The Colorado Wildlife Commission has voted to immediately spend thousands of dollars in an effort to save the imperiled Gunnison Basin mule-deer herd, which ranchers and Division of Wildlife officers said today is threatened by snow depths exceeding 4 feet and temperatures that have plunged to minus 25 at night.
The state plans on bringing in tons of specially formulated feed and closing areas of critical wildlife habitat so the stressed animals — numbering 21,000 — can attempt to feed without harassment.
Gary Hausler, a rancher in the Gunnison Basin, said today that the deer are in danger.
“They are having a real tough time,” said Hausler. “This year’s fawns are in snow almost over their heads. The adults are in snow up over their bellies.”
“One of life’s little pleasures is watching the deer,” said Hausler, who owns the Lost Miner Ranch near Gunnison. “It’s part of the ambiance of living in the Basin.”
The commission today appropriated all of the $160,000 in its discretionary funds to jump-start the feeding effort. The feed is a wafer composed of wheat and other grains, dehydrated alfalfa and cottonseed meal.
Tom Remington, DOW director, said that at a minimum, the cost will be $500,000 and could easily approach $1 million. Remington added that if conditions in northwest Colorado continue to deteriorate, the total cost could be several million dollars to help the Gunnison herd in the southwest and the herds to the north.
State officials said some of the money would come from the Division of Wildlife; hopefully much will come from public donations and private contributors; and, if necessary, the legislature will be asked for a supplemental appropriation.
Tom Spezze, southwest regional manager of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said he doesn’t want a repeat of what happened in the Gunnison Valley during the winter of 1978-79.
“We were stacking dead deer like cordwood and burning them,” said Spezze, who grimaces as he remembers the sight. “In ’78-’79, we lost 70 percent of the mule-deer population. The conditions were extreme.”
Spezze told the Colorado Wildlife Commission that conditions this winter are approaching 1978 and 1979, and getting worse as a new storm — expected to dump another 16 inches of snow — moves into the Gunnison Basin this weekend. The snowpack is now at 143 percent of average.
Spezze told the commissioners that the sagebrush the mule deer survive on is covered by snow that contains an icy crust of 2- to 3-inches, which is all but impenetrable.
“One hundred percent of the range is white. It is covered,” he said.
As a result of the snow and cold, DOW biologists warned that a massive die-off could occur of the mule-deer herd unless it is fed: Seventy percent of this year’s fawns will die; 50 percent of the bucks; and 30 percent of the does.
It could take six to eight years to restore the herd.
Spezze said that also in peril are the 600 pronghorn antelope that live in the basin, as they tend to shut down in harsh winter conditions.
Even though the DOW can reach them and spread hay where they can shelter, they often will refuse to eat the wafers specially formulated for them, he said.
Joe Lewandowski, a DOW spokesman, said that the 16,300 elk in the Gunnison basin are big and strong enough to withstand this winter’s onslaught. But he said that the elk will “muscle” the deer away from feed meant for the deer. To prevent that, said Lewandowski, the DOW will have to provide hay to the elk away from the deer feeding grounds.
Hausler is one of many ranchers in the Gunnison area who have volunteered to help feed the deer.
Volunteers who want to help in the Gunnison area should call 970-375-6704.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
