BROWNVILLE JUNCTION – As many as 150 deer congregate in Eli Zwicker Jr.’s yard at the height of the Maine winter. Their long eyelashes and hairy chins dusted with snow, the graceful animals feed on more than 13 tons of grain Zwicker puts out for them every year. His teenage children have grown up with the deer, he said.

“We’ve had people from all over New England who come to the dooryard just to look at them,” Zwicker said. “Everybody seems to enjoy the deer.”

Yet biologists, worried that high deer densities near people’s homes aggravate countless existing problems such as car crashes and disease, are recommending that people not feed deer this winter.

Deer don’t need our help, said Gerry Lavigne, a biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife who specializes in white-tailed deer.

“People think that they’re continually providing emergency rations for a deer population that’s in peril,” he said. “That’s just not true. There are no places in Maine where we have deer at [population] levels above what the habitat will support.”

Maine has about 3,000 natural deer yards, areas of mature forest where a canopy of mixed trees keeps the snow shallow so deer may feed on low shrubs and the branches and nuts that fall from the tops of cedar, maple, oak and fir trees.

Traditionally, fawns are taught by their mothers how to migrate to these areas for winter food. But with an ever-growing increase in the popularity of deer watching, hundreds of Mainers are feeding deer and changing the natural order.

Lavigne’s biggest concern, and the reason why several Midwestern states have considered outright bans on deer feeding, is a highly contagious ailment called chronic wasting disease. While Maine’s whitetails are not known to be infected with the fatal brain disease, the high deer densities at man-made feeding areas tend to spread all kinds of disease.

In Michigan in the mid-1990s, an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis in the white-tailed deer herd was linked to deer feeding. Here in Maine, mange, a skin ailment that causes deer to lose their fur, has been spread at feeding stations.

With densities as great as 500 deer per square mile, feeding sites can be as much as five times more crowded than a deer’s natural winter habitat.

“The odds of two deer putting their mouths on the same bit of greenery is much lower [in a natural deer yard] than at a feeding station where hundreds of deer will be mouthing the same spot,” Lavigne said.

Natural deer yards also provide more protection from predators like coyotes and bobcats. Deer are creatures of habit and follow one another down trails, Lavigne explained. In a natural deer yard, several miles of well-trodden trails through the snow might provide escape routes, but manmade feeding stations tend to be smaller so the deer have fewer options.

Finally, the biologist is concerned that winter feeding exacerbates the problematic side of human-deer interactions. Feed draws the deer down from their traditional wintering grounds and closer to highways, resulting in a significant increase in the number of car accidents near some feeding sites. Near one feeding station at The Forks, some 70 crashes occurred last winter, Lavigne said.

Lavigne fears this boom in deer feeding has changed the interactions between humans and deer. He links an increase in the amount of land where hunting is not allowed to deer watchers who have begun to see the local wildlife as pets.

“It has more disadvantages than advantages in the long run,” Lavigne said.

But despite the biologist’s efforts during the past decade, deer feeding may be too popular to be stopped.

Rural and, increasingly, suburban residents like to watch the deer from their homes. Inns and restaurants benefit from customers drawn in by a few resident deer. One town in western Maine, Wilson’s Mills, has provided funds for deer feeding in its municipal budget for more than 50 years.

So this winter, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has produced a video and brochure that tells Mainers not only the arguments against feeding deer, but also the way to do it right.

“We recognize that winter feeding is an important activity for a lot of people … if people do choose to feed deer, they can take precautions to minimize the negative impacts,” Lavigne said.

Feed should be placed at least a half-mile from any paved road, and should be set out in several small piles to reduce the risk of disease. Ideally, feeding should take place in or near natural wintering areas.

The biggest mistake people make is not providing the right type of food. With current worries over chronic wasting disease, feed choice is particularly important this winter, Lavigne said.

Wild deer should be given only feed that is produced and marketed for ruminants, hoofed mammals such as domestic deer, goats, sheep or cows.

Following a 1997 scare over mad cow disease, the federal Food and Drug Administration banned the use of dead ruminants in the production of this feed. Presumably, the rule also will protect against the spread of closely related chronic wasting disease. Feed marketed for other livestock, such as pigs, chickens and horses, may contain ruminant flesh and is not considered safe for deer.

The commercial feed, as well as apples or raw grains such as corn or oats – which Zwicker uses – will meet a deer’s nutritional needs. Other popular food sources, including lettuce, potatoes, hay and mixed table scraps, just don’t provide enough protein and sugars.

“Deer can die of starvation with a full belly,” Lavigne said.

Timing is also crucial. Once you start feeding deer, they become dependent, and after a few seasons may even lose the knowledge of where their traditional wintering grounds were located.

Each deer needs between 2 pounds and 3 pounds of grain every day – a cost that can run into thousands of dollars in some places. Feed has to be introduced just after hunting season while deer are still healthy, and must continue until spring greenery emerges in April or May, Lavigne said.

For more information about deer feeding or to order the $10 video, contact DIF&W at 287-8000 or check out the Web site at www.mefishwildlife.com.