September 28, 2022

Rainforest Bulls

I went on a three day backpacking trip looking for Roosevelt elk to photograph. It didn't take long before I found my first subject, a young bull with a strange non-typical rack.

He wandered off in one direction and I went the other, and soon ran into another young bull with a more symmetrical set of antlers.

The next morning, I ran into two more bulls in close proximity, one of which was quite curious and hung around for twenty minutes offering various poses. We had a good photo session.

My last encounter of the trip was a pretty amazing experience. For over an hour I was close to a herd of cows with a mature bull and several satellite bulls. While a few of the smaller bulls noticed me, I managed to stay undetected from the herd and herd bull. The big bull was defending his harem of cows from three other satellite bulls and every time one got close, he chased them away. They must have bugled dozens of times.