DAYVILLE – The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have postponed an October wild horse gather.

The two agencies have temporarily canceled the wild horse gather which was set to take place in the Murderers Creek area this month. The agencies last performed a gather in the Murderers Creek area last December and January.

Blue Mountain District Ranger Brooks Smith said he expects the gather to occur later in the year.

“We hope that we will be able to move forward with this gather sometime within the next year,” Smith said.

The Forest Service cited possible interference with deer hunters as a reason for the delay. The gather process involves helicopters and people on helicopter that could upset hunters. Deer rifle season opened Oct. 4 and runs through Oct. 15.

“The helicopters that we use can tend to stir up other wildlife such as deer and we want to cause as little controversy as possible,” Malheur National Forest Public Affairs Specialist Pattie Hammett said.

The Forest Service and BLM also mentioned severe shortages in long-term horse holding facilities as a reason for the postponement. The BLM wild horse and burro program is suffering budget setbacks because it has too many horses in long-term care.

The horse program will face a shortfall of more than $3 million this year alone, according to Gary McFadden, a wild horse specialist at the BLM’s Burns district. There are currently more than 30,000 horses in long term holding facilities. McFadden said the Burns corrals currently house around 165 horses, roughly one third of its total capacity.

However, the facility will not be accepting more horses or holding more gathers accept in emergency situations such as when horses are dying due to sickness or food shortages. The BLM is currently operating on stopgap funding because Congress did not pass an appropriations bill according to Tom Gorey of the BLM.

The gather last December and January rounded up 135 horses, roughly 25 percent of the Murderers Creek herd.Forest Service range land management specialist Kelly Ware said there were about 520 horses in the area, up from the 2006 horseback census of 436 horses. The herd grows by about 20 percent a year.

The Murderers Creek Wild Horse Territory/Herd Management Area Management Plan of 2007 set the target number of horses for the area at just 50 to 140. With significantly more horses in the Murderers Creek area, the gather was necessary, Ware said.

“The 50 to 140 number is based on keeping enough horses for genetic diversity and keeping the herd alive, as well as keeping the ecological impact down,” Ware said. “The area is used by other wildlife as well as people.”

McFadden said if gathers aren’t held in the future, it could affect cattle grazing and other wildlife in the Murderers Creek area.