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| Early Stages Of Shedding: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 500mm F4.0 IS |
Pennsylvania bull elk usually shed their velvet in a
time frame centered around mid-August. This is likely why the annual
Elk Expo is scheduled for mid-month as it is an especially good time to
visit the elk range.. As I did not plan on attending the Expo this year
I decided to avoid the large crowds that are there that weekend so it
was a question of whether to go the week before or the week after. I
finally decided on the week before and as we shall see it was good that I
did.
I got there late in the afternoon on August
14th. There was only a slight chance of thunderstorms that evening, so I
took a long walk and checked out several remote food plots. As I did on
the last two trips, I carried the Panasonic FZ2500 on the tripod for
video and the Canon 1DXMKII with 100-400mm IS II lens in a shoulder bag
to take stills. It was hot as usual and the sweat ran freely, but I was
rewarded handsomely when I came to the edge of a back country food plot
and saw a fine 6x6 grazing. I filmed him for some time and when he
lifted his head I switched to the 1DXMKII for a few still photos. . You
cannot see it in the photo below, but when I looked at the video of the
encounter it was easy to see blood spots and several cracks in the
velvet.
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| 6x6 Before Shedding: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 100-400mm IS II |
Eventually a small bachelor group of young bulls came out and none of them had shed the velvet yet either.
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| Bachelor Group: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 100-400mm IS II |
Next evening I repeated the walk. The 6x6 was with a group of smaller bulls and now his velvet was hanging in strips.
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| Bachelor Group: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 100-400mm IS II |
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| Velvet Hanging In Strips: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 100-400mm IS II |
I didn't make that walk again during the August trip, so I didn't get to record this bull once his antlers were completely bare.
A
few large bulls showed no signs of shedding yet which was the case with
a fine 6x7 that I photographed shortly after dawn on Wednesday
morning. As is usually the case in Pennsylvania Country, it was a foggy
morning and I saw several other bulls but got no more good still photos.
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| 6x7 On Foggy Morning: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 70-200mm IS II |
Thursday morning was also foggy and I saw several bulls in a meadow shortly after dawn. A large 7x7 had not yet shed.
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| 7x7 In Fog: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 100-400mm IS II |
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| 7x7-Another View: Canon 1DMKII- Canon 300mm F2.8 IS |
The 7x7 was with a large group of bulls which were
in various stages of shedding. At one point two squared off in a
sparring match, which gave a good photo opportunity.
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| Bulls Sparring As Dawn: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 300mm F2.8 IS |
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| Bulls Sparring As Pre-rut Begins: Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 100-400mm IS II |
After sunrise I found more bulls sparring in a meadow quite a distance from where I photographed the other bachelor group.
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| Sparring After Sunrise:Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 500mm IS-1.4x extender |
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| Sparring After Sunrise:Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 500mm IS-1.4x extender |
On Friday morning there was time for a short trip
around the Benezette area before leaving for home. I found the bull that
is shown at the beginning of the post and he was just beginning to lose
the velvet. A bit later I photographed one that was completely shed
and had a branch caught in his antlers from polishing his antlers in
trees and branches.
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| Completely Shed:Canon 1DXMKII- Canon 500mm F4.0 IS |
As it turned out choosing this week was the right
decision as few of the bulls had shed when I arrived on Monday, but by
Thursday and Friday mornings most were well along in the process. Had I
waited until the week after the expo, opportunities for getting velvet
shedding photos and film clips would have been mostly over.
With
the velvet shed, the bulls are sparring as the pre-rut gets underway.
In a short time the full-blown rut will begin and it will peak sometime
after mid-month and then wind down in October.
Originally published at
Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.
