat reserves they need to make it through winter,” DWR Regional Wildlife Program Manager Jim Christensen explained to KSL-TV in 2021.

The department releases the deer into areas away from people, allowing them to roam without human stressors.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.