Winter Temperatures bring elk to lower elevations and increase food intake at Hardware Ranch

This year’s colder temperatures have increased the elk’s food intake at Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area, as more calories are needed to create body heat for cold winter nights.

When Hardware Ranch's hay crop is not adequate, as was the case this year, hay is purchased from other outside sources. However, Hardware Ranch does its best to raises adequate hay supplies to support the elk during the spring, summer and fall.

On average each elk eats 10 pounds per day, amounting to 275-300 tons for the entire population during the winter months, all of which has to be grown between late February and October.

"We do our best to make sure we have enough food for our elk but it's hard to guess how much we will need. We've gotten better over the years, but there's no real way to guess 100% accurately," Bradley Hunt, manager of Hardware Ranch said.

For the past ten years, Eric Newell has brought elementary school students on field trips to Hardware Ranch. This year he’s taken small groups of students to the ranch three days for the past two months. The students help wildlife biologists feed the elk by hauling 3,000 pounds of hay off a flat-bed sleigh, providing a total of 250 service hours this winter alone.

After spending so much time at Hardware Ranch, Newell has noticed patterns in the elk’s migration as well. “There are fewer elk on dry years and more elk on big winters,” Newell said. "During the big winters my students have a lot more work to do. Especially if Hardware Ranch has to buy hay from somewhere else— that's a lot of hay to haul."

Hardware Ranch provides Cache Valley with an opputunity to familarize with its wildlife through various youth summer programs and its elk viewing sleigh ride program.