Wildlife locations - Ft. Collins, CO

[tbelleza]

<p>I am spending next week in the Ft. Collins - Wellington, CO area on business and will appreciate any information on surrounding areas for wildlife photography, especially raptors. Thanks.</p>

[mcgarity]

<p>Ted</p>

<p>I live in the area and raptors are all over the place; I can't give you any one best location for them. However for other forms of wildlife, the best place is Rocky Mountain National Park. Its about 35 miles West of Ft Collins. If you head to Moraine Park or Horseshoe within RMNP you can see the elk going through their annual mating ritual. I would suggest you get their about 6:30 AM for the best viewing. If you don't mind adding about an hour to your drive, you can go over Trail Ridge Road to Endovalley and see both elk and Moose. </p>

<p>I have also encountered Rocky Mountain Sheep on the way to and from RMNP on Hwy 34 between Loveland and Drake more times than I can count. More often than not, they are out and about in the middle of the day.</p>

<p>Best of luck</p>

<p>Larry</p>

 

[mcgarity]

<p>Ted</p>

<p>In my previous post, I misspoke. The moose hang out in the Kawaneechee Valley on the west side of the park and NOT in Endovalley which is on the east. </p>

<p>Also I got to thinking, that a good place to photograph raptors is in the Pawnee National Grasslands - about an hours drive east of Fort Collins. Its not nearly as scenic as RMNP, but the sheer volume of biomass is greater. Admittedly, most of that biomass is rather small. You might possibly see some Pronghorn Antelope out that way. Good luck getting close enough to photograph them though. They have excellent eyesight and are extremely wary.</p>

<p>Larry</p>

[luminous world]

<p>Also, for moose, if you take CO 14 out of Ft Colling up to Cameron Pass there is usally moose in the willows along the road near the top of the pass.<br>

If you can get away in the evenings during the week that might be doable for some dusk shots.<br>

Larry's right though, the prime spot will be RMNP, for rutting/bugling elk and big horn sheep. With the elks rutting and the aspens turning gold, if you go on the weekend, after about 10AM expect crowds of people getting out of their cars and trying to get up close to the elk with their little point and shoots or cell phones to get a good picture.</p>