Another September has come and gone and I am back home after nearly
two weeks in Pennsylvania elk country . Many years ago a photographer
remarked that each year is different from the others.This is often
because the best food sources will vary depending on what is planted in
certain areas or if there is a good mast crop in a particular
year, which will cause the elk to spend more time in the woods.
Whatever the cause, this was a very different year than most in the
recent past, as this was the first time in many years that there were
very few elk in The Saddle area during the time that I was there.
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| Resting In The Woods |
Although
elk were seen consistently along Dewey Road it was not as good as in
most recent years and consequently I spent more time in other areas. In
twenty years of photographing elk I have spent little time along the
streams in elk country, but that changed this year when I spent a few
afternoons along Bennett's Branch. One day I arrived a short time after
an impressive dominance fight had occurred and found several
photographers discussing the events.. The largest bull involved in the
fight was the one in the photo directly below.
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| 7x8 The Day Before The River Fight |
Even
though the fight was over, the air rang with bugles as satellite bulls
drifted back and forth across the stream, pausing to drink and to bugle.
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| River Crossing |
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| 6x6 Pauses To Drink |
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| Bugling In The River |
I
have had many exciting times in elk country, but this afternoon stood
out from many of them because this was the first time I had photographed
bulls during the rut in this type of setting.
All photos were taken with the Canon 5D MKIII and the Canon 600mm f4.0 IS L lens.
Originally published at
Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.
3 comments:
Love the Elk in the river. Wish I would have seen that when I was there a few weeks ago. We did see some decent size Bulls but I just hate what they did at Winslow Hill. It's nothing like the old days!
That 7x8 is an awesome looking animal. I've spent several days at The Saddle and to the north (post to come later) and can confirm that there are few elk in that area -- food? disturbance from the construction? too many people? The new Dewey Road parking area is a zoo, even on weekdays, and probably less satisfying and more dangerous to visitors than the old situation.
Beautiful photos! I finally caught up with that 7x8 but he was standing in a yard so I passed on the photo opportunity.
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