Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

Idaho Fish & Game reports “Mortality Signal from Radio Collared Elk Leads Fish & Game to Discovery of 15+ Dead Elk Presumably Killed by Landslide on Craig Mountain

To get a better understanding of wildlife survivability, Idaho Fish and Game wildlife staff uses data from radio collars. Those radio collars allow staff to track where the wildlife are located, their movement patterns, and where they die.

When an animal is suspected to have died, staff with the IDFG goes to the site of the last location of the collar to gather data to determine the cause of death.

On the Craig Mountain Wildlife Management Area in game management unit 11, elk is one of those species monitored by radio collar. Earlier this year, a mortality signal was received from a radio collared elk on Craig Mountain. With the data and GPS location provided by the collar, wildlife staff were able to navigate to the location of the collar, where they discovered the surprising but unfortunate story of what had occurred.

According to the Idaho Fish & Game, it appeared that at least 15 elk were traversing and side hilling near the top of a ridgeline only to be caught up in a landslide. The elk were brought down almost 1,000 feet, ultimately getting caught up in rubble, snow and boulders “the size of beach balls,” resulting in their death.

While sifting through rock and debris during the investigation, IDFG staff uncovered four radio collars.”