Snow may force deer to look hard for food

A Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist says the state’s abundance of snow could soon push the deer in the state to start looking for more food. The D-N-R’s Dave Bunger says several inches of snow are piled on top of the food the deer normally eat during the winter. And he says the drought this summer and fall didn’t help either.He says the drought, especially in western Iowa, stunted the growth of the natural vegetation that the deer normally munch on to get them through the winter. Bunger says the deer will look to food alternatives as they get hungrier. Bunger says the big round hay bales are the most likely target of the deer and he says some farmers still stack corn outside. Bunger says the deer may have to work harder to get food, but there’s not much chance of any starvation problems. He says at this point in time he doesn’t anticipate that being a problem as the deer are healthy. He says he just wants to get people thinking about where they’ve left some of their crops that might be accessible to the hungry deer. Bunger says harassing the deer a little to scare them off and keep them from getting comfortable in your area may be enough action to handle the problem.