Crazy Elk Love

Jan and I headed into the mountains yesterday to see the aspen turning brilliant yellow-gold and to check out the elk rut at Rocky Mountain National Park.

The aspen never disappoint. Cool.

Aspen on the Road to RMNP

And the elk, well, they’ve got some good populatin’ and reproductivatin’ going on right now. Time to add something new and living and breathing to the world’s flesh in the meadows of the high country.

The elk soap opera of love is pretty entertaining. You can watch it pretty easily from 40 or 50 yards away though good Christian people should probably avert their eyes at the appropriate moments.

The elk males battle each other while trying to round up as many females as possible into harems.

Sort of like the Old Testament dudes or the throw back Mormons on the lam right now in southern Utah.

The human version lands you in the slammer these days unless you’re the Sultan of Brunei, but the elk guys knock themselves out (literally) while receiving nothing but praise from the forest service authorities.

The females don’t seem too excited about the whole thing.

They spend a lot of their time trying to run away from the harem.

The bull elks respond by endlessly chasing them back in line while also fending off attacks from other males.

Geez, the whole thing looks exhausting.

No wonder human monogamy eventually won out :^)