{"id":2453287,"date":"2020-01-15T14:42:28","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T21:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=319132"},"modified":"2020-01-15T14:42:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T21:42:28","slug":"colorado-parks-and-wildlife-officials-remind-eagle-county-residents-its-illegal-to-feed-deer-and-elk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/colorado-parks-and-wildlife-officials-remind-eagle-county-residents-its-illegal-to-feed-deer-and-elk\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials remind Eagle County residents it\u2019s illegal to feed deer and elk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Earlier this week a large mountain lion was spotted along U.S. Highway 24 between Gilman and Minturn.<\/strong>
Special to the Vail Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

EAGLE COUNTY \u2014 It\u2019s not only illegal, but it\u2019s also unwise to put out food for deer and elk.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are basically setting up a buffet for mountain lions and creating a nuisance for your neighbors who don\u2019t want the mountain lions around their kids and animals,\u201d said Craig Wescoatt, the district wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecember and January seem to be the peak times we have interactions between mountain lions and humans in residential areas,\u201d Wescoatt continued. \u201cOftentimes when we go down to find out why the lions are there, they are on some kind of kill. Then we find out some of the neighbors are putting out food to attract deer and elk for their viewing or photography pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

People who feed wildlife usually have good intentions, Wescoatt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it has consequences that you may not think about and you may be impacting your family or your whole neighborhood,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are just trying to get people to do the smart thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rules are simple, Wescoatt noted. \u201cIt\u2019s illegal to put hay, salt or mineral blocks out to attract wildlife,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Even bird feeders, which are legal and are beneficial to migrating and wintering birds, can set up mountain lion feeding areas. Bird feeders can attract raccoons and rabbits, Wescoatt explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically a raccoon is a walking ice cream cone to a mountain lion,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can get a lot of fat and calories from a raccoon without a lot of effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wescoatt said residents who want to feed birds should keep a sharp eye on their feeders to make sure other species don\u2019t find them. If raccoons or rabbits start frequenting the feeder, it would be wise to take it down for the winter months.<\/p>\n

Other than that, the best thing that humans can do to help wildlife weather the winter is to keep their distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive them as much tranquility as you can. Every time they move they are burning calories that they really can\u2019t afford to lose to survive,\u201d Wescoatt said.<\/p>\n

Lion sightings<\/h2>\n
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A mountain lion ventures up a hillside in the Red Cliff area.
Special to the Vail Daily<\/strong>
Unknown-3-1024\u00d7928-1<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Last year there were a high number of wildlife sightings in the county, particularly in the Edwards and Wolcott areas. Earlier this week a large mountain lion was spotted along U.S. Highway 24 between Gilman and Minturn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Red Cliff area is becoming a more common area to see mountain lions,\u201d Wescoatt said. \u201cThe lions have found the deer and elk in their natural feeing areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, a number of people in the Edwards area reported seeing a mountain lion pack. That wasn\u2019t actually correct, Wescoatt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLions can hunt in family units and the young usually stay with their mother until they are a year old, so they can look like full-grown lions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A home security camera at a Vail residence also recently captured a mountain lion leaving a porch when sensory lights flipped on.<\/p>\n

Not every mountain lion sighting needs to be reported, but Wescoatt said Colorado Parks and Wildlife does want to hear about overly aggressive mountain lions or lions who seem to be seeking out people rather than avoiding them. To make a mountain lion report, call the CPW office in Glenwood Springs at 970-947-2920. To learn more about how to act when encountering a mountain lion, visit the CPW website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Official feeding<\/h2>\n
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A wounded elk climbs along a rocky area near Red Cliff, in the same vicinity as where mountain lions have been spotted.
Special to the Vail Daily<\/strong>
Unknown<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Winter is always a tough time for deer and elk to find enough to eat but, to date, this hasn\u2019t been an outstandingly harsh season. It\u2019s been 12 years since Colorado Parks and Wildlife has had to organize a feeding program for Eagle County wildlife.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a triggering mechanism that we have to assume at least 50% of the females in the group would die if we didn\u2019t supplement and feed them,\u201d Wescoatt said. \u201cPlus you have to make the determination early enough to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say the snowpack is slightly higher and the temperatures are slightly colder than normal,\u201d he continued. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a fairly normal winter wildlife loss this year, unless something changes, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week a large mountain lion was spotted along U.S. Highway 24 between Gilman and Minturn.Special to the Vail Daily EAGLE COUNTY \u2014 It\u2019s not only illegal, but it\u2019s also unwise to put out food for deer and elk. \u201cYou are basically setting up a buffet for mountain lions and creating a nuisance for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2453287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 20:48:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}