Hunters to deliver hay for elk in northwest Wyoming

JACKSON, Wyo. — In a show of support for supplemental feeding of elk in northwest Wyoming, hunters from around the state are scheduled to deliver bales of hay to the National Elk Refuge on Saturday.

Members of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife used roughly 100 trucks to deliver nearly 60 tons of hay to the refuge for last year's Hay Day. Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife officials staged the event, in part, to protest the death of elk on the refuge during the winter of 2005-06.

The refuge used the hay last year to lure bison away from the elk feed areas on the refuge.

Bob Wharff, executive director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, said the goal is to help elk survive the harsh winter.

Over the winter of 2005-06, Wharff said, elk refuge managers failed to notice when conditions got too difficult for elk and some elk died.

Some biologists and wildlife managers say that the crowded conditions created by providing supplemental feed to elk promotes diseases like brucellosis, which can cause aborted calves.

Greater Yellowstone Coalition representative Lloyd Dorsey called delivering hay to the refuge a "misguided effort."

"Better ways to assist wildlife managers would be to support habitat protections and herd numbers according to the carrying capacity of the native range," Dorsey said. "We all greatly value our wildlife, but this effort appears to be moving in the wrong direction."