Elk

Elk prance when they trot away from likely (or unlikely) dangers.  No other descriptive word will suffice.

They prance.

Though I see elk often in my travels from place to place in Montana, I never tire of catching them.  Watching them high-stepping, as they do when moving briskly, is a sight that never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Elk are one of the largest species of deer in the world.  A bull elk can measure 5 foot from the ground to the top of the shoulder and weigh as much a 1000 pounds.  In the fall, when their antlers are fully-grown, the uppermost tines may reach 9 feet into the air. Only the bulls have antlers, which are shed late in the winter each year and grow anew throughout the spring and summer.

In the early fall, when mating season arrives, the mountains and nearby plains fill with the sound of bull elk bugling as they try to assemble all the nearby cows for their own harem.  The shrill fluting of the elk is astonishing and can carry over through the mountains for many miles.  They sound like great birds singing.

Instinctively, elk are herd animals.  Typically, if you chance onto one you will see many more nearby.  Though once animals of the plains, they have adapted to life in the open parks and valleys of the mountains.  They tend to be skittish, and whole herds of elk will readily pour down through the timber if you try to draw anywhere near them.

This time of year, if you rise early and drive through those areas they inhabit here in Montana, you are bound to see them.  Yesterday, on a drive to my cabin along the Blackfoot River Valley, I bumped into two herds.  I have posted photos from my encounters.

The photo of bulls in velvet antlers was taken near Canyon Creek.  The second photo was taken at Alice Creek.  The herd at Alice creek stretched far across an open mountainside and through an aspen grove, probably numbering more than 50 animals.  Here, I have captured them just before they pranced away against the snowy mountains and blue sky.

--Mitchell Hegman