Experts warn feeding deer spreads illness; Increasing cases of fatal chronic wasting disease concern scientists.(Main)

Byline: KATHARINE WEBSTER Associated Press

MILAN, N.H. - As a group of white-tailed deer hesitates at the edge of the woods, logger Rick Gagne strides across his yard with a bucket of molasses-sweetened grain calling, "Come on! Come on and eat!"

Gagne tosses some feed onto the snow and, one by one, the does and fawns venture into the open to grab a few mouthfuls. Wary of strangers, they stay only a minute or two before running back into the woods, white tails flashing.

So many people feed deer in far northern New Hampshire during winter that wildlife biologists say all deer get some commercial feed in their diets.

"You'll get one person who starts feeding, another sees it, and it's like a chain reaction," said Will Staats, state wildlife biologist for Coos County.

Wildlife experts have long discouraged feeding, saying it makes the …