A Great Day It Was

The day began at 4:00am when the alarm went off; by 4:45 I was on the road headed for Pennsylvania’s elk range, sustained by a cup of coffee and a cinnamon raisin bagel. The roads were almost deserted and most of the houses dark.

I passed a cabin with a large lawn where, in all the years I’ve been making this trip, there's never been an elk – lots of deer, but never an elk. But there in the morning twilight was a bull elk with his harem; even though there was barely enough light for photography, it was worth a try –

A little way further on there were two young bulls in a field, one with part of a plastic bag stuck on an antler –

After that the sun rose higher in the sky and the elk retired to the forest to ruminate and rest. But there were still interesting things to be seen as I walked to some of the meadows to look for fresh sign and a spot to spend the evening waiting for elk. A young white-tail buck with antlers still in velvet –

Spider webs –

And a banded garden spider -

A few mushrooms that I can’t identify with certainty –

Monarch butterflies headed for Mexico, some already tattered and others in good condition –

In the woods at the edge of a meadow a couple of the parasitic plants known as Indian-pipes were still in bloom –

At the edge of one meadow, a flock of turkeys: hens and young of the year –

With that it was time for a nap in a shady spot along a stream. Late in the afternoon I headed back to a large meadow where at least three bull elk were bugling from the surrounding woodland. Patience pays and an hour later, with the sun low in the sky, a large bull emerged from the forest and bugled several times –

During the rut bull elk frequently wallow in mud to which they've contributed urine, all the better to make them more alluring to the ladies  –

One of the other bull elk that had been bugling entered the meadow –

The star of the video stood up and the two bulls ran in parallel, over a small rise where, except for their antlers, they were lost from view and engaged in a short joust –

The bull with the palmated antler returned to the forest while our hero pushed two cows back into the band –

With the light almost too dim for photos it was time to head for home. But wait, there was another bull elk to photograph – one bedded down in short grass beneath an old apple tree –

Fifteen miles closer to home was the last elk of the day, a young bull. Just to get a usable photo required the camera to be pushed to its limits and then processing on the computer – here he is –

Indeed, a great day it was.