Rocky Mountain Bull Elk

Posted by Monte Stevens (Fort Collins, United States) on 17 May 2008 in Animal & Insect.

Drastically reduced from early hunting, the elk population has made a comeback since the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915. By day, elk seek shelter in the forests, and then graze in meadows between dusk and dawn. During winter, they move to lower elevations where food is more plentiful. Large bull elk may stand five feet high at the shoulder, weigh 900 pounds and run at speeds up to 35 miles per hour. You may be fortunate enough to see a bull elk rounding up his harem in one of the National Park's meadows, or in the town of Estes Park on the golf courses and residents lawns. Bulls have various levels of experience in herding. Some are studs and others are wannabes. The stud is the bull that is clearly in command. There may be other competitors nearby, but they can't compete with the mature bull's display of antlers and his bellowing bugle. This swashbuckler gathers and cloisters his cows with apparent ease. Often, one or two other bulls stand on the sidelines, watching with obvious frustration. Even those who have managed to corner a cow or two watches helplessly as their prospects evade them and run toward a growing assembly of cows, yearlings and calves which have gathered near another bull.

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