Back in the Lewis and Clark days there was little reason for the animals to migrate high into the mountains. They could literally spend the entire year on the winter range so long as the feed was there and fire didn’t push them off of it.
I’ve noticed that we are starting to see a bit of a return to this behavior as the housing developments replace the farmland that used to be in the winter ranges. Now that they are not being hunted in some of these areas there is no reason for them to move off of the winter ranges and the year around watering ensures plenty of feed. Lots of towns with year around elk heard that never used to be.
yup. drive through North Bend. Parking medians are a good rumenating spot, apparently.
A big part of that is escaping wolves and cougars by staying closer to humans and farming/ranching.
I know that has been the case in Idaho and Montana and is probably part of the issue on the east side but on the west side the predators are right down in the development areas and we don’t have many wolves yet. We see a significant amount of hunting pressure in the public woods and I think that has a lot to do with them staying where it is safe. Years ago they would get hunted in the areas around Buckley, Enumclaw, Lake Tapps and Orting but now that there is little to no hunting in those areas the elk just stay there year round.
