If you are familiar with Park City, there is a big chunk of land between I-80, highway 40, Kearns Blvd and the Swaner Nature Preserve. It is a mix of residential, private land and preserved open space. The open space is known as Round Valley and it is quite the spot for the elk to hang out.
This morning I got a call from
Chad Rexroad. Chad is the one who has taken me on his
prep trips for elk hunting season. He told me that there were six nice elk hanging out in the residential area, not far from Round Valley.
Chad has a good eye for spotting elk, and unfortunately, he spotted them a good long ways up the hill. Rather than getting little tiny elk in the pictures, I drove around to sneak up on them from the top. It's the Elks Club, all men, just wasting their day hanging around.
I wish I could have gotten a better shot, but yes, this elk does have a Magpie (large bird) sitting on his butt.
Here's a close crop from that picture. The elk seems completely indifferent.
I know its not the time of year for them to be bugling, but when this one tilted his head back I was still hopeful.
And when I said that I "snuck up on them", that is simply a delusional exaggeration. They probably knew I was coming before I did. They tolerated me until it was clear I wasn't just passing by. Then they wandered off where it would be nearly impossible for me to follow them.
Chad, thanks for the heads up!
I wonder why the elk are so elusive, when the moose are so indifferent.
1 comment:
Like those shots--especially the close-up elk and his magpie tick-picker (or passenger). As for the moose, I hope you weren't as close as it looks like you were when you took that one! :-)
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