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Hi Idaho! I am considering moving to your beautiful state. I would like to live within an hour or so of Boise, but live on a few acres of land in a rural area. My dream would be to possibly see wolf, moose or elk passing through where I live from time to time. Is this possible? Or can these animals only be seen in very high elevations or Yellowstone? Thank you for your time.
I'm not anywhere near Boise, but I have a moose that hangs out in my front yard every now and again when the snow is deep in the winter. A moose goes where he wants and fears no one.
The elk and wolves are seretive and rarely seen. I very much doubt that you will see them anywhere near any sort of residential area.
Deer, wild turkeys, and coyotes all hang out in residential areas, so are more likely to be seen.
Moose and elk are in and around Stanley ID, which is about 2.5 hours from Boise, and a bit above 6,000' elevation. Plus elk are in and around Sun Valley. The elk in Stanley are not shy of humans; they hang around the hot springs right by town most of the winter and just ignore the humans and cars LOL. I can imagine both of those species moving around in summer and could get over towards Lowman and then perhaps they might get as close to Boise as Idaho City or Garden City, which are both about 1 hour from Boise, up in the mountains. There may be established herds around those 2 areas already AFAIK.
Wolves, IDK.
Winter driving to/from Idaho City is not a cakewalk when there is snow. The highway, ID21, is quite twisty with lots of exposures. Driving to Garden City is less of a challenge, but still is narrow and steep in spots. You need to expect to have AWD/4WD and its best to already have some experience in snow driving in real mountains. Or, be able to stay put when things get snowy.
First video on this page by News 6 shows the regular winter elk.
Hunting report on page says wolves in region though you are not likely to see, except maybe attacking livestock (probably at night).
"Community tour" on second Google page has some aerial photography.
Hour of Boise depends on road, traffic, weather. Garden Valley might be over an hour at least in some circumstances. Idaho City, not sure but certainly more in winter.
Those are 2 options that are close to what you want. Others would be not as far up Hwy 55 around Horseshoe Bend, Gardena or Banks. Or along the South Fork of the Boise River southeast of Boise.
There's Garden Valley, the valley, and Garden City, the city next to Boise. They are different places.
Garden Valley isn't far away from the Treasure Valley, but it's a drive, and you won't see any elk from there around Boise.
A person has to be very lucky to ever get a glimpse at a wolf. Their senses are so keen and they're so wary of humans they can be very close and you'll never spot one. They are largely nocturnal, preferring to hunt in the pre-dawn hours, and that makes them very hard to spot as well.
The packs in Yellowstone Park have all learned they can ignore humans in safety, so they tend to hunt into daylight much more than outside the park's boundaries. If you want to see wolves, the park's the place, but even then, you probably will need binoculars to see them.
Moose fear nothing, so they are easier to see. Don't ever get close to one, though, because they are quick to go after you.
A friend and I were once cutting through some woods in Teton Park, headed to the highway, when we ran into a yearling cow moose. She was only as large as a small elk, but she ran both of us up an aspen sapling barely big enough to hold us both, and did her best to knock us out of the tree for the next 3 hours.
The longest morning of my life. If either of us had fallen out of the tree we would have been dead in seconds.
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Thank you for your time.
