Boise River Excursion

This evening I was went out for a drive to look for wildlife, along the foothills of the Boise River Front. Many of the south facing slopes and flats along the Boise River are prime wintering grounds for elk and deer. The reason for this is, the deep snows in the higher mountains drive the big game animals to lower elevations, where they are better able to find the grasses and shrubs they feed on. My course took me east of Boise, Idaho up to Luck Peak and then on past Arrowrock Dam. The foothills are mostly open prairie, with deep narrow canyons and very steep slopes. There are few trees in the foothills, except in the creek bottoms and pine and fir trees are generally found on north facing slope. As you move north in the foothills the forest cover increases dramatically.

I spotted numerous deer, around 160, especially on the lower slopes and on the flats near the Boise river. The deer seemed to be everywhere and I gave up counting them, because I was mainly looking for elk. The deer were mostly in small herds of 6 to 10 animals. They appeared to be wintering well and looked healthy. They all had their heads down and were busy browsing on shrubs.

The elk were mostly grazing high on the mountain slopes near the tops of the ridges, on south facing slopes, and I saw 31 of them in two different herds, 3 in one herd and 28 in the other. The elk seemed to be staying on the steeper slopes and they appeared very healthy.

The herding instinct is a survival technique used by grazing animals. When they graze or browse, they are vulnerable to attack by predators but in a herd they collectively can keep watch for each other. If a predator attacks they are also safer in a herd, as it increases their chance of survival. Predators tend to select one animal to attack, and they try to drive this animal away from the rest of the herd. Of course a sick or injured animal is quickly singled out by the predator because that animal cannot keep up with the herd. Predators cull the herds, leaving the strongest animals to reproduce, which in effect makes the herds genetically stronger and better able to survive the deep snows of winter.

I also may have spotted a Golden Eagle, flying high above the ridge tops.