Deep snow, cold hinders mule deer's ability to eat

Darlene Musselman believes that the wild deer in the Top of Utah are in desperate need of humanitarian aid and without it they are only weeks away from winter turning in to a disaster for them.

"They are really having hardship," Musselman said.

She has observed the deer struggling in the snow, getting weaker because of a lack of food and their inability to reach food sources they are traditionally able to find.

"They are trying to survive, but it's up past their belly," Musselman said of the snow and the difficulties it is creating for the wild deer.

"We passed some along the freeway, near the rest stop in Morgan," Musselman said. "You usually don't see that, but the snow is so deep right now."

Musselman has become so concerned that she and her husband have taken to feeding the deer that have taken up residence in her backyard.

"The ones we can help through the hardships of the winter is good," Mussleman said. "We feed them, but we don't intermingle with them."

She and her husband have been putting produce, such as oranges and apples, in her yard during the afternoon so the deer can come eat in the evenings.

"If we have another three or four weeks of this it will be a disaster," Musselman said. "There isn't any other place for them to go."

But not everyone agrees with Musselman's view of the situation.

Justin Dolling, northern region wildlife manager for the Division of Wildlife Services, said that conditions for the deer and whether it's time to start feeding them is a matter of opinion.

"We are monitoring the status of deer, snow depth, temperatures, and we're assessing all those things to see if there is a need to do winter feeding," Dolling said. "At this point, we don't feel there is a need."

"The critical period will be in four to five weeks," Dolling said. "If we get walled up by big storms and temperatures stay cold, than that's bad and that's what we're watching."

Dolling said the deer were in very good condition going in to the winter based on measurements of fat layers.

He also said that people get concerned when they see deer doing things out of the ordinary, but pointed out that a deer is like any other animal. "They will go for what's easy and what tastes good."

Dolling said that feeding the deer can lead to a host of new problems. They can include the possibility of a super concentration of animals, the spreading of disease and deer crossing roadways to get to food sources, creating a danger to motorists.

"Some deer will succumb to winter. That's just reality," Dolling said.

The Division of Wildlife Services fed the deer in 2005, a winter Dolling said was "more severe than what we have now."

Despite Division of Wildlife Services discouragement of feeding the deer, they can't stop people from doing so.

If the deer need to be fed, the division is very capable and prepared and will be able to take care of the animals before the situation escalates to a disaster, said Dolling.