Deer And Elk Herds Looking For Feed

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH,  Utah.  February 1, 2017.  Over 1500 deer and elk are heading to Utah  from Wyoming for food.  “It has been a rough year,” said Justin Dolling, Division of Wildlife Resources.  In the middle of January they started emergency feeding of mule deer in the Bear Lake Valley west of Garden City and Round Valley.  Last week they expanded the feeding program to Woodruff and Randolph.  Deseret Ranch and Livestock is also feeding elk so DWR is pushing the elk towards Deseret.

Commissioner Norm Weston said that there were a lot of elk on the Crawford Mountains and over 150 were on his farm and eating his hay. Commissioner Bill Cox said on Woodruff Creek there were 350 elk, he said there are also 2000 antelope near Deseret.

There are over 15 feeding sites in the county.  DWR is feeding over 750 deer in Garden City which is more deer than in 2007 which was another emergency feeding year.  Over 600 tons of special pellets costing $250,000 have been spread.  Once the snow is gone the deer go back out and browse.  The pellets are just a supplement.

DWR asks people not to feed in the neighborhoods because they become nuisances and don’t do well on their own. The DWR feeds high up, so they are in the natural feeding grounds.

Shed Antler gathering has been suspended until April  because people have been harassing the deer and elk to get them to drop their antlers.  They will take snowmobiles and chase them through the woods to have the branches pull off the antlers.  At a time when deer and elk are already stressed because of the cold winter, this could kill them.  The financial reward for antlers is such that people are acting recklessly.

Spotlighting predators spooks wildlife and livestock.  Box Elder County has a special permit which allows spotlighting but to get that permit you have to be trained to do it with the least damage to non-predators.  There needs to be a county ordinance to allow it but Rich and Box Elder are the only counties which allow spotlighting hunts.

Dolling also presented a Payment in Lieu of Taxes check for the 312,000 acres DWR manage.  The funds are generated from hunting and fishing licenses.