Gunnison Basin to close temporarily for emergency game feeding

GUNNISON — To support an emergency big game feeding operation in the Gunnison Basin that began this week, the area will be closed temporarily to all wildlife-related recreation except for fishing, officials announced Wednesday.

The closure began at 12 a.m. today and lasts through 12 p.m. on May 15. Prohibited recreation includes, but is not limited to, small game hunting, mountain lion hunting, predator/furbearer hunting, the collection/possession of shed antlers from deer and elk, and skulls and horns from bighorn sheep.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife, because it does not have authority beyond wildlife-related issues, has also requested the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to close the area to recreation unrelated to wildlife. A decision on that request is expected next week, said J Wenum, DOW Gunnison Area Wildlife Manager. Both the feed operation and the closure are being done in an attempt to reduce the potential for additional stress on animals already in a stressful situation, said Wenum.

This is the first time in roughly a decade that the DOW is organizing a big-game feed, which is prompted by extreme conditions. Some winter mortality, generally around 8 to 15 percent, in deer is normal.

Emergency feeding is permitted as a last resort to reduce unusually severe winter-related mortality rates exceeding 30 percent of the adult female, big game population.

Such a loss would have catastrophic impact on the local deer herd, said DOW Director Tom Remington.

“It’s not that we have that level or mortality, it’s that we anticipate we could have that level of mortality if the conditions continue to be as adverse as they are,” said Remington. These conditions include extreme snow depth, which makes it difficult for deer to move around. He added that the current situation is similar to what the state experienced in 1983 to 1984, when a large-scale feed operation took place.

The Gunnison Basin has had very heavy snowfall since the week of Dec. 6, 2007. The area received more than 45 inches of snow and has had temperatures of -35F to 5F, according to DOW.

DOW is currently feeding a specially formulated high-energy wafer at 32 sites, with the anticipation that more sites will be added, said Wenum. As of Wednesday, about 1,300 deer are being fed. This number will increase incrementally as monitoring and site establishment takes place, he said. Elk are being fed to bait them away from conflicting with deer feeding sites. Bighorn sheep and pronghorn are also being fed but on a smaller scale.

“Part of what we are trying to do is monitor on a weekly basis through fixed-wing aircraft observation flights where the concentrations of animals are,” Wenum said. Roads must also be established into sites and snowmobiles are used to pack the areas so the feed can stay on top of the snow.

The feed operation will only take place in Gunnison in two 30-day increments, said Remington. DOW has budgeted for a full 60 days of feeding expected to cost $400,000; of that, $87,000 will be available from previous donation accounts, he said. Another $160,000, which was generated by hunting and fishing license sales, was allocated by the Wildlife Commission. The remaining funds are anticipated to come from donations and reallocation of revenues. However, Remington said that if the feeding operation expands outside of Gunnison the DOW may pursue additional funding from the Legislature.

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• For information on volunteering, call Jennifer at (970) 375-6704.

• To make a donation to the feeding operation, go to the DOW website: www.wildlife.state.co.us, click on the donation button.

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Contact Lisa Huynh via email at lisah@montrosepress.com