STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Eric and Shaylin Heywood were puzzled by the clicking sound they heard as their seven reindeer walked around their 18-acre ranch near Little Wood Reservoir.

Their concern soon turned to amazement as they learned that the clicking sound was that of tendons snapping over the bones in the reindeer’s feet. And it was perfectly normal.

“It enables them to hear and follow the other reindeer when they can’t see them in a blizzard,” said Shaylin.

As the new parents of a reindeer herd, the Heywoods are learning that there’s more to reindeer than a magical creature that pulls Santa’s sleigh.

They’ve learned that reindeer are the only members of the deer family in which both males and females grow antlers. They’ve learned that those antlers are filled with blood and marrow and that they’re covered in a velvety fur that the reindeer eventually rub off.

And they’ve learned that reindeer are one of the few animals that can see ultraviolet light—a feat that helps them see what others cannot to survive predators in the harsh Arctic environment.

“They have these big gold eyes in the summer when the sun is shining. But they turn a deep blue in the winter as their pupils dilate to help them capture more light in the Arctic darkness,” said Eric, who works at Valley Club in Hailey.

The Heywoods grew up on ranches but were-more familiar with the usual assortment of cows, sheep, goats and even llamas when they decided to buy seven reindeer from a reindeer farm in Crystal Lake, Minn.

“It started as a joke over morning coffee,” said Eric. “I asked Shaylin what she was thinking about and she said, ‘I’m thinking about how it would be to look out and see reindeer on our ranch.’ Now that we have them, I think the whole thing is pretty wild. I come out here all the time and stand in awe.”

As the Carey couple began researching reindeer, they learned that there were about 47 reindeer farms in the United States stretching from Leavenworth, Wash., to Bowling Green, Ky.

“It was supposed to be a three-year waiting list, but we got them in two years,” said Shaylin, who runs the couple’s High Desert Sports business in Hailey.

The reindeer, birthed at a farm that has supplied deer for the Mall of America and The Discovery Channel, weighed between 8 and 12 pounds at birth. They grew to 90 pounds within a few months,   thanks to the 24 percent milk fat in reindeer milk compared with 4 percent in Jersey cows.

They’re now between 125 and 150 pounds, four feet long and three feet high.

Their antlers are thin and spindly. And, with age, Shaylin expects the antlers will twist around one another like candy canes.

Their crescent-shaped cloven hooves act like snowshoes in deep snow, with their foot pads becoming sponge-like when conditions are wet and their four toes becoming tougher in winter to keep from slipping on ice.

The Sami of Lapland have long relied on reindeer for everything, eating and drinking their meat and milk, using their coarse hide for clothing and hitching them to sleighs for transportation. The Heywoods, by contrast, want to display them at various events and open their ranch to school groups and others.

The reindeers’ first gig will be the Carey Christmas Tree Lighting.

Each of the reindeer has his or her own personality. Twinkles is the affectionate extrovert, quick to let others pet or hug her. Lena is the big sister of the bunch. Diamond is shy, and Ellie—the biggest one—is the Queen Bee who rules the herd. Monroe, the smallest is the mischievous one, sometimes taking cheap shots at the others.

“They’re very curious animals, said Shaylin, observing how Twinkles is quick to check out a stranger’s camera. “They love cold weather. When a big storm is coming, they start running around like crazy. And, when I’m late feeding them, they honk at me.”

Reindeer often eat lichen in the wild. But the Heywoods feed them a ration of beet pulp, grain, corn and oats supplemented with alfalfa. The reindeer eat only the leaves—not the stems.

“This journey has been amazing—a lot of work but a lot of fun,” said Eric.

Shaylin concurred. “They’re magic. They’re absolute sweethearts and they bring out the inner child in all of us.”

Sawtooth Reindeer is a member of the Reindeer Owners and Breeders Association and Reindeer Farmers Association, and the Heywoods are in the process of obtaining full USDA certification. To learn more, call 208-721-1459 or email info@sawtoothreindeer.com.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Averell Harriman, who had the vision for making Sun Valley a destination ski resort, brought several reindeer to Sun Valley from Alaska in 1937 shortly after the resort opened.

  He hired a reindeer handler to take care of them and drive guests on sleigh rides. But the reindeer proved cantankerous and they were finicky eaters—tundra had to be brought in from Alaska for them to eat. The resort finally sent them home after one of the reindeer bit Santa Claus in front of children.

• As late as 2009 there were 46 caribou in the Selkirk Mountains of Northern Idaho. Called the Grey Ghosts because they were so rarely seen, they were relocated to Revelstoke, B.C., after their numbers began dwindling due to increased snowmobiling, logging roads, run-ins with automobile and cougar and wolf depredation.
• Reindeer transported war supplies supplied by North America along an 800-mile route from the Russian port of Murmansk through blizzards in minus-30-degree temperatures under threat from German attack.