Life

©Terry R. Thomas/www.nature-track.com

This moose calf, barely half an hour in this world, will face a lot of potentially deadly obstacles before reaching adulthood.

---

Life, I suppose, is like an endless river. At some point a freshet washes us into the river’s edge and we fight to get out of the shallows and into current. If we make it, we begin the journey, like a baby sea turtle reaching the ocean. The downstream voyage is fraught with perils and many of our compatriots are lost in whirlpools, trapped under debris, pushed into an eddy to circle endlessly, or become part of the food chain of a larger and more capable predator.

Seasonally, the river can roar like a giant pushing us well beyond our natural capabilities or dwindle to a trickle, making progress sluggish despite our thrashing about. Even if we make it through all the obstacles, eventually, like exhausted salmon, we will end up floating face down or on some beach, lives spent. No one gets out of this life alive.

This ran through my mind after watching a newly born moose calf make his first go at the world near Yale Creek subdivision in Island Park. Less than 30 minutes on Earth, the moose calf was still struggling to stand for very long. He would wobble over to his mom (he just looked like a bull calf so that is what I called him) try to find a nipple and suckle for a minute and then collapse in a heap. His huge ears, still floppy, drooped across his eyes, and this new world disappeared for a moment. This may have brought temporary relief from the overstimulation he must have been experiencing.

I can hardly imagine what his entrance into the world must have been like. There he was enjoying a wonderful warm and cozy place where he was never hungry, only to be squeezed out a narrow birth canal and dropped unceremoniously on the ground. His eyes, which had been blissfully closed and effectively blind, suddenly opened upon a world full of the strangest things, including this enormous beast that took a very caring approach to his every need.

Not only could he suddenly see, but he could hear, smell, and feel as well and those must have been crazy sensations. There was some instinct pulling him toward this giant animal but he had a hard time keeping his legs, huh, what are legs?, under him. The behemoth tenderly licked his coat dry from the fluids of his recently ended sojourn and he decided that no matter what, he was going to stick with this leviathan. In fact, he would call her, Mom.

Mother seemed equally enthralled with this tiny moose, no bigger than her head. She was attentive, making sure that she didn’t step very far from him as she warily eyed the humans on the road 40 yards away. Like grizzly 399 who raised her cubs near roads to protect them from boar grizzlies, she likely realized that humans were a mixed blessing. Yes, they did stop and stare at her a lot, but living among their houses was far safer than in the woods or meadows. There was certainly danger from those fast-moving things they rode in and she would have to teach Junior not to walk in front of them. However, wolves and lions are very uncommon amongst the people, and even bears, while they did roam the streets at night, were less common than elsewhere. If there was a place where she could raise her youngster to adulthood, it might be here.

Still, her young son was now in the current of life and Idaho research has shown that 30 percent of moose calves die before their first year. Disease, parasites, predation, and accidents are the whirlpools, undercurrents, drop-offs and rapids this calf will have to survive to continue his journey.

I found myself hopeful that life would find a way and both he and his mother would be able to negotiate the flows and rapids. I anticipate seeing them again this summer, healthy and strong.

---

Help Idaho Wildlife

When we traveled across the state in October 2017, we visited most of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game wildlife management areas. Most of the vehicles we saw using the wildlife management areas did not have wildlife plates. Buying wildlife plates is a great way for non-hunters and hunters alike to support wildlife-based recreation like birding.

C'mon folks, let's help Idaho's wildlife by proudly buying and displaying a wildlife license plate on each of our vehicles! 

See below for information on Idaho plates. Most states have wildlife plates so if you live outside Idaho, check with your state's wildlife department or vehicle licensing division for availability of state wildlife plates where you live. 

And tell them that you heard about it from Nature-track.com!

Wildlife License Plates

Great news! as of 2024, there are three NEW designs for license plates. They still are bluebird, cutthroat trout and elk, but they are beautiful.

Idaho Wildlife license plates provide essential funding that benefits the great diversity of native plants and wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped—over 10,000 species or 98% of Idaho’s species diversity. Game species that share the same habitats (such as elk, deer, antelope, sage-grouse, salmon, trout) also benefit from these specialty plates.

No state tax dollars are provided for wildlife diversity, conservation education and recreation programs. Neither are any revenues from the sale of hunting or fishing licenses spent on nongame species. Instead, these species depend on direct donations, federal grants, fundraising initiatives—and the Idaho Wildlife license plates.

Both my vehicles have Bluebird Plates. I prefer the bluebird because the nongame program gets 70 percent of the money from bluebird plates, but only 60 percent of the money from elk and trout plates - 10 percent of the money from elk plates supports wildlife disease monitoring and testing programs (to benefit the livestock industry) and 10 percent from cutthroat plates supports non-motorized boat access.

Incidentally, in 2014, the Idaho Legislature denied the Department of Fish and Game the ability to add new plates or even to change the name of the elk and cutthroat plates (very specific) to wildlife and fish plates, a move that would have allowed for changing images occasionally and generating more revenue. It would seem that they believe that we Idahoans don't want a well funded wildlife program.

I think it is time we let the Legislature know that Idahoan support wildlife funding and that we would like to see these generic plates come to fruition.