AmateurHunter44857

Wildlife officials and volunteers are launching the biggest feeding operation in 24 years to save 8,000 mule deer from starving in 4-foot snowdrifts near Gunnison.
"The snow is deep and it's heavy, so it's taking an extraordinary amount of energy for the deer to get to food," said Joe Lewandowski, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

"There's also been brutally cold temperatures. It was down to 26 degrees below (Wednesday) morning," he added.
The deer are in good shape because snow didn't blanket the region until three weeks ago. But wildlife experts fear the long-term impact as the Gunnison Basin reaches 143 percent above the average snowpack.
"This time of year, it just stays cold from now through February with brutal temperatures and lots of snow," he said.

"You could lose 30 percent to 50 percent of the herd in a really bad winter," he said. "If that happens, it's a devastating loss, and it's really hard for the herd to recover."
It would also be a hard hit for the Gunnison economy, which is increasingly dependent on hunters coming to stalk the region's renowned deer herds.
Now, wildlife officials are gearing up for the biggest deer-feeding operation since 1984, Lewandowski said.
They are asking for hundreds of volunteers to help distribute the cookie-size feed wafers for deer, bighorn sheep and pronghorn. Alternately, volunteers will pitch hay to elk, which can be aggressive, to keep them away from deer-feeding sites.

"We had 300 people show up in Gunnison (Tuesday) night at a volunteer meeting," Lewandowski said. "But this could go on six to eight weeks, so we're going to need a lot of people."
DOW officials need volunteers with trailers and an army of snow-worthy vehicles, especially snowmobiles, snowcats and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Volunteers also are sought who can travel through deep snow on cross-country skis and snowshoes.

Officials started feeding operations in recent days to get deer accustomed to humans. The plan is to crank up volunteer operations this weekend.
Since Saturday, DOW staff have been scouting about 60 potential deer-feeding sites where herds of five to 30 deer are snowbound.
They're also using snowcat tractors to tamp down snow paths, so snowmobilers pulling feed-laden sleds can access the areas.
People are cautioned against feeding hay to deer because - unlike elk - they can't digest it.
"They're browsers that survive on shrubs and sagebrush during the winter. So, people would be better off going out in their backyards and knocking snow off the sagebrush."
Wildlife managers also are monitoring weather and snow conditions in other areas of western Colorado, including the Eagle Valley, the Aspen area, the Meeker/Craig area and the lower Yampa Valley.
People driving across the Western Slope are cautioned to watch for wildlife along roads as deer and other critters strive to find snow-free areas.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/17/saving-8000-deer-from-starving-to-death/

What do you guys think about this? I mean i think its a good thing because it could prevent massive numbers of deer from dieing of starvation but i also wonder about these deer getting to use to humans and depending on them to feed them.

drs1961

I don't believe the deer will get used to people in just those couple of months. They'll just have to bear with it or starve. If they can save them it'll be great. It takes mulies a while to recover a mortality rate like that. One of the problems is that people have moved in and built up all the low winter range valleys where the deer have traditionally moved to when this happened. That increases the severity of a harsh winter through lack of range as with most other big game in deep snow areas. We as hunters ought to do whatever possible to help out our quarry. I wish that I could be out there to help. It would be very gratifying to be able to save a herd from certain death.

zrexpilot

Wheres PETA when theyre needed ?

AmateurHunter44857

Exactly. drs if i could i'd be there right with ya. I'd hate to see those deer die. I just hope all the gung ho efforts continue for the entire time.

Marko B

Mule deer are stupid anyway... not like feeding them is going to make them more stupid...

FtWorthHunter

I go to that area several times a year and have all my life. Though there is alot of snow this year, it's not like it's the first time it's happened. I can remember years when the deer and elk were blocking all the roads as the snow was too deep to go anywhere else. This was increased by the fact that the DOW was dropping hay all along the roads to feed them. That was sometime in the early 80's.

Those deer are pretty tame, especially compared to whitetails. Mainly, they have so little human contact they haven't built up a fear of us. I've seen whitetails act similar on really large ranches where they receive no pressure.

This deer stayed outside my bedroom window for 3 out of 4 nights I was in Gunnison during December.

brushbustin

Who do you think fed these deer back in the 1800's and 1700's when there wasn't anybody around?

Phil from Maine

I hope this works for the deer out there. Here they only started this past year to allow feeding deer in your back yards. The reason being is that the wildlife officals are afraid of bunching deer up to a feeding station and making it easier for predators to get them. I certainly wish them the best of luck with this project...

kevin1

A state known for CWD is proposing gathering their elk herd(cash cow) around feeding sites for some nose to nose contact? Yeah, that's a great idea...

Marko B

Are you telling me that Elk don't already congregate naturally in the winter?

ROFL...

Arguments that people make against feeding are just so boldfaced rediculous it's funny.