Bull On Trail Ridge Road

This was taken this morning near the lava clifts on Trail Ridge

Road. This bad boy appeared to be looking for lady elk to get

better acquainted with. The bulls are bugling and showing all the

signs that the rut has started.

 

As always comments are welcomed.

Wow, I love the backdrop you have him up against, too. The colors in the whole thing are so yummy! And of course the elk is a pretty great subject. Another wonderful Larry capture!

Thank you Kim. It was some kind of breezy up on the mountain yesterday when I took this. A park ranger told me he was measuring gusts of 45 MPH with a wind gauge. A couple of times I thought it was going to blow me right off the top of the mountain. In any event I was heading home when I encountered this bull near the lava cliffs. I am glad I did because I think it makes for an interesting background.

 

Thank you M. I appreciate your input. It is a light colored photo thats true, but its not overexposed. I actually did darken the background a small amount because I wanted the bull to stand out from it. But slight is the operative word. I played around with various degrees of darkening. I didn't like the results when I went too far in that direction. I guess in the end its just a matter of personal preference.

I didn't fiddle with his coloration at all. He really was that light. If you see enough of them you will begin to notice some variation in the color of elk. I remember about two years ago at Endovalley I photographed a group of 4 bulls. One of them was as pale as this and one of the others was so dark he almost looked black. I remember thinking at the time what a difference there was between the two.

Being in a position to see dozens of elk every year up close (we won't talk about that), I can verify that there is a lot of color variation. Lava cliffs? The colors are wonderful.

Sorry M! We run a taxidermy shop, and I do most of the tanning, so I work on around 40 or 50 elk capes and hides every year...that probably isn't a real popular profession here on PN though!

Fantastic composition,colors and subject.Nice work Larry.

 

Kim : I got your back :-)

Thank you Leann. You mentioned awhile back how much you wanted to see bull elk. This is the season for that in RMNP. The photo opportunities are fabulous.

 

The guy in this photo was okay but he wasn't even in the running for the biggest set of antlers I saw last Saturday. I saw another enormous rack that had seven points on each antler and a bud that looked like it wanted to be number 8. Unfortunately he was in among some trees and the shots I got of him aren't up to par. Its another one of those fish that got away type situations.

 

That is awesome! I am gearing up for the local herd but the background of this one is hard to match!

Thats exactly how I feel when I look at some of your flowing water pics. They would be very hard to match. I look at them and say "man I wish,"

Larry -- this is just *terific*!! I absolutely love the colors in this, though I might have gone a bit darker myself -- but I'll vouch for you on this boy's color. The RMNP elk do have a fairly wide range of "brown" and this light isn't too terribly uncommon from what I've seen. You really have a winner here!

Thanks Kathy. I was thinking of this post on Saturday morning when I was up in the park. I saw the darkest bull elk by far that I have ever seen. And I have seen a bunch of them. He was about as dark as a moose. Next to all the other boys he really stood out. Unfortunately the light wasn't good enough to bother trying to photograph him. I wish I could have because he sure would have provided quite a contrast to the bull in this photo.

I'm planning on driving up to RMNP this weekend -- how are the aspens/sumacs etc etc? I was hoping to find some good patches this last weekend, but it's still too early for where I was I think. RMNP is higher up... pity about the other bull, but still - I like this one a lot :)

The color is pretty spotty in the park. Horseshoe has a little color beginning to show but its no where near peak. There is a beautiful stand of trees just across the road from the Museum in Moraine that I plan to photograph when they turn. But last saturday they were still completely green. Theres not a lot of color showing in the Bear Lake area yet either.

 

Trail Ridge was closed for a few hours one day last week but odds are excellent it will still be open most of the time for a couple more weeks. But it won't be long till they close it for the winter. When I drove across it a week ago I saw a bit more color up around the Continental Divide than anywhere else in the park. If you do go over it keep your eyes peeled for moose in the Kawuneechee valley. There is also a meadow area in that valley north of Grand Lake thats excellent for elk viewing.

 

If you drive along the Big Thomson river on highway 34 between Estes Park and Loveland the trees are beginning to change quickly. If you take that route you never know when you are going to drive around a bend in the road and come across a few bighorn sheep. You probably wouldn't see any big rams but there is an excellent chance you might see some ewes and some little ones.

 

And thats the local weather report. Now a message from our sponsors.

Now I really wish RMNP wasn't so far away!

I remember the first time I visited RMNP many years ago. I fell head over heels in love with it. At that time I never dreamed I would live within 30 miles of it. I am very very grateful for the tides of fortune that deposited me here.

 

But if its any consolation, I feel the same way about the Utah National Parks that you do about RMNP. I wish I could spend some quality time in any one of them. :)

Awesome, the capture is magic!

Mari

 

Thank you very much. :)

I love the Utah parks too, but all the southern ones are at least 4 or 5 hours away. Sigh...someday I'll get there!

I've seen a lot of elk photos, but the background here makes this one really stand out.

Thank you David.

What a great capture of a great bull! Congrats

Thank you Artie.

Hey, you're back! I was thinking about emailing you to see if you were okay. What's going on in your life? You've been missed!

Hi Kim.

 

I check photo.net frequently but I haven't uploaded any new work in several months. I was spending all my spare time looking for gainful employment. But the search wasn't going well, so I decided to do something radical and go back to school.

 

I have been admitted to Colorado State University in Fort Collins for the fall of 2007. But they are allowing me to start early with summer classes starting in May. My goal is to get a degree in business administration.

 

I am currently taking 13 credits at the local Junior College just to get back into the habit of studying. The CSU advisor suggested I do that and I am finding out it was good advice.

 

I will be graduating in June 2009 and will be 61 years old a month later. I am not sure how practical that is. But I do know its given me a sense of purpose and direction for which I am grateful. For awhile I felt like I was just drifting aimlessly and I hated it.

 

Thats all the news thats fit to print. Anyway I am thankful for your concern. And I do mean that. :)

 

Larry