The early morning sun breaks through the clouds on Monday morning August 18th, and illuminates a herd of Pennsylvania Elk Grazing in a meadow by the side of Winslow Hill Road.
Canon 30-D 17-40mm at 38mm L 1/125 sec. f 8 ISO 100This is an exciting time of year when the bulls shed their velvet and clash their antlers together in what is known as sparring. While they may spar at any time of year, it occurs more often now and is more violent in nature. Soon it will escalate into serious fights between mature herd bulls, but for now it is more like an arm wrestling contest between humans with little to no chance of serious injury.
The mating season or rut as it is known will begin in early September and grow more intense toward the middle of the month, reach a peak toward the end, and then abruptly crash. That period is the most exciting time to visit Pennsylvania's Elk Range.
These bulls were in the village of Benezette at 6:33 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
Canon 40-D: 70-200mm f2.8L 1/125 sec. f2.8 ISO 1600The best chance of seeing elk is early morning and late evening and high ISO speeds and low shutter speeds are often required. Even though I had to use lower shutter speeds than I would have liked I did get a few relatively sharp frames.
Canon 40-D: 70-200mm f2.8L 1/125 sec. f2.8 ISO 1600I was in Elk County from Sunday Afternoon until this morning, looking for photos and video footage such as this and finalizing some details about the film on Elk. After reviewing it with Ronald Saffer and discussing details with others I have decided it needs only minimal revision in the final segment and so will soon be completely finished.
For more Sky Watch Photos click the sky watch icon at the top of the page. To see more photographs from Elk County, Pennsylvania visit Brad Myers, an excellent photographer who recently visited Pennsylvania's Elk Range for the first time.
