After brutal winter conditions, emergency deer feeding underway
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The Ontario government is undertaking emergency winter feeding of deer in the Dryden, Kenora and Sioux Narrows areas in the province's northwest region.
The program is designed to reduce the likelihood of high mortality associated with extreme winter conditions, from a particularly cold, snowy winter in the region, according to a government spokesperson.
Starting this week, the ministry will lead feed drops in the area – both by air via helicopter and by land on snow-machine, depending on the area and accessibility.
Feeding will take place within Wildlife Management Unit 7B,in areas that have historically been identified as the most important deer wintering areas.
The ministry said those deer wintering areas were originally identified during aerial surveys.
"We further refined that focus through an additional aerial survey that was completed this weekend," explained Michelle Nowak, an outreach specialist with the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry.
"During the recent survey we located pockets of the highest deer densities, marked those locations with GPS and then identified potential access routes for feeding crews. "
