what good is feeding elk?

[SuperX]

Every winter we feed the elk around Yakima, so why did we lose so many elk in 2016 due to a 'hard winter'? I don't see the sense in paying for a solution that fails that hard due to one hard winter.

Maybe it's time to stop feeding elk since it obviously doesn't help the way we are doing it.  I suspect we would have been worse off without feeding, but with years of decline after only one winter, maybe we need feed more and feed higher up the mountain?

I'm starting to think WDFW winter feeding in this area is mainly a PR move.

[WSU]

I’m sure a lot of it is a PR move. It’s easier to feed them than to deal with them invading their former winter range, which is how orchards, farms, and houses.

[Rainier10]

I’m sure a lot of it is a PR move. It’s easier to feed them than to deal with them invading their former winter range, which is how orchards, farms, and houses.

I think this has more to do with it than starving elk.  If they don't feed them they will find food elsewhere and that is where the real issue is in my mind.  Farmers need that traditional range for their crops and don't want the elk trashing the crops.

[boneaddict]

Reduce conflict, PR move. 

[Sandberm]

Yep, keep them out of the orchards.

Does anybody know how many tons per day the elk at the Oak Creek are fed at the height of snow and cold? Some years they do not feed any hay correct? Just depends on the winter.

[92xj]

Does anyone know where to find the number of elk killed by the wdfw tags given to the farmers that claim crop damage during the winter?
I know the cowiche farmers had a nice slaughter a few years back when the elk took a different turn and ended up in the farms and not the feed lots.
Just curious on the actual amount killed each winter.

[boneaddict]

Yep, keep them out of the orchards.

Does anybody know how many tons per day the elk at the Oak Creek are fed at the height of snow and cold? Some years they do not feed any hay correct? Just depends on the winter.

Yeah, this year not a bale as of yet as far as I know.   

[boneaddict]

they are pretty up front with it...

from the WDFW website....

For example, at WDFW's Oak Creek, L.T. Murray and Wenas wildlife areas in south-central Washington, elk and bighorn sheep are fed throughout the winter. In concert with extensive fencing, the feeding program helps keep elk and bighorn sheep off adjacent private property where they may cause damage or contract diseases from domestic animals. A side benefit of this traditional feeding program is a public wildlife-viewing opportunity.

[nwwanderer]

You probably need a FIA request to get the tag numbers.  Even then I doubt if it would be accurate.  SE, NW, NE, central, tribal, and random.  Lots of elk issues out there.

[SuperX]

interesting point about protecting farmers... so who PAYS for feeding and fence?  I am guessing we do?

[Skyvalhunter]

Yea move them out of the orchards so the privileged can get a good look at the ones with larger horns to harvest

[greenhead_killer]

I had heard something like 330 were killed by damage tags around Yakima/selah last winter

[SuperX]

in MN where I was raised, we fed the deer to help them survive hard winters.  Not every winter, just the unusually hard ones.  Seems logical that we could have done that in 2016. I would like to see WA do that in the future. 

Maybe if they charged us to personally drag hay bales into the woods, they would be more open to focusing some effort on growing the herd.

[Stein]

interesting point about protecting farmers... so who PAYS for feeding and fence?  I am guessing we do?

The option is to feed them which keep more alive and out of the orchard, or not feed them and more will die and get into crops where they have to be removed.  It sounds like a decent bargain to me.  There are bargains like this all over the west, the state comes in and makes it easier for the local farmers to live with a lot more big game animals.

[SuperX]

interesting point about protecting farmers... so who PAYS for feeding and fence?  I am guessing we do?

The option is to feed them which keep more alive and out of the orchard, or not feed them and more will die and get into crops where they have to be removed.  It sounds like a decent bargain to me.  There are bargains like this all over the west, the state comes in and makes it easier for the local farmers to live with a lot more big game animals.

Only a bargain if it works.  It doesn't seem to be

[Stein]

What would happen if the state stopped feeding them?  Seems that it would be 100% chance of having less elk.

[hunterofelk]

I may be not entirely right about the history of the elk feeding program in Eastern Washington, but after I-90 Interstate was built, a lot of elk/car accidents occurred, so the Department of Transportation built the fence on state land or highway right-of-way.  Since they cut off the elk from their traditional winter areas, the Department of Transportation established the feeding stations and I think the same Department pays for the feed.  It may be the Wildlife Department helps with labor and some funding because the feeding stations for the most part are on Wildlife Refuge land. My opinion, but if the feeding stations didn't exist there would be no huntable population of elk on the central east slope of Cascades.

[Tracker0721]

The options are real limited on this one. If you read about it they didn’t want to feed them but with the highways and loss of habitat that herd would be a lot smaller if they didn’t. A normal winter would kill em off. I think there’s bigger fish to complain about then feeding the elk. Like wolves, timber properties, APHIS, lack of wardens, bad counts on big game while doing studies on owls and little birds, human encroachment, public land being leased by mines, or even mercury levels in the Columbia from Canadian dumping. Literally this list could be huge. You wanna complain because of cost then look at where all our license money truly goes, or the salary of a warden. We could have double the wardens or better programs if they had the average warden salary for the US instead of the 2nd highest.

[SuperX]

What would happen if the state stopped feeding them?  Seems that it would be 100% chance of having less elk.

maybe, that would assume that until the feeding program after I90 was built, there were no elk or few elk there.  So much for the 'good old days' stories.  TGFWDFW

[Karl Blanchard]

Of course they work.  Hundreds if not thousands of elk would have succumbed to the winter of 16 if not for supplemental feeding.  Keeps them out of orchards, off roads, etc.  What nobody wants to talk about is the 3 year period of thousands of extra antlerless permits on top of otc archery antlerless permits leading up to that winter. 

If theres no winter, there's no feeding.  Last two winters have been a prime example of this.  Another added benefit to feeding elk is it keeps them off of mule deer winter brows.  Dark times for mule deer in central washington.  Over abundance of elk make it a lot harder.

[92xj]

Yeah, but mule deer are worthless. Hopefully the whitetails will finally take over the mule deer range and they can live peacefully with the elk like they do in the NE and blues.
The state is acting like they want the mule deer gone, right?

[92xj]

I'm kidding

[bobcat]

Even Wyoming feeds elk. So it's not really something to complain about here.

[Karl Blanchard]

Yeah, but mule deer are worthless. Hopefully the whitetails will finally take over the mule deer range and they can live peacefully with the elk like they do in the NE and blues.
The state is acting like they want the mule deer gone, right?

dont give them any ideas 

[Karl Blanchard]

Feed sites save A LOT of elk. 

[Sandberm]

I'll do some amateur figuring...

Lets say that hay barn at oak creek stores roughly 430 ton...every other year they have to fill it back up, so thats 215 ton bought each year(on average) @$230/ton delivered...=roughly $50,000/year for feed for oak creek.

Loader tractor, army truck to spread hay, 4 months salary for a couple of guys to do the work, some minimal upkeep on buildings and equipment. Volunteers staff the little information building with the stuffed animals. I dropped a 20 in the donation jar the last time i was there.

So lets say the state budgets $100,000 per year for Oak creek. Sound ok?

[Karl Blanchard]

I sure wish someone with ACTUAL numbers would chime in on amount of hay actually purchased, real staff costs, etc. 

The real question is if you cut the feeding program in yakima, will the haters be ok with 6,000 ish elk vs 10,000ish elk

[Stein]

I don't know if it is still in place but Northwest Alloys used to sell WDFW up to 1100 tons a year for $1.

The feeding areas also feed sheep.

[SuperX]

Do the elk from 328-340 feed at Oak Creek and Wenas? Are those elk included in the 10,000-16,000 herd size estimates?  Looking at the 2017 numbers, you see far lower cow/spike harvest in the southern units in dist. 8 than you do up by I90.  Heck 328 seems to have way more archery hunters than any unit in the south, and they still pulled off a 15% success rate and shot 250 cows/spikes.


When the herd is shrinking, we have to examine our practices and figure out which practices are not working, then propose new ways to manage the herd so it prospers.

It seems like we are saving farmer's land by feeding elk, which is a good thing I guess.  Do we do anything to save the elk besides keep farmers from killing them?  Do they plant crops or give access or improve habitat for all the help they get from feeding elk in the winter?

[SuperX]

I don't know if it is still in place but Northwest Alloys used to sell WDFW up to 1100 tons a year for $1.

The feeding areas also feed sheep.

Good on them!  As for sheep, we have to exterminate entire herds to keep pneumonia from killing them all.  Concentrating them on a food pile would seem to be risky.

[birddogdad]

the elk feed stations will turn into the wolf feed stations....

[SuperX]

the elk feed stations will turn into the wolf feed stations....

that made me laugh out loud!  Too true.

[Rainier10]

the elk feed stations will turn into the wolf feed stations....

So you get double your money's worth.  Keep the elk and wolves out of the farm areas.  That should decrease wolf impacts.....for a little while. 

[boneaddict]

There was a big cat working the sheep  feeding station a couple years ago.  A giant cat working the one that used to be by Sullivan Lake.   He'd lay in the feeder and wait for his dinner to arrive.   Better than Dominoes.   Im sure there are pics and story on here somewhere

[Naches Sportsman]

There was a big cat working the sheep  feeding station a couple years ago.

Some friends of the family have seen and heard the Tom a few times this month. They haven't seen any yearlings around this year nor any dead elk in the canal.

[boneaddict]

Little tougher pickings for them this year