Tule Elk, Point Reyes National Seashore
The Rut Is On at Point Reyes. This 7-point bull is bugling to let everyone know he’s in charge, at least until someone bigger comes along and drives him away.
Tag: bull elk
A Day At Point Reyes National Seashore
I went to Point Reyes a couple of days ago. It had been a while. When I arrived I quickly spotted a bobcat. It was too far to photograph so I waited a bit to see if it would move my way. It didn’t so I drove on. I quickly spotted another a short distance past the first one. See photo above. He looked like a bobcat I used to see and photograph frequently on another ranch in 2011. I decided to try to get closer to him. Just as that thought came to mind a coyote moved into view behind the bobcat. I focused on the coyote and it was quickly joined by another. And then another. That’s right, a pack of coyotes. I’ve seen three coyotes together several times before at Point Reyes and assume these guys are the ones I’ve seen previously. Usually, I only see a single coyote.
I wondered whether the bobcat saw them and so pulled my eye away from the camera back to look at him. He certainly had. He was doing a fast crawl toward me and my car and his belly was almost touching the ground. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to photograph him as he was already very close to the rear of my car. I re-focused on the coyotes.
They were feeding on something in the soil. I’ve seen this behavior before. They’re definitely not feeding on rodents. I think they’re after insects, or maybe worms, and it might be that they’re finding them under cow pies. I’ll have to start kicking over cow pies and checking them and also checking the soil under them. Really. I’m curious.
After photographing these coyotes, mostly as individuals, I headed for Drake’s Bay. One thing I look for on that trek is elk along the road to Drakes Bay. Sure enough, a herd of bulls was hanging out not far from the intersection of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and the road down to Drakes Beach. Two of the dozen or so bulls were in the pasture closest to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. I wondered how they had gotten into that fenced pasture. My first thought was they got through a break in the fence. Then one of them started walking along the fence that separated the two pastures. I figured the fence may be damaged somewhere along there. I also wondered if it could jump the fence. It looked pretty high to me. See photo below. It’s looks like it’s a few inches below the bull’s jaw. I was a little worried because many wild mammals have died trying to cross fences.
After a moment or two I decided it wasn’t going to jump soon so I started photographing the others. As often happens with my luck, it jumped right after I took my eyes off it. So, I decided to stick with it and watch the other bull to see if it would jump.
By sticking with it I was rewarded. He cleared it no problem. Like I said though, sometimes they don’t. I don’t think a deer could clear that. Whenever I see them cross fences they go between the strands of wire. I’ve noticed at Point Reyes that the fencing seems to vary all over the place in terms of how high the top wire is and how low the bottom wire is. A good wildlife fence shouldn’t be too high on the top strand or too low on the bottom strand so wildlife can go over or under them. There are several articles on the internet about constructing livestock fences that are wildlife friendly. For one such article click here. As the article points out, top wires should never exceed 42 inches in height and bottom wires should never be lower than 16 inches. Preferably, the top and bottom wires should be smooth, not barbed.
A Snowy Memorial Day in Yellowstone
This is what it looked like as I headed toward the Lamar Valley yesterday. That’s a road grader plowing the way. Its top speed seemed to be about 10 MPH and at a spot short of Tower the driver got out and waved us around him. I don’t know what happened to the trucks that usually do the plowing. It looks like 6 inches or more fell here.
- “This is nothing compared to winter here.”
These conditions were no problem for animals like this cow bison. However, I’m not so sure about animals born yesterday. The snow was that wet, heavy type. I wouldn’t want to be a baby elk born yesterday or the night before.
This bull elk looks healthy and a little snow is probably no big deal to him although his winter coat would have served him better than his summer coat. This photo was taken in the afternoon and most of the snow had melted by then.
Bull Elk, Point Reyes National Seashore
This photo was taken on February 22 near Pierce Point Ranch. The bull is sporting a pretty impressive 7-point rack. He won’t have those big antlers for long though. I saw one of the Limantour herd bulls with only one antler that day. It looks like antler-dropping season has begun. Last year I posted a photo of a bull on February 15 whose antlers were gone and new antler growth was already quite visible. To see that post click here.
Collecting antlers is illegal. That doesn’t stop people though. Antlers sold on the black market are worth a fair amount of money. The Park Service goes out and tries to keep ahead of the collectors. You may wonder what the Park Service does with the antlers. The answer is that it grinds them up and puts them back in the areas where they found them because they are an important source of calcium and other minerals for rodents and other wildlife. For a photo of an elk with a deer antler in its mouth click here.
It’s too bad people won’t just leave them where they’ve fallen, but they won’t. As long as people want animal parts (tusks, horns, paws, teeth, gall bladders etc.), and are willing to pay for them, there will be people who will hunt for those parts even if it means killing the animals (which it usually does). Unfortunately, this is the way it’s always been.
Big Bull Elk, Yellowstone National Park
This is the largest bull elk I saw this fall in Yellowstone. He and his harem were located south of Swan Lake. There seems to be something wrong with his right eye. He may be blind in that eye. Bulls suffer many injuries during the rut. This past fall I saw several bulls limping due to shoulder injuries. One Yellowstone bull was famous for attacking cars. He was know by his ear tag as #6. For more about him and his demise click here.
I mentioned in an earlier blog post that the rut seemed slow to me this past September in Yellowstone and wondered if it was due to weather that seemed warmer than usual for that time of year. There may have been other factors. I just found an article in the Huffington Post from last January that reported that the Yellowstone herd was down about 25% from the previous year due to several possible factors, including weather, increased hunting success due to November snow storms that pushed more elk than usual out of the park during the hunting season, and wolves. Less accurate counting may have also been a factor.
Speaking of elk, I just finished upgrading the Rocky Mountain Elk Portfolio on my website. You can see that portfolio here.
A Bull Elk Bugles, Yellowstone National Park
This bull and his small harem were on the far side of the Madison River near the Madison campground every night in mid September. Around sunrise each day they would cross the river and then the road and head up the ridge across from the river. They attracted quite a crowd each morning.
Bull Elk, Yellowstone National Park
The elk rut has been slow. This bull was without a harem. Not far away is another bull with a small harem. I had no choice but to shoot into the sun here.
