Wild America

A week after the hunt, because of prior engagements, I only had time for a quick over night trip. I wanted to see if the big guy was still around and if I could find the five point Kenny had shot at. My buddy Brett and I hiked in Friday afternoon and would be heading in the next morning. One of the things we noticed last week, and again this trip, were bear signs. Bear scat, which looks somewhere between dog and human size, was really common and filled with berry seeds. Here is a log which has been ripped open by a bear looking for grubs and larvae. We also saw many bear trails around water and berry patches. These trails look like someone has dragged a small barrel through the underbrush, leaving a wide (compared to a deer or elk trail) meandering trail through the green grass and ferns. I also saw a bear in with a group of cow elk, who didn't seem unduly scared by it's proximity.
As we hiked in we came across this moose calf, which was exciting until the mother remained absent. We'd heard about how protective moose cows are of their calves, so we stayed put until the calf started moving off, then we high-tailed it past and up the trail. We never did see the cow, but the next morning we found this bull walking down the creek bottom.

Here are a couple shots, then some movie.
The Shiras Moose is the smallest of the moose sub-species, and this one looks like a good bull in size.

This is an elk wallow, one of the several we found, and this was the least spectacular of the wallows. A wallow is a puddle all the way up to a small pond that an elk, mostly bulls, will roll around and coat themselves in mud. This cools them down and helps with flies and bugs. They also urinate in the water to give themselves a very musky odor.

Now the elk. We found at least ten bulls five point or better, six or seven being six points. Here's my best shot of the big guy, in the same draw as last week.
Here is another six point a couple ridges over.
And I think this was the bull Kenny shot at, up and about. We watched three of the four six points that were all on that same mountain that evening.

There had been four six points on that mountain. The fourth one headed out, but the first three kept bugling at each other all evening and far into the night. They never got much closer than a quarter mile from each other, but they were all raging up and down the hill, calling and tearing small saplings and unsuspecting bushes to bits with their antlers.


That evening and the next morning we found more animals on the mountain south of the one we had been watching.
The last elk to leave the clearing is a very big bull, herding his cows into the trees, and after some poor camera work you can see him (the light spot on the edge of the clearing) right at the end. Brett and I found two more 350" range bulls on that same mountain, one by himself down low, and another with a couple cows.

I actually had many pictures but the poor quality and/or difficulty in picking the animal out was the reason many pictures didn't make it. I may be able to gather a few more for my wrap up next time.