Emergency deer feed planned in Cache, Rich

Within the next few days, when the food arrives, meals will begin to be served to some 1,500 to 2,000 deer caught in the deep snows and facing possible starvation this winter in Cache and Rich counties.

Friday, wildlife officials from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources announced they would be starting an emergency deer-feeding program in the two counties.

"We received a lot of snow that has trapped deer. We looked at the situation and are very concerned about the welfare of the deer," said Jim Karpowitz, big game coordinator for the DWR.

"We're looking at feeding in a number of sites in the foothills. We'll also have to start feeding some elk in order to keep them away from the deer."

The state policy is that the DWR will get involved in feeding programs only in emergency situation.

"And we feel," added Karpowitz, "this is an emergency."

The overall success of the feeding program, said Bob Hosenyager, director in the Northern Region, will rest with sportsmen's organizations in the area.

"We've located sites and are meeting with sportsmen (on Saturday). We won't be able to do this without their help," he said. "We faced this situation three years ago and they did an outstanding job selecting sites, feeding and then cleaning up. We will be relying on their help again."

Heavy snowfall this past week has created serious challenges for both deer and antelope. Officials were on site near Woodruff on Friday to feed, and created travel corridors with snowmobiles for about 200 to 300 antelope that were trapped by snow.

In some areas in Cache, said Ron Hodson, northern wildlife manager, "the deer are pushing snow with their bellies. They've started to move down (to lower elevations), so I don't think we have any deer trapped high. Right now we think they're in areas that are accessible for this program."

Hosenyager said that the plan is to have some feed on the ground by today, "but it will take four to five days to ramp up full scale."

"We actually started to prepare for this several days ago. We had to wait for the snow to stop and then get up and access the situation in order to make a good decision."

Early trend counts this past fall show an increase in deer numbers in the Northern Region, both in buck-doe and doe-fawn ratios.