Bait lines established in Caribou County

Idaho Fish and Game Department officers are creating an elk bait site on the west side of the Ninety Percent Range in Caribou County. The step was authoriezed by the Idaho Winter Feeding Advisory Council to bait approximately 200 elk from a landowner’s property.

There has been no winter-feeding emergency declared for wildlife in southeast Idaho.

The baiting effort will help alleviate interaction between a herd of elk and a landowner’s livestock. The concern is that elk will come into livestock feedlines. Ranchers are concerned about the potential for spreading brucellosis or other disease that can be transmitted between elk and livestock.

The volunteer advisory committee has been closely monitoring the weather and its impacts on wintering wildlife throughout the region. Fish and Game staff has also been making observation on big game animal movements and potential human conflicts.

According to Fish and Game, animals appear to be in good condition for the time of year and are fairly spread out across their winter range. Though snow is deep in some areas, they say exposed vegetation and access to areas with shallow or windswept slopes is available.

Biologists are slow to initiate winter feeding because it can be detrimental to wildlife, by congregating animals into places that disease could be transmitted. Young animals sometimes can’t compete for food and the concentration of animals can draw in predators like coyotes and mountain lions.