Nearly every day, they come looking for a meal at the Warm Springs Ranch Restaurant.
But these particular four-legged patrons are not welcome by everyone.
A herd of approximately 80 elk have been wintering in northwest Ketchum on the Warm Springs Ranch property, owned by Sun Valley Ventures.
Warm Springs Ranch representative Henry Dean said neighbors have complained to him about "his" elk feeding on lawns and landscaping.
"But they're not my elk," he said. "We are in the middle of it whether we like it or not."
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is planning to relocate the herd incrementally over the next several years, despite opposition from many hunters and North Valley residents who have for years fed the animals.
A corral-style trap baited with hay and feed pellets will be moved this winter to the Warm Springs area.
Of the 25 to 50 elk planned for removal this winter, most calves and young bulls will be relocated to a department-sponsored feed site near Frenchman's Bend, further up Warm Springs Creek. Cows will be moved to a more distant site, Fish and Game officials say, but they have not yet determined where.
The Wood River Valley is a wildlife winter range, but increased development has depleted much of that range, according to Fish and Game. Elk numbers have consistently exceeded what they consider sustainable.
Although "trap and transplant" operations are used by Fish and Game as a last resort, this winter's project is considered necessary, said Regan Berkley, regional wildlife biologist with the department's Jerome office.
"Last winter the effort was made to stop feeding and see what happened," she said. "The elk moved into town and did a lot of damage. There's not a lot of ways to wean elk from feeding operations."
Additionally, relocation of elk habituated to feed sites targets only those animals that rely on human-provided feed, and not the entire population.
"We want to change habits of certain individuals," Berkley said. "Changing hunting season would be less likely to achieve that because it's a relatively small population congregating (in an urban setting)."
But not everyone thinks the elk should go.
Elk hunter and Blaine County resident Peter Bloomfield said feeding elk in the North Valley is necessary because of development's encroachment on winter ranges.
"Up north, we've been blocking their migratory routes," he said. "They just get stopped by all this development."
Winter range still exists near Bellevue, he said, "but there's no range up north."
Retired Fish and Game conservation officer Lee Frost agrees that transferring elk should be the last option.
"It's never a good idea to relocate a wild animal," he said. "Their best chance for success is to leave them in the area where they were born and raised."
Because trapping always takes place in the winter, elk will be moved to unfamiliar territory during harsh conditions, which can hinder the operation's success, he added.
"It's always a crap shoot," he said.
Some Fish and Game feeding operations during his 29 years with the agency were the result of public pressure, he said.
"Feeding elk was a huge mistake," he said. "Once you start feeding them, you create a forever problem. Left to their own devices, they'll generally disperse on their own."
"People like the elk," he added. "They like it when they can look out their windows and see the elk, even if they're not wintering in the best area. (People) don't want to hear about (elk) population dynamics and viability. They want to save the elk they see on the hill ... and out comes the hay."
According to a Fish and Game news release, issued Wednesday, Nov. 30, winter feeding is detrimental to elk in a number of ways. It lures them away from the remaining natural winter range in the Wood River corridor. It interrupts natural migrations. It increases the density of animals congregating at feed sites, which facilitates the spread of disease and attracts predators. And it increases animal-vehicle collisions.
For two decades, owners of the Warm Springs Golf Course operated a private elk-feeding operation.
When Sun Valley Ventures bought the property, they contacted Fish and Game for help in creating a more "tenable, long-term" solution, according to the department.
Dean met with the Department of Fish and Game this week to discuss the relocation plan.
"We continue to work with them in trapping the elk," Dean said. "It's a Fish and Game problem and program. It's not a developer issue. They came up with this themselves. (But) we are assisting them in the execution of their program."
Sun Valley Ventures will pay Fish and Game to build the elk traps, he added.
"Clearly, they are a nuisance," he said, "because they go into the neighborhood and eat everybody's bushes. They can devastate your backyard overnight."
The absence of the elk will be felt acutely by one local business.
Lawrence Kimball, co-owner of Warm Springs Sleigh Ride and a lifelong hunter, was told last winter to stop feeding the animals.
Elk sightings are a thrill for his customers, he said. Without feed, sightings—and opportunities to learn about elk—decreased.
He maintains that feeding elk is a solution for animals that find themselves trapped between the River Run and Warm Springs bases of Bald Mountain and cannot find food on their own.
"The only way to keep them out is to catch them above Warm Springs ... or feed them earlier before they get across Baldy," he said.
This year, Sun Valley Ventures opted not to lease him the land to run the sleighs, he said.
He's currently looking for another site for sleigh rides in the mid-valley. But holiday visitors are looking to make plans now.
"If I don't have an ad in the paper soon for sleigh rides," he said, "we'll have an ad in the paper selling work horses, sleighs included."
Elk often bed down like living lawn ornaments during winter in the Warm Springs area. Photo by Willy Cook
