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Cleared for Colorado / Wildlife officials ship 16 moose from populous Ogden Valley to greener pastures
By Sam CooperSLIDESHOW: Moose Transfer
HUNTSVILLE -- Sixteen moose from the mountains above Ogden got a one-way ticket to Colorado on Thursday, courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
Wildlife managers used a helicopter and a net gun to round up the animals before conducting a medical checkup and trucking them east.
Last winter, the DWR was swamped by calls from Ogden Valley residents reporting moose in residential areas, said DWR public affairs coordinator Phil Douglass.
Thursday's effort was aimed at reducing the number of animals wandering into the valley in search of food, he said.
"I believe we moved over 50 moose (last winter from residential areas)," he said.
DWR officials also met Thursday in Salt Lake City to hear changes to the department's emergency feeding policy for deer during extreme winters.
Officials outlined five triggers that will determine when emergency feeding will take place.
Wildlife managers determined earlier this year the population of moose in the Weber/Ogden canyon area is more than the land can support.
A survey of moose in the Ogden unit, roughly all of Weber County, found about 430 animals, Douglass said.
In Thursday's capture area, officials had counted about 200 moose, many bedded down in drainage areas.
That number is alarming, said Darren DeBloois, a DWR biologist for the Cache and Ogden units.
Most of the moose captured Thursday came from Weber Canyon, he said.
"We tried to get them from an area where they would end up being in residential areas or near the highway," Douglass said.
The captured moose will be taken to the White River Valley area outside of Meeker, Colo., DeBloois said. They will be used to bolster two populations in the region.
The division also increased the number of hunting permits for moose cows from 10 to 20, DeBloois said.
Feeding concerns
Concern for big-game animals this winter was also on Thursday's agenda of the Utah Wildlife Board.
Justin Dolling, mammals program coordinator for the DWR, presented a new set of criteria to be added to the division's Emergency Big Game Feeding Policy.
The additions are in response to an increase in public interest last year, as well as disagreements within the wildlife community on when emergency feeding is necessary, he said.
"Whenever folks see animals struggling and trying to forage out in deep snow, it gets emotional. We had a fair amount of public inquiries (last winter) about whether we should feed or whether we started too late," he said.
"Certain regions of the DWR said it was necessary to feed -- others said it wasn't -- when conditions were very similar," Dolling said.
"It became imperative there needed to be a little more guidance leading up to those decisions."
Dolling outlined five triggers that could indicate when emergency feeding is necessary. If three of those triggers are met, he said, the division will begin distributing feed pellets to the animals.
Officials don't believe the triggers are being hit yet, but Dolling said DWR will continue to monitor conditions over the next month and will be ready to act should the need increase.
The new policy will be tried out for two years, then revised, he said.
Feeding the deer is expensive. Dolling said it costs about $50 to feed a single deer for 60 days.
When to feed wildlife
These are the five triggers the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will use to determine when it should start feeding large wildlife in winter conditions. Reaching three of the five triggers will spur DWR to action:
1. Body condition of deer going into winter as determined by xiphoid fat measurement in the sternum. Less than10 mm is the trigger.
2. Rate of body condition decline through winter, checking xiphoid fat of road-killed prime deer. Less than 2 mm is the trigger.
3. Availability of forage, primarily shrubs, when feeding locations are covered by snow.
4. Ability of big-game animals to access foliage; mean snow depth in feeding locations should be 20 inches or less.
5. Extreme cold temperatures; when mean daily temperatures at feeding locations are 10 degrees F below 30-year average.
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ya this state isthe most backward place i have ever seen we limit our big game herds by giving them away to other states we get nothing in return or we trade for 300 elk for 20 turkeys i wish i could get in on some of the trading that gos on in this state. then they complain about feeding the deer well with the continuing increase in the prices for liesenses and the million hunts they open up every year we cant turn any of that back over to the wild life, this state gets worst every year and now it wants to make it even harder for general public that grew up here to hunt or fish theis state we grew up in but make it easier for out of staters to get what they want cause they will spend more money on a tag then we will what happened the the old family traditions that was implyed on this state so many years ago are they all dying with our parents today????
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