Deep Snow Cuts Off Food To North Idaho Wildlife State Set To Feed Deer, Elk Herds For First Winter In About 10 Years

This winter may be the first in more than 10 years that the state will feed the Panhandle’s deer and elk herds.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game is ready if the continuing winter storms start cutting off food for wildlife.

The agency’s Panhandle office already has ordered feed pellets in preparation for a feeding program at Priest Lake.

The last time deer and elk were fed in North Idaho was the winter of 1985, said regional wildlife manager Jim Hayden.

Winter feeding is paid from a dedicated fund where $1.50 from each big game tag is kept. It can be retained from one year to the next if it is not used.

This year, the agency has more than $1 million set aside for feeding programs.

The only Fish and Game feeding operations going on right now involve 650 elk from Couch Summit to Featherville on the South Fork of the Boise River, as well as a smaller one at Warm Springs Creek near Ketchum where resort and residential development has eliminated winter feeding ground.

By Dec. 20, parts of the Panhandle already had seen up to 4 feet of snow. Snow depths on the flats around Priest Lake are between 3 and 6 feet.

“Where there is heavy tree cover in the lower elevations, they’re doing well,” Hayden said.

If the heavy snow conditions persist, wildlife officials anticipate beginning the feeding program within two or three weeks.

Normally, most wildlife feeding programs are in the southern part of the state, where deer and elk have a harder time finding dense forests to escape the deep snow.

Southern Idaho also has more ranches. The Fish and Game Department will feed wildlife to keep it from eating hay meant for livestock.

There likely won’t be a need to provide feed in the Clearwater River area.

Hay and deer pellets are ready in southwestern Idaho, especially Garden Valley, where the winter range has been inadequate.

The citizens Winter Feeding Advisory Committee in southeastern Idaho has looked at the local situation and decided it’s not time to start feeding.

Reports indicate big game animals went into the winter in excellent physical condition, the best indicator of their chance of survival whether they are artificially fed or not.

“The most important (winter) range is the fat reserves in their body,” said Tracey Trent, supervisor of the southwest region. “They went into this winter in good shape.”

The overall effect of feeding stations is not significant with only about 5 percent of the total animals ever having been fed in even the worst years.

, DataTimes