'It's your deer, you feed them': Local farmer loses financial compensation for feed eaten by wild deer

Pilot Butte, Sask. -

Pilot Butte area farmer David Farden has been feeding more than just his horses as of late and now thanks to a rule change by the province, it will cost him more as well.

“I don't mind feeding a few deer, but we're numbering here in the daylight hours, 30 deer and more,” he said.

In years past, he'd be compensated by the provincial government, but now because he’s technically retired and not making any money off his horses, he will not receive money from the province to make up for the feed consumed by deer.

“It'll be [in the] hundreds, but how [much]? How [many] hundreds? I don't know,” he said.

Farden said he’s had conversations with both the Ministry of Agriculture and Crop Insurance.

“I said, ‘it's your deer, you feed them.’ They decide what to charge for a hunting license and when you [can hunt] and everything and then they get people like me to pay for it. That's just not fair,” Farden said.

The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation said large herds of deer aren’t uncommon this time of year.

“We have reports and we have pictures of some herds well into the hundreds actually, right now. They herd up together because it makes finding food a lot easier as the multiple deer [are] moving around and pawing the ground or trying to find food,” executive director Darrell Crabbe said.

Farden doesn't agree with the ruling.

“It's their deer and yet you feed them, they don't want to have anything to do with it.”