We arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park on Thursday evening and got
a campsite in the Moraine Park campground. There were elk in the
meadows since the rutting season was in full sway, and no shortage of
people standing around watching the elk. We were here last year
for the a Roadtrek rally during the rutting season and really enjoyed
the time, so we decided to come back for a second look at the elk.
The weather was cold; we awoke the next morning to snow on the Roadtrek
and fresh snow on the mountains; Longs Peak is in the background. Trail
Ridge Road was closed due to snow.
During the rutting season (from roughly mid-August through mid-October)
the bull elk come down from the high mountains to the meadows to gather
up the cows into "harems" for mating. The bulls challenge each other to
take over the other bull's harem. A large bull may have a harem of 25-30
cows; in the photo to the right a single bull has this harem, which we
counted to be about 40 adult cows. Can you see the bull? He is on the far right.
Here is a close-up of this bull elk.
A few younger bulls have come around to see if they can steal a few of
this bull's cows, so he is moving them away from the other bulls.
The larger bull is chasing off a younger bull that got to close.
The bull elk bugle to warn other bulls to stay away. Click here to listen to an elk bugling.
Next we head for Salt Lake City so Nancy can do some genealogy research.
