Pennsylvania Elk: The Calves Are Born

Most Pennsylvania elk calves are born from mid-May through mid-June, so I spent Tuesday through Friday of this week on Winslow Hill and surrounding areas photographing and recording calves.

I met Ronald "Buckwheat" Saffer there, and we photographed the elk extensively and reviewed a semi-finished draft of a portion of the elk video. He and Billie Cromwell are assisting as script consultants, and contributing video footage and still photos to the production.

View from Winslow Hill toward St. Mary's-Canon 40D: 17-40mm at 29mm 1/90 f8 ISO 100

I focused on filming, as I do not have a great deal of video of the young animals. I did see several, but most were at long range and the encounters were usually very fleeting, as the animals were very spooky. This is normal to a certain extent as the cows are very protective of the young and will avoid humans more than at other times of year.

I also heard from reliable sources that the Game Commission was capturing calves and fitting them with ear tags, and breakaway collars. This was likely responsible for the extreme skittishness.


I did get a modest amount of video footage at long range with the big telephotos, but finally on Thursday evening, Buckwheat and I had a close encounter with a calf in a wooded area. It initially crouched down at our approach, but soon stood erect. I videotaped this segment and then tried some still shots with the 300mmF4. A small bull was in the woods to the left of the calf. He made a sudden movement and the calf bolted so I didn't get a shot of him facing me.

Young Calf Elk-Canon 40D: 300mmF4-1/180 f4 ISO 800

Two bulls were grazing and browsing by the roadside at the entrance to the Dent's Run Viewing Area on Friday morning and I couldn't resist taking this photograph as it looked like the bull was reading the sign.

Canon 40D: 100-400mm at 105mm 1/250 f5.6 ISO 400

I hope to post more photographs from this trip in addition to more fawn photographs.

I wish to thank everyone for their comments on the last fawn post and I will try to visit your blogs over the next few days!

For more Camera Critters photos visit Misty Dawn.