Good prey base to sustain an optimum carnivore population needs no elaboration. The core zone of STR is a relatively large area and has the potential to support an ecologically sound predator-prey system. Presently various ungulate populations occur at relatively low densities. Therefore, instead of waiting for a natural increase in ungulate populations, which would take a relatively long time, the STR management took a proactive approach for the augmentation of chital population in the protected area by capturing and transporting them from Pench tiger reserve where they occur at a relatively high density. Besides, being the most common and numerous, the chital was a natural choice for prey supplementation.
The details of chital augmentation at STR are as under:
| Year | From | To | Male | Female | Fawn | Total |
| 2016 | Pench Tiger Reserve, Seoni | Satpura Tiger Reserve, Narmadapuram | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 2017 | 23 | 313 | 3 | 339 | ||
| 2018 | 20 | 198 | 1 | 219 | ||
| 2019 | 24 | 92 | 1 | 117 | ||
| 2020 | 105 | 122 | 3 | 230 | ||
| 2021 | 74 | 168 | 5 | 247 | ||
| 2022 | 76 | 300 | 5 | 381 | ||
| Total | 330 | 1218 | 19 | 1567 | ||