The area between Boise and Mountain Home sporadically gets elk herds during winter. It’s more weather driven than development driven. They don’t seem to mind the freeway traffic whizzing by, and in past years, they’ve staked out that area and remained there for periods of time during heavy snowfall. Then as weather conditions improved, they wandered back up in elevation, which moved them away from the freeway.
Those elk come from as far away as the Sawtooths and often winter on the south slopes of the mountains/Foothills you see between Boise and Mountain Home. Many end up on the Boise River Wildlife Management Area, which provides wintering range for thousands of deer and elk. The WMA encompasses 36,000 acres in the Boise Foothills, around Lucky Peak Reservoir and to the east to Blacks Creek Road. The WMA provides a lot of space for big game, but not all of them choose to winter there.
The elk herds that winter to the east tend to live at mid elevations north of the freeway and move down when the snow gets deep. There are numerous cattle ranches north of the freeway, and the elk have been known to get into haystacks and get run out of there, which could move them closer to the freeway. Or like the pronghorn that frequent that same area, they may just like it there.
As for forage, it’s pretty sparse, but elk don’t need a lot during winter. They can survive largely off the fat stored during summer, which is one reason you will see them bedded in one spot for many days. They’re resting and saving their energy.
Chances are good that with this warmer weather and snow melting off those mid elevations, the elk will wander away from the freeway and head back into the Foothills.