Round Valley & Bishop
Owens Valley · near Bishop · Eastern Sierra
Wildlife Watching
At a glance
- Best season
- Nov–Apr for wintering tule elk & deer on the valley floor
- Open year round
- Yes
What is here
- Wildlife
- land-mammals · birds
- Species
- Tule elk, mule deer, pronghorn (nearby), golden eagles, hawks, sage birds
- Amenities
- Wintering tule elk herds · Migrating mule deer · Dramatic Sierra backdrop · Easy roadside viewing
- Best for
- Easy tule elk & deer viewing
- Features
- Tule elk on the sage flats · Mule deer migration · Sierra-crest backdrop · Roadside accessibility
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Keep distance from herds · Roadside pullouts near traffic · Cold winter mornings · Bring optics for distant herds
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Wildlife Watching detail
- Viewing
- drive
- Effort
- easy
- Habitat
- plains
- Sighting
- 4
- Viewing notes
- Winter range for tule elk and migrating mule deer beneath the Sierra crest — easy roadside viewing of large herds on the sage flats, with raptors and Owens Valley birds
- Intl tip
- Winter range for tule elk and migrating mule deer in the Owens Valley around Bishop, beneath the soaring Eastern Sierra — easy, scenic viewing against a dramatic backdrop. As snow fills the high country, tule elk (California's endemic elk, once nearly extinct) descend to graze and big mule deer herds migrate through, often visible from Hwy 395 pullouts in the cold mornings, with golden eagles and hawks too. Keep distance, use optics for distant herds, mind traffic, dress for frosty mornings. Accessible and uncrowded, Nov–Apr.
The guide
In the Owens Valley around Bishop, tucked beneath the soaring wall of the Eastern Sierra, the sage flats of Round Valley and ne…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Round Valley & Bishop — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.4, -118.6