For those of you that have never had a chance to watch the elk during rut you are missing a real treat. First the bugling by the bulls is like music to the ears. Then they begin the exciting show.This photograph was taken Tuesday September 30Th in the evening after the sun had set behind the mountains. It was shot at 2500 ISO with a slow shutter speed and the aperture opened to leave in as much light as I could. I used a lens that with the conversion made it 600 mm and cropped it in, noise is to be expected, but I really wanted to share the excitement.
This was the second scuffle for the bull closest to you in a matter of minutes. He won the first and then had to take off after this guy when he realized he moved in on his herd of cows while he was busy defending them. It begins with them running towards each other, neck down, head up carrying the rack with pride. Then they begin what I like to call the dance, they run side by side for some time before stopping and facing each other. They put their heads down and sometimes dig up dirt and grass before locking antlers, you can just see the power in their rear legs when they begin pushing. More on this fight later along with who came out as the winner. I will also post some sparring from Yellowstone elks later also. Only here can you see beautiful scenery, a bear eating an elk and elks fighting withing 30 minutes.
4 comments:
Interesting and great shot.
And it almost looks like an elk with two heads and no butt :-)
Fascinating! What an exceptional photograph... I have never seen anything like this before... I'm glad you shared this... wow.
~Michele~
Mountain Retreat
Fabulous photo of the Elk. I agree it is a wonderful sight to see the Elk in Rut.
Neat, would like to see it sometime. Maybe I will get back to Cataloochee Cove at the right time next time I go. The signs were up warning about the Rut, but we did not see any action.
Post a Comment