(Some blocks of time during the peak of the elk rut in September were sold out within minutes of going on sale, and the recent release of October dates sold out just as quickly for the first week of October.) 1 for the September timeframe, it looks like the crowds will be present yet again this year. Many nature lovers with shutter-finger syndrome (a non-fatal obsessive need to press that camera shutter button at the sight of birds, megafauna and/or small mammals) arrive in the valleys around Estes Park in the fall to witness this unique behavior of the animal kingdom.īased on how quickly the early morning timed-entry reservations for the Bear Lake Corridor in Rocky Mountain National Park sold out on Aug. Rut season has arrived and that means lots of photos with steamy breath, lip curls, rattling antlers, sparring matches, powerful bugles with spittle projecting from a bull’s mouth, frosted antlers, snow-covered meadows full of elk and many other photo-worthy scenarios.Īnd it isn’t just local photographers that go ga-ga over photos during the elk rut season. For many local wildlife photographers, September marks one of the best times of year to be in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park. Wanting to attend many of the classes, I was torn between sitting in class or being out photographing the rutting elk of Yellowstone.It is that time of year again. On the second trip in September 1991, I attended a wildlife artists’ symposium in Yellowstone National Park. I spent the next few days shooting rolls of film, which years later became reference material for the background of Storm’s End – Rocky Mountain Elk. Fortunately, I had driven separately so I would be free to photograph at my leisure. Having had enough, they packed their gear and took off for Iowa the next morning. The heavy snowfall had collapsed the tent in which my three hunting partners were sleeping. Upon being awakened by a hunting companion carrying a flashlight, I asked if it was time to get ready for hunting. I was sleeping in the back of my pickup topper. We had a heavy snowfall during the night. The first one was a 1990 muzzleloader hunting trip for elk in the Colorado high country in mid-September. The reference material for Storm’s End came primarily from two different reference trips. By the end of the rut, or the breeding season, the dominant bulls will have lost much weight. Between tending to his cows and chasing off rival bulls, the herd bull has little time to feed. A mature bull, which is large enough to hold a group of cows, will be on the constant lookout for lesser bulls trying to steal cows from him. The bulls, which hung together in bachelor groups all summer, now compete for the cows. The breeding season for Rocky Mountain elk runs from September into October. On the downside, I have more than once had a quiet stalk on big game loudly announced by the resident red squirrel as it chatters from the branches of a nearby conifer. If I choose my bed carefully, the drooping spruce branches shed the light, high country showers. At times when I am backpacking very light, without a tent or sleeping pad, I’ve made a comfortable bed under huge, ancient spruce, where cones shredded by generations of squirrels have been building up for decades. Red squirrels feed on fungi, nuts, and seeds including those from conifers such as pine and spruce. Though I’ve got this attractive bird to come within six inches of my hand, I have yet to get one to take food directly from it.Īnother resident of the high country, a red squirrel is active in nearby spruce. Frequently, on trips far into wilderness areas, I have enjoyed sharing my lunch with gray jays. Though this bold jay comes readily to a campfire or the sound of wilderness campers, it avoids human settlements. This tame jay frequents remote cabins and backcountry camps looking for bits of food or small items to carry off while showing little fear of man. A pair of gray jays or ‘camp robbers’ sit on nearby young spruce.
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