Face to Face

kdog

Shot yesterday morning on a camping trip. A friendly elk came though the campground looking for a handout evidently, but got intrigued by the kids.

Serrator

Wow.

From experience I can say the little girl is lucky she didn't get hoofed, they can flick their front legs out with lightning speed.

I was in Yosemite as a child and had a deer (much smaller than this elk) come up to me and I fed it some of the corn we bought to feed the animals at that time (we are talking the 70's when feeding animals I guess was okay). When I ran out of the feed the old deer gave me a swift leg kick that cut through several layers of clothing and left me with a cut and a much greater appreciation of these wild animals. Just a heads up especially with small children and large animals.


Here is one reference I found regarding Tule Elks

"If necessary the females can defend themselves or their young with their hooves. A kick can break a wolf's back."
ref:
http://www.oaklandzoo.org/animals/mammals/tule-elk/

kdog

This place is loaded with elk. I've seen herds of 20 or 30 at a time in this area. They're there daily, and yet, I've never heard of anybody getting hurt by one. I've also spoken with the BLM caretaker of the campground who's lived with them every day for years, and he's never had a problem with them hurting campers either. But thanks for your concern.

kygarden

Great photo

And I don't know about them kicking from the front but as a kid I always learned to never walk behind a horse for fear of getting kicked.

Eia

The look on the girl's face is priceless! What a catch!!! The elk must be very people friendly. I thought they would have been a bit skittish as they are rutting. Where was this taken?

Azzaro

Hi Joel.........What a great capture and a camping trip everybody will remember. In my horseback riding days I saw a lot of elk in northern Az., Some of the herds so big you couldn't count them. I did have deer approach me in the bottom of the canyon like that, but never saw elk do it....... azzaro

clap

Seatime

Great shots, Kdog. I was down in Kingman two years ago, and just south of there I saw a herd of seven or more big bulls. Unfortunately, they stayed in the shadows of the trees. It was midday and very sunny. The pics weren't good, but you could still get a peek at them.

Thanks for showing them beautiful critters!

Nikolai

Nice encounter, Joel!
And you even managed to get a mandatory arse shot

kdog

kygarden wrote:

Great photo

And I don't know about them kicking from the front but as a kid I always learned to never walk behind a horse for fear of getting kicked.

Thanks, Kygarden. I'm with you, and we definitely made it a point NOT to walk behind the animal. You definitely don't want to spook these beasts. As it was, the elk was very comfortable. She checked us out, realized we weren't going to feed her, and eventually sauntered off.

Regards,
-joel

kdog

Eia wrote:

The look on the girl's face is priceless! What a catch!!! The elk must be very people friendly. I thought they would have been a bit skittish as they are rutting. Where was this taken?

Thanks, Eia! This elk was certainly people friendly. She was actually with a larger group of elk though who kept their distance and did not approach us. Perhaps she was the designated scout. If we'd fed her, I'm guessing we'd have had the whole herd over for a visit. :wow

The kid shot was at Wild Cow Springs Campground in the Hualapai mountains of Kingman. The other two shots were taken at Hualapai Mountain Park, shot on a different day, a few miles away. This range is pretty big actually, you can drive the Jeep trails all the way to Yucca (I've done it.)

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

Azzaro wrote:

Hi Joel.........What a great capture and a camping trip everybody will remember. In my horseback riding days I saw a lot of elk in northern Az., Some of the herds so big you couldn't count them. I did have deer approach me in the bottom of the canyon like that, but never saw elk do it....... azzaro

clap

Thanks, Gary. It's funny running into herds of elk like that when you're not looking for them. If you talk to the hunters though, you'd think there wasn't an elk left in the state. Evidently the elk know all about hunting season and how to disappear into the woodwork during it.

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

Seatime wrote:

Great shots, Kdog. I was down in Kingman two years ago, and just south of there I saw a herd of seven or more big bulls. Unfortunately, they stayed in the shadows of the trees. It was midday and very sunny. The pics weren't good, but you could still get a peek at them.

Thanks for showing them beautiful critters!

Thanks, Seatime! You didn't do too bad at all here. For such big animals, it's hard to get good shots of them because the lighting is always so variable in their habitat. Impressive grouping of racks and buck butts there.

Regards,
-joel

kdog

Nikolai wrote:

Nice encounter, Joel!
And you even managed to get a mandatory arse shot

Thanks, Nik! I try.

Cheers,
-joel