king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated April/May 2008 - Index

authorized to pay for the emergency
aid along with overwhelming
fi nancial support from sportsmen
donations all across this great nation.
“We thought if we didn’t feed, we’d
hit that trigger where more than
thirty-percent of the adult females
would die this winter, and it’s very
diffi cult to recover a deer herd at
that point,” said Tyler Baskfi eld of
the CDOW. Without supplemental
feeding, mule deer herds in affected
areas may experience a ninetypercent
mortality rate for fawns
and thirty to forty-percent mortality
for adults, which would compel a
hunting reduction as well as millions
and millions of dollars in economic
loss to local Colorado communities.
Although supplemental
feeding may seem like a no-brainer
to improve the survival of deer that
may otherwise succumb to starvation,
there is evidence that supplemental
feeding, if done incorrectly, may do
more harm than good. A common
mistake when supplemental feeding
is the use of the wrong feed. A mule
86 HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
deer’s stomachs, all four of them, are
very effi cient at getting large amounts
of nutrients from their forage. Each
stomach plays a critical role in breaking
down forbs into smaller pieces and,
in due course, the nutrients absorb
through the intestines. The microbes
(bacteria, fungi, and protists) that
provide nutrients that the deer can
digest in a deer’s stomachs are specifi c
to the type of food a mule deer eats. For
example, some microbes break down
woody plants such as sagebrush; other
microbes break down forbs like grass. If
a mule deer has been steadily browsing
on woody plants on the winter range and
is suddenly introduced to a fi rst-class
dose of hay, the woody plant microbes
that have done a great job of breaking
down nutrients have no time to adjust
to grass and forbs and the deer will
starve to death with a stomach full of
hay. Wildlife agencies use a specialized
pellet developed by researchers to feed
the deer. The pellets are easy for deer
to digest and stay on top of the snow so
that they are readily accessible.
By providing the proper feed
5MULE DEER WATCH5
Whether in form of snowfl akes or
raindrops, precipitation can be a curse or
a blessing for mule deer - it all depends
on the amount and the timing
and only in times of critical stress,
supplemental feeding does work.
Chris Peterson, a student at Utah State
University, has devoted her research
to the effects of supplemental
feeding on mule deer in northern
Utah. Years of research show that
deer that were fed experienced
better health, reproduction rates, and
survival. On the negative side, it was
noted that deer that were fed stayed
on the winter range longer looking
for a hand-out. This behavior could
negatively impact the winter range
by decreasing forage availability for
the upcoming winter.
Get involved and help
support those non-profi t groups
who contribute time and money
to mule deer management. This
year, I couldn’t be more proud of
the sportsmen that have stepped up
to the plate by donating their own
money and free time to help haul
feed to hungry mule deer. It attests
to the rest of the community which
crowd is truly concerned about
mule deer.