ALERT: Mild Winter Brings Elk Closer to Roads and Farms in Idaho

The weather is mild, and the impact on wildlife is clear in their behavior.  Some herds haven’t come down from higher elevations, and others are feeding on the Camas Prairie because there’s minimal snowpack.  There are concerns with Idaho Fish and Game about a repeat of last year's incident, when an estimated thousand elk were dining near Bliss.  It impacted planting and jeopardized some crops.

Idaho Fish and Game also suggests you don’t feed ungulates (hooved animals).  It brings them closer to roads, and it attracts predators close to your home.  In the first video, a spokesman for the agency also recommends that you don’t get close to the animals for pictures.  One suggestion is to get a powerful lens and take a picture from a distance.  Getting close to wildlife is dangerous not only for the animal, but for you as well.  Not all the idiots are inside the confines of Yellowstone National Park, where every year a tourist or two gets tossed.  The second video delves even more into our interactions with elk.

By the way, in our bi-monthly on-air conversation with Fish and Game, we talked about a project underway to reduce the threat from cheatgrass, which increases the possibility.  In what’s shaping up to be a dry year, the invasive weed will be one of the first to green up in the spring.  For about two weeks, it can be controlled by grazing cattle and sheep, but what’s not eaten dries and quickly becomes fuel for the fire season.