For the week of December 17 - 23, 2003

Live with winter wildlife

Fish and Game offers advice

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"Elk are a very hearty animal. When wildlife die in a rough winter, elk are one of the last to go."

— KELTON HATCH, Idaho Department of Fish and Game information and education specialist

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The most common complaint Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials hear from residents each winter is that animals in neighboring elk herds are starving.

Deer and elk commonly dig into easily accessible food sources during winter months. Sources include landscaping, pet food and drying alfalfa. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Unless it’s the hardest of winters, that perception is probably not true, said Kelton Hatch, Fish and Game’s Magic Valley Region information and education specialist.

"Elk are a very hearty animal," he said. "When wildlife die in a rough winter, elk are one of the last to go."

Hatch spoke on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at a sparsely attended meeting at the Environmental Resource Center in Ketchum. His presentation, called "Living With Winter Wildlife," was designed to build awareness about the needs and habits of South Central Idaho’s animals during the long, cold months of winter.

The most serious problem for the Wood River Valley’s wildlife is the continued expansion of human development, Hatch said.

Historically, deer, elk, and the animals that prey on them have moved to the relative shelter of the valley floors during winter. The valleys have more water and food and less snow than the animals’ mountainous summer range.

But as people have moved in, the traditional wintering areas have vanished, Hatch said. What remains is tight quarters that produce inherent conflicts between private property owners and animals that are wintering in the back yards of multi-million-dollar homes.

For that reason, Fish and Game does something it strongly discourages others to do: It feeds the elk.

"We feed them to protect the elk from people, and the people from the elk," Hatch said. "Many traditional wintering areas are gone."

Fish and Game has a feeding site about 10 miles west of Ketchum along Warm Springs Creek. The only reason the agency feeds there is to attract animals that would otherwise descend on the back yards of Wood River Valley residents.

Feeding operations come with their inherent problems, Hatch said. They attract predators, promote the spread of disease and can attract enough animals to damage the vegetation or yard of a feeding area. For those reasons, Fish and Game frowns on several private feeding operations throughout the area.

But the Wood River Valley isn’t all deer and elk.

Moose are a "major problem and pretty dangerous, too," Hatch said.

Mountain goats are a delicate animal that conserves strength to make it thorough difficult winters at high elevations.

"When people see wild animals, you need to view them from a distance. You don’t need to walk up to them and smell its breath."

Hatch offered the following tips to getting through the winter with as few problems as possible:

• Report large numbers of congregated
  animals to Fish and Game.
  
   
• Slow down when driving and look for eye reflections.
  
   
• Protect yard plants and wrap trees with fencing.
  
   
• Control your dogs.
  
   
• Never feed wildlife.
  
   
• Protect hay from deer and elk.

 

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