This past weekend my family and I traveled to Benezette, Pa to observe the wildlife, Elk in particular. We have traveled to Alaska, Yellowstone, Glacier and the Tetons to view wildlife but for some reason we never went north in our own state to see the Elk. After reading and watching Willard's blog, the Pa Wildlife Photographer I knew I had to make the trip soon. The trip is just over three and a half hours and 180 miles, not including stops. We did make a stop at PSU on the way there and back. Being huge Notre Dame fans this was a difficult thing to do, but it was well worth it. And yes there will be photographs from PSU in the future. On the way there all the signs pointed to this being a good trip. On Route 322 in Dauphin County we watched a bald eagle flying along the river, then on the same road about 30 miles north of Penn State just before the village of Bigler we seen a black bear standing on the railroad tracks. My reaction was OH S**T!!, hit the brakes and look for a place to turn around without getting hit by another car. We quickly head back with my camera in hand (I travel with it on my lap, just in case) and he is still there, the camera comes up, I hit the shutter button to begin changing my settings (I function on manual mode all the time) and before my finger and thumb can get any changes made he ducks into the brush and out of site. If I only had the camera on auto I could have gotten a shot, not a great one but still a Pa black bear. Oh well, I am just excited to see a bear.
We stayed in Saint Marys while there and since it was a high sun time of day we decided to check into our hotel and grab dinner before exploring. You know you are in the right place when you see the Elk crossing signs. I chose these two photographs for today because the small bull was one of the first Elk's we seen, he along with five or six other Elk's were feeding in peoples yards on Route 555 just before the village of Benezette. The larger bull was with two other big bulls on the Winslow Hill Road past the viewing areas. What a way to start the trip with an awesome Friday.
If I say to much I won't have anything left to say with my other post. I hope you all enjoy wildlife, as you may know that is my number one passion, to view and photograph wildlife and I did just that this past weekend so I have a few weeks worth of wildlife to post.
Thanks Willard for the push I needed to get me there, I will be making the trip numerous times throughout the year from here on out.
8 comments:
Nice pic's, sounds like you had a great time.
Sweet job Brad, I'm heading that way soon...don't forget to stop by an get your award....
Brad, you must be famous now. I googled your name at work the other day. I could get on the computer because the truck slugs were on a run and not looking at their myspace pages. The search results were complete with in .15 seconds. With your personnel page at the top of the list. Call me when you come to town or stop in at the station.
WMIT
I plan on heading up in September. The later the better to hear the bugling.
You will love it Rich, lots of wildlife.
Wagon master I am not even famous in my own mind. But you are famous remember you got the citation for the grab. I have not been up in some time I really do need to make the trip.
Haney during the rut they will be bugling and showing off, but I will be out west again this year for the rut. Larger bulls, plus pronhorn, bear, sheep and everything else males for a wondeful time. Depending on weather I hope to go back up in December or January.
It is beautiful country and I have been there several times myself. My youngest daughter is majoring in Wildlife at, you guessed it, PSU. She had me on some back roads to see the Elk. Awesome animals.
Being an alumni of PSU, thanks for stopping by and hope you got some good Creamery ice cream while you were there.
Lighter note, be careful that the Irish isn't eaten by the Nittany Lion. He just might get hungry :)
Have a safe day and be careful.
Grizz
Grizz, I am glad you are still watching, maybe I can go along with your daughter. I would rather have a career in wildlife than what I am doing.
We go back to the 70's and I never knew you went to Penn State. We actually stopped on the way up and back. Checked out Beaver Stadium, Joe Pa statue, the sports museum, and of course the lion statue. And yes we did eat the ice cream.
They are awesome animals but for the best time visit Yellowstone during the rut sometime.
We Irish can be eaten by just about anything these days.
Thanks for looking, Brad
Brad, I didn't attend PSU back in the 70's. I actually received my associate in business in 2001 through my employer. I went to Penn State Mount Alto.
take care and I will keep looking.
Grizz
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