While riding south of Currant Creek Peak (north of Strawberry Reservoir) , we came to snow and boggy areas. Instead of following our usual route, we dropped to a lower elevation and followed a game trail through the aspen.
To the surprise of all concerned, we met up with a herd of elk.
Daisy ran toward them, but came right back to us. Maybe she was intimidated by the size of the herd.
She acted as an elk magnet. They didn't know what she was and were very curious. The whole group was calling (kind of a cross between a squeal and a crow's caw) at the same time. They were quite noisy.
They approached closer and closer, while our horses stood stock still, apparently as curious as the elk were.
The elk were so focused on Daisy, they didn't seem to see us. I looked up from my camera and saw a gang of them approaching, no more than 30 yards away. There were spotted calves as well as adults. Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of any of the little ones.
Finally, they noticed 2 horses and 2 riders. They reversed direction in a cloud of dust and were gone in seconds.
Breathtaking! I have never seen so many at one time!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots with the aspens mixed in. The final shot...I can just imagine the noise of their hoof beats. Must have been way cool.
ReplyDeleteAwesome encounter!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! That was an amazing experience...and perhaps just a little frightening. Apparently deer in British Columbia can be very aggressive towards humans, so maybe elk can be too.
ReplyDeleteThe grove of Aspens is beautiful but the white bark does nothing to camouflage the elk. It made for a wonderful photo op, Janie.
ReplyDeletehugs,
Pam
I think they were going to kidnap Daisy and adopt her into the herd.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures of the Elk in the aspens.
That's such an interesting looking forest, plus add in the elk herd. Wow!
ReplyDeleteThey are so gorgeous...sure wish we could read their minds. I wonder if they had ever seen anything like Daisy before. :)
ReplyDeletehow fun! I love the picture of the Elk in the trees. We didn't see any Elk this week--but lots of deer were hanging around and trotting through the campground. They didn't seem to mind us a bit.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shots! That's great to see the elk among the aspens. We have a large herd, about 100 elk on the valley floor near town. There are about 15 that come much closer near our condo every evening. They have been making a lot of squawking sounds and the babies are whining.
ReplyDelete