Bull Elk

Living in the country I'm privileged to see quite a bit of wildlife. Every now and then, on the dirt roads around home we see elk grazing or crossing the road, all of them females, or "cows." Very rarely do bull elk show themselves.  So I was pretty excited when I saw a "big ol' bull" on my way home from work about six weeks ago. He was just off the highway behind a barbed wire fence. Right there in broad daylight!

This was too special; I just had to turn around. When I did, it seemed all other cars vanished from the highway and I got to slow down to a crawl as I came to him. He walked right along with me, about 30 feet away, still on the other side of the fence. It was so cool. I watched him and he watched me. I could tell he wanted to cross the road; he paced the fence waiting for an opportunity to cross.

Since I was now going the wrong direction, headed back toward town rather than home, I turned around again. He was still there. It is so rare to see a big bull elk from the highway. It's rare to see them altogether. And there he still was; I just had to prolong this incredible sighting. So I went up aways and turned around again. This would make my fourth pass. This time, a delivery truck had come by and gotten in front of me. Mr. Bull had jumped the fence wanting to cross the highway. The truck had to brake and the bull turned back, pacing and biding his time. I'd pestered him enough so I slowed way down to give him ample room. He crossed up ahead of me. The last I saw of him was his cream colored rump jumping over the fence as I passed by. IT WAS SO FUN!