Elk Hunting

Earlier this month I spent quite a few days "hunting elk."  Not hunting in the traditional sense, but the kind of 'hunting' the marmot hunter engages in.  Estes Park is one of the best places to view elk especially in the fall/winter/spring.  The elk come down from the high country, and can be seen in large herds and smaller groups throughout the valleys in the park.  Most people see elk from the road in their cars, sometimes at quite a distance with binoculars.  Very few go hiking in the woods and see them up close:

This little 'spike' was just about to cross the trail I was on.  While most of the meadows in RMNP are closed to human travel while the rut is going on, there are plenty of trails you can hike that go through prime elk habitat.  The young bull above was hanging out on the periphery of a harem.  There are usually a few smaller bulls that hang out this way, hoping to sneak in and get it on.  Usually the big bull chases them until they're a comfortable distance away, but there was no threat from this youngster.

I watched the large bull above chomp on grass and occasionally herd his harem.  Eventually the herd got too far away, and I decided to head back to my car.  It couldn't have been much more than 5 minutes later that I stumbled across another big bull with a harem:

Though he is one big wapiti, he's only a 6x5 as the last tine (point) on the right antler has broken off.  This seems to be fairly common, as I saw quite a few larger bulls with asymmetrical antlers.  I imagine they break when fighting for dominance, but they may also break when sharpening them in preparation for battle.  Plus, if you've ever seen a big bull walking through dense woods (as I have), you can imagine how they might break in other ways.

I don't know if this bull was just more confident than others I've seen, but he was completely disinterested in me.  He was mainly concerned with eating.  He looked over at his harem occasionally, but besides bugling a few times, he made no effort to chase off any of the smaller bulls, nor did he sniff at any of the cows or try to herd them in any way.  At one point he gave this smaller bull the ice grill, but then went back to chomping on grass:

I didn't see a single person hiking that day, but I saw a ton of elk.  Elk aren't the only animal you can find hiking the 'low' country trails.  A day earlier, I saw four coyotes crossing a meadow.  This one briefly posed for me:

With a little patience, you can usually find something.  Here's a mule deer buck I encountered in the woods:

But if you just want to see elk, forget the National Park and forget hiking, just drive around Estes Park.  The golf course is good place to start.  If you come up empty, just head to the ball fields:

The biggest bulls I've seen have been around town.  This guy was a legit 7-point bull and I found him at the softball fields.  He had an absolutely massive harem, plus a plethora of well-watered green grass to enjoy.

Now, you don't get the same experience of encountering them in the wild, but you definitely get an experience.  A man from Texas remarked to me, "you don't see this everyday," to which I responded, "you do if you live in Estes Park."  While the elk herds in town always attract a crowd (with all manner of idiots present), there are no prohibitions as to where you can go, how far away you have to be, etc.  One day I hope to see an elk deservedly attack someone.  Even without any goring, there is plenty of fascinating behavior to observe.

This bull had been chased off by the 7-point bull (a couple of photos back).  He wandered around the outside of the field for awhile until he found this convenient open gate.  I saw a distant cow hop the fence at one point, but this was definitely the easier route.

He walked over to this soccer goal post, where he watched his nemesis for a couple of minutes.

Once he determined the coast was clear, he wandered over to this cow and tried to sniff her butt.  She was very much uninterested and promptly walked away.  Maybe next year fella.

I couldn't resist one more picture of this bull.  He may be the largest I seen to date.  I can't imagine carrying around antlers like that, but I'm not an elk, so I guess I don't have to worry...  At one point a cow was standing on the pitchers mound, unfortunately I wasn't at the right angle to get a picture.  It's hard to catch all the action with these large herds, since they're spread out and you never know where to focus your attention.  After watching them for awhile, I finally packed it in and went home.  Another successful elk hunt.