PRAIRIE CITY – Last summer’s drought and this winter’s heavy snows have taken a toll on the natural forage for elk, and now they’re turning to ranchers’ haystacks.

Earlier this month, complaints about the hay losses prompted the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to take an unusual step. The agency started feeding some 300 elk that have gathered on the Oxbow Ranch south of Prairie City.

Ryan Torland, ODFW district wildlife biologist based in Canyon City, said his crews began taking alfalfa hay out to the site a few weeks ago. They leave the hay out where it will draw the elk away from the private stacks.

Torland said the haystack problems had their start in mid-January, as the cold and snowy conditions continued across the region. The elk started getting hungry, and the complaints about damage to haystacks started rolling into the ODFW.

“When you get several hundred elk coming in to a haystack, they can cause some damage,” he said.

He said about 300 elk have been bedding down on the Oxbow. They have pushed through fences to get to the hay stored in the fields there.

So far, Torland said, the feeding is working to curb further damage. It will continue as much as a month, depending on the weather and forage conditions.

The hope is that when the snow melts and the natural vegetation begins to green up, the elk will prefer their normal diet to haystacks.

Torland stressed that feeding elk is a “last resort,” used only after hazing and other efforts fail to chase the animals away from the haystacks. He said in this case, the agency tried hazing, put out some hunters and basically “ran through the gauntlet” of techniques to discourage the elk.

Feeding isn’t a good idea for the elk, he said, and it wouldn’t be physically or financially feasible for the agency to do it widely.

Instead, ODFW encourages landowners to use tall fencing and mesh netting to protect their haystacks. This year, however, the elk pressure has been more intense than usual.

“People just weren’t prepared for this amount of damage,” he said.

ODFW also urges residents, whether on ranches or in town, to refrain from feeding elk or deer, as it habituates them to people and also may prevent them from getting the natural fodder that is better for their health.

Torland also advised people to stay away from the elk feeding operation.

“People are asking, ‘Can I go watch them?'” he said. The answer is “no,” as most of the feeding takes place at night – and on private land, with no public access.

In addition, the last thing wildlife crews want is for sight-seers to shoo the elk right back to the haystacks.