Critics hate ranch's guts

Increased bear activity near Island Park may be due to discarded elk innards left by a hunting operation. Agencies are investigating.

By ROB THORNBERRY
rthornberry@postregister.com

Don Sherick is afraid his neighbor is going to get somebody killed.

Sherick owns land near Meadow Creek Ranch, a high-fenced hunting operation near Island Park, and during the past four years he's seen a marked increase in grizzlies.

He said bears are flocking there to feed on the guts of the elk that are being killed daily in the pen. He's witnessed several feasting on the remains, which are dumped on private property just outside the pen, also known as the Velvet Elk Ranch at Meadow Creek Lodge.

The rendering area is yards from the Caribou-Targhee National Forest boundary.

"I think this is a major public safety issue ...," Sherick said Monday.

Others share Sherick's concerns about the gut pile.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has received four complaints this year about the elk guts attracting bears. Some of the complaints said bears were seen eating the remains.

The Idaho Department of Agriculture, which regulates high-fenced hunting, also has received a complaint about the gut pile. Ag official John Chatburn said Monday the department is now investigating how the ranch is disposing of animals.

Efforts to reach Ferguson for comment were unsuccessful Monday.

Bear activity has definitely increased in that area. So much so that U.S. Forest Service workers are going door to door telling people to properly store their garbage and food.

Fish and Game officials say there could be as many as seven grizzlies within five miles of the pen. Steve Schmidt, Fish and Game's regional supervisor, said biologists have identified four bears visually and found three others with radio transmitters.

The department also is investigating the link between a Sept. 17 grizzly mauling in Island Park and Ferguson's operation, which brought in 167 elk last year.

Tennessee hunter Derek Fesmire, 37, was attacked by a sow with a cub roughly a half-mile northeast of the pen, where people pay to shoot domestic elk with large antlers.

With Fesmire leading the way, Fish and Game Conservation Officer John Hanson visited the location of the mauling late in the day Sept. 17, Schmidt said.

"Our officer who investigated the bear attack said that when they were standing on the site of the bear attack, that at times they could smell what appeared to be rotting flesh," Schmidt said.

In his report about the incident, Hanson also "observed an adult grizzly bear approximately 75 yards from the road. The location is in the same area where the Meadow Creek Ranch operation discards elk parts."

Hanson didn't approach the rendering area because of "no trespassing" signs.

On Sunday, ranch officials gutted a freshly killed bull elk within 75 yards of the county road, the guts visible from the road after the two-man crew left with the carcass.

In two hours, no bears visited the guts, but eight trucks stopped, all aware bears were visiting the gut pile.

Chris Ourada's family owns a nearby cabin, and he also worries about people getting hurt.

"I would think guts are a bigger attractant than garbage," he said, referring to the Forest Service's ongoing push to keep problem bears out of trash cans.

Department of Agriculture rules lay out a number of ways to dispose of dead animals, including burial.

The rules allow 72 hours to dispose of remains.

Chatburn said the Ag Department and the Idaho attorney general's office are reviewing the dead animal rules in response to the complaint.

Sherick believes the rules are "totally ineffective."

"There is a continuous supply of food for bears," Sherick said. "We are pulling in extra bears into this bait station. They are staying longer, and we are training them to not be afraid. All of those are problems to people living in the area."