Idaho
Sand Creek Feeding (2008/2009)
Idaho’s Sand Creek Mule Deer and MDF’s St. Anthony and Henry Fork Chapters
By Russell Knight and Josh Rydalch, Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game
Winter mortality on mule deer has long been one of the most devastating factors in the survival of the species. And while some think that this is Mother Nature’s way of keeping everything in check, others believe that it is our duty to do whatever we can to help out when the call comes. The Mule Deer Foundation is proud to be the latter, and the recent hard winters across the West have given MDF the opportunity to do more than just talk the talk.
Case in point is the Sand Creek mule deer herd of Idaho. This particular deer herd is prone to high winter mortality due to the limited amount of winter range that is available. Unfortunately, recent hard winters have resembled those devastating winters of the past––in 1993 and 2001 a large portion of the Sand Creek deer succumbed to winter mortality and consequently, the road to recovery has been a long one.
When the winters of 2007 and 2008 began taking yet another devastating shape, an Emergency Winter Feeding operation was quickly formed. Conditions became severe enough to warrant a recommendation by the Upper Snake Winter Feeding Advisory Committee that feeding begin in late February and continue on until conditions allowed deer to feed on natural forage and move off of the winter range.
The feeding went into effect immediately and continued until early April. During that time 55,200 pounds (27.6 tons) of feed were hauled into and fed at the feed site. All feed had to be transported by snow cat or snow machine to the staging area, (approximately 1.5 miles) and then onto the feed lines, (another 3 miles). While the IDFG did their share in the feeding process, there were over 500 hours of volunteer time that was donated by the St. Anthony and Henry’s Fork chapters of the Mule Deer Foundation. The dollar amount attached to these volunteer hours is just over $7,000 and this does not include the donations of the volunteers’ equipment such as snow machines and a snow cat, which were used extensively during the two-month operation.
The total bill for the feeding accumulated to just over $82,000 for the region. Of this amount, the majority went to the Sand Creek feed site, and the IDFG is greatly appreciative of the tremendous efforts made by the MDF volunteers. “This Emergency Winter Feeding effort could not have occurred without the help of MDF,” says Idaho Fish and Game biologist, Josh Rydalch. “I believe that by having the MDF volunteers assist in this feeding effort, it drove home the importance of maintaining critical winter ranges, it helped educate folks on mule deer physiology, and it developed a good working relationship with the Idaho Department a Fish and Game and the local MDF chapters.”
Editor’s Notes: These types of feeding programs are only done in times of dire straits and the Idaho Fish and Game would like to state that they do not apply these winter feeding programs on a whim. There is a strict policy in place for when the time comes and the criteria which needs to be met includes factors such as: winter temperatures, snow depth, animal conditions, and so on. Once these criteria reach dangerous proportions, the Winter Feeding Advisory Committee along with the IDFG begin the layout and process of the feeding that is to occur. This is done on a case by case and sight-specific basis only.
