People sometimes call the elk the ghost of the woods, and it is difficult to imagine a more fitting nickname. Elk weigh several hundred pounds, yet they can slip through a forest soundlessly. They may appear in the half-light of dawn or prance from a bank of morning fog as if materializing from another world. Then, just as suddenly, a dozen might vanish without notice. A few silent strides into the timber, and creatures taller than most horses simply dissolve among the trees and shadows. Tawny hides blend with the colors of bark and dried grass, while their keen noses and sharp ears detect us long before we can detect them.
Elk
have certainly lived up to their moniker at my cabin. I have owned the property
for 26 years this month and have never personally spotted an elk there. I have
seen them near my place. I have found their tracks and pellets. But the elk
have eluded me entirely.
Yesterday,
in a new twist, when I cleared my game camera photographs, I found a dozen
images of elk near my cabin. Some were captured in darkness. Others appeared in
broad daylight, caught in a single image before melting back into the woods.
—Mitchell
Hegman
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