Just as he did on Jan. 24, Roger Olson of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game waited patiently on Tuesday as 28 elk passed unwittingly through an open door and into a corral-style enclosure erected for an ongoing IDFG trap and transplant operation.
When the last of the 28 elk had entered the corral, located on Warm Springs Ranch near Ketchum, Olson gave a sharp tug on a rope and the open door slammed shut. Locked inside were 19 cows, eight calves and one lone six-point bull.
The IDFG officers' first action was to tranquilize the bull to allow them to safely cut off its antlers to prevent anyone from being injured.
Before the Jan. 24 trapping operation, IDFG officers had estimated that upwards of 100 elk were inhabiting the Warm Springs Golf Course. Tuesday's operation—which is likely the second of three Fish and Game trapping operations—brings to 55 the number of elk that have been captured there and released at sites outside the Wood River Valley.
Before they're released, the elk are tested for brucellosis—a disease that affects ungulates and some fear might infect domestic cattle—and have their ears tagged. None of the elk captured so far have tested positive for brucellosis.
In anticipation of the trapping operation, Fish and Game recently set up a temporary feeding station on the 77-acre Warm Springs Ranch property, owned by development group Sun Valley Ventures. Elk have been fed on the Warm Springs Golf Course for more than 20 years.
So far, all signs indicate that the elk transplanted on Jan. 24 have remained near their new surroundings just as IDFG officials had hoped. As of noon on Tuesday, none of the elk released last week had returned to the Warm Springs Golf Course.
Such isn't always the case, however. Experience has shown that elk will sometimes journey miles back to their original capture site only days after being released.
The decision by Fish and Game to move the elk was made after Sun Valley Ventures indicated it would cooperate in the project. Fish and Game maintains that the elk have been congregating unnaturally at Warm Springs because of feeding operations there in the past, and some area residents have complained that elk damage landscaping and pose a hazard on city roads.
Recent aerial surveys conducted by IDFG indicate the Wood River Valley elk herd is wintering quite well despite this winter's heavy snows, said Randy Smith, Idaho Fish and Game wildlife manager for the Magic Valley region. Smith said IDFG uses a complex computer-generated "sightability model" to estimate the true number of elk in an area.
"Obviously, when you're flying over this country you don't see all the elk," he said.
The computer model uses well-established data that accounts for the elk that are not seen due to aspects like movement and vegetation and snow cover, Smith said.
The findings of the recent aerial surveys also indicate several positive signs that point to a healthy local elk herd, he said. One, the herd's size is growing, and two, the ratio of bulls to cows and calves to cows is quite high, Smith said.
Still, the best indication of how the local elk have done this winter will be visible by late March, he said. "But, yeah, they seem to be doing well this winter," Smith added.
The elk captured on Tuesday were transported in IDFG horse trailers to two separate release sites. The cows were taken to a distant location off Bennett Mountain Road north of Glenn's Ferry. The remaining calves and bull elk were taken to IDFG's Bullwhacker feed site located farther up Warm Springs Creek.
Idaho Fish and Game officers cut off the antlers of a bull elk that was captured during a trap and transplant operation near Ketchum on Tuesday. The antlers were cut off as a safety measure for the officers, who were also conducting several health tests on the elk. Photo by Willy Cook
