The addiction dates back 15 years, to an infant named Dolly.
All Vi Sargent had to do was touch her."I could have had a diamond ring - two or three carats," Vi Sargent explains of her choice between buying a wobbly legged elk calf or jewelry. "Nothing could have ever taken her place."
Dolly was as far as this animal passion was supposed to go. Until Sargent decided Dolly should have a mate.
Now Sargent and partner Dean Hiatt have 47 animals on their 91-acre Selkirk Mountain Elk Ranch north of Bonners Ferry. Eight of them, including Dolly, are cows that Sargent raised on a bottle.
They plan to grow their brood - one of only two pure Roosevelt-elk herds in the nation - to 100 animals.
Roosevelt's herd may be rare, but Rocky Mountain elk are behind wire everywhere from Canada to New Zealand.
Elk ranches are appearing all over northern Idaho, creating hazards for drivers when onlookers stop for a gander and generating funny stories for owners who observe these antics.
Then there's the burgeoning number of elk owners, drawn by lucrative profits and affection for the animals.
There are enough of these unconventional cowboys to make a convention on a recent weekend in Boise, under the banner of the Idaho Venison Council, an offshoot of a knapweed-like animal explosion.
Just seven years ago, the North American Elk Breeders Association was pulled together with 17 members. Today the Platte City, Mo., organization boasts 1,400 members, although not all of them have animals. Yet.
People have sent the association blood work, sire and dam certification to gain American Kennel Club-style registration for 18,000 elk. The association estimates there are another 90,000 elk in captivity in the United States alone.
"It's so lucrative," Sargent said. "You can feed three elk for what one cow consumes."
Elk are relatively easy to raise and catch few diseases. A 5-month-old weaned calf sells for $3,000 to $6,000, said Paula Whiting of the Elk Breeders Association. The most prized breeding bull to date sold for $60,000.
People are scrambling to buy semen shares from other buff bulls. A single straw of semen from a top breeding bull sold for $6,500 at a Canadian auction last year, said Charles Guess, a Moscow area elk farmer with 200 animals.
There are antlers. They fetch between $35 and $110 a pound. A good bull can grow a 40-pound spread.
Rocky Mountain elk produce larger antlers, one reason they are more popular among these unconventional ranchers. But breeders like Sargent believe the future is in meat. That's why she is sticking with the larger-bodied Roosevelt elk.
Lucrative or not, most breeders profess a love for their animals that defies the profit notion. In 1990, an accountant in Missoula encouraged Post Falls dentist Tim Penberthy to start raising elk.
"I think if I had, I'd be a millionaire," said Penberthy, who waited until May to buy the first of eight elk he keeps south of Post Falls.
But, "I would like to see my animals be wild - not raised for the cash," he said. "They are such a magnificent animal, and I'm kind of an unsuccessful hunter. This is a nifty way to have wildlife nearby."
Elk ranching has critics. Ten states, including Washington, don't allow it because of fears that some of the mixed breeds raised in captivity will escape and pollute the wild gene pool or spread disease.
That's one reason getting into the business is not cheap. The required 8-to-10-foot high fences are costly. The animals obviously are high priced.
Elk have become such a passion that when Washington put limits on elk farms, Sargent feared for her "gals" as she calls them and moved to Idaho with her partner 18 months ago.
"It's not the money. It's to be hands-on with something so majestic. It's there all of the time," she said.