The Elk Rut in Rocky Mountain NP (Some humor???)

Bull Elks Testing. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 2010

This is the time of year when folks traipse their way up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park to photograph the herds of elk, the bulls head-butting and bugling, and the general folderol that is the elk rut. Opportunities abound. (Highway 36 from Lyons to Estes Park is now open, by the way. Stop and spend some money with the merchants in both Estes and Lyons–they were very hard hit by the September floods.)

However.

HOWEVER.

Be careful up there.

By way of example, take a peek at this video of a photographer taking on a young bull elk in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a couple of weeks ago. Luckily for the human involved, the bull seems to be more playful than serious. I love the part at the end where the elk decides to check out the man’s gear: “You shoot Canon or Nikon?”