I don't know where you got the idea this is a bad time of year to look at animals, but you're wrong. Yes, they won't be in their typical summer habitat but their winter range is lower down, closer to more roads. Depending on what sort of country you wanted to look at you travel path could vary. Personally I'd head up through Lewiston and turn south to cut through McCall or head further east and make the turn south once you hit 93. There's a lot of animals to be seen in the flats and desert this time of year from the Arco on west along the foothills through Castle Rocks. Another good option would be cutting through the South Hills and Owyhee river country for finding some of the animals migrating down out of Nevada. For simply looking at animals, winter is a great time.
