BABY ELK

Saw my first baby elk of 2011 this morning.  The first one I saw was very young and still quite wobbly.  The second I saw was older and was very independent.  We have had a lot of rain so the walking has been muddy.  And the walks short to say the least so I needed to take a nice long hike.  This morning was clear and with no rain for the last 24 hours, the road was in good shape - by that I mean it was not too muddy.  Although walking through the grass was still very wet.    Connie was going to ride her bike so I headed out early to Scott's overlook (those who have hiked with me east of our place know the place).  I ran into a small herd just below the powerlines and watched them for quite a little bit of time.  The spike bulls now have pretty good antlers sticking up about a foot.  I was hunkered down behind a sagebrush watching them with my binoculars but got busted by a cow I did not see to my right.  She must have saw me moving around a little behind the sagebrush and took off which alerted all the rest of the bunch.  I then headed up to the overlook and was just about there when I walked upon a cow with a pretty young calf.  They took off around a rock never to be seen again.  I spent a little time up on the overlook glassing for elk, but did not see any.  It was so quiet and peaceful there this morning.  The Clarks Nutcrackers have hatched and left their nest so they are hanging around being very noisy.  But it is an easy listening noise.  When I came off the overlook and started back down the road, there were some elk in the trees so I again dropped behind a sagebrush and waited.  Sure enough, a cow and calf stepped out and I got to watch them for quite some time.  There were about 6 cows in this little bunch.  The calf was much older than the first calf I saw - I would say a week or maybe even two.  I got to see him nurse and to go off exploring by himself.  I find it just fun to watch these animals in the wild.  He did a couple of little bucks and kicks - just feeling good.  I of course did not have my good camera with a telephoto lens.  But I did have our old little camera so did take a couple of pictures.  Watching through the binoculars was great though.  Then it was back home, eat a quick breakfast and head down to Corvallis to present the colors (flags) at the High School graduation.  After that, Connie and I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on weeding and spraying down in the meadow.  It sure keeps us busy.  Some pics below.  Click on the picture to enlarge.

One of the elk at the powerlines.

The view near the overlook.

Click to enlarge and the calf is in the center.  

The old Tom the other day on our driveway.

And here he is in Connie's rock garden.

And this is the wolf tracks from the other day.  That is my leatherman squirt for a comparison in size.