ELK IN THE HEADLIGHTS

Today one of my assignments took me about 40 minutes into the mountains to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument to tag along on a guided tour through the forest in search of elk or wapiti. The drive up was beautiful and even though they say this is one of the worst years to observe the autumn color change, I noticed it and was very pleased. I cant wait to see what the coming weeks have in store. A group of about 20 convened at a National Forest cabin deep in the forest and as we gathered we could hear the bugling of the elk bucks very close. We headed into the forest light footed with the understanding that we may not even see any elk on this trip, but we did. A little ways into the forest we stopped and saw a curious/nervous male creep over the hill and approach us. He came within about 75 yards or so, close enough for me to capture his curiosity forever. They were so much more majestic in person. The sound of their bugling was incredible. This shot was taken with a 300mm 2.8 + 1.4 tele around 6pm. Shortly after this, the elk continued to move South and I decided that I had what I needed and broke from the group to head back to the cabin and make my deadline. I admit it was a little spooky by myself in the middle of the forest, however when I saw the glimmer of the bright blue paint on my car I knew I was close. A similar photograph ran in color, on the cover of the Gazette’s Metro section.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 at 12:25 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.