(although we forgot to get the camera out of the backpack...)
We went for an early morning walk up to the Lightning Lounge and beyond. We had five separate sightings of elk. Pretty soon they'll be moving to higher elevation-- it's surprising they're still around. We saw spotted baby elk running with the group, we saw the big bull elk, which we haven't seen here before. They can sometimes have harems of 60 cows! We heard a weird mewing sound and then Jon spotted a baby elk crying for its mother.
We try to change direction as soon as we see them to take pressure off of them. Molly's been incredibly good, returning from a run when the elk take off.
The weirdest thing was we stopped for a minute to catch our breath and decide where to head next. When Jon turned around the elk had snuck up RIGHT BEHIND US! What were they thinking? About fifteen of them. It was like being surrounded by Indians in a Western. Deer make a lot of noise when they move but elk are very quiet when they want to be.
As we were coming down the hill we ran into some neighbors we don't know with four dogs. One said, "We saw you coming down the hill and thought your dog was a wolf so we all got close together and stuck our arms out." (???) "Then I thought she was a bear. Guess I should watch more nature shows."
We headed on. The only wolves you'd find around here are the two wolves a neighbor we call Angry Dick keeps as pets.
5 comments:
Sally, you live in the Elk Show now.
That's weird about them sneaking up on you. I'm trying to guess why they'd do it too. Even if they weren't afraid of humans, what's their incentive to get so close?
Maybe they liked your hat? ;)
That's a bit creepy about your neighbor and his pet wolves. How on earth does one get a pet wolf? I hear they don't make the best pets.
Ohhh...beautiful photo. Magical walk. Your neighbors are funny!
The elk sneak up was just so peculiar. This morning I went out at 6:15 with just Molly and followed the same route. I saw almost nothing, just a small group of four when i first went over the fence. I hope the neighbors' pack of dogs didn't chase them away.
People who keep wolves as pets are like people in L.A. who drive Hummers. It's a horrible thing to do. Angry Dick asked Jon if he wanted to bring Molly over for a playdate with his wolves.
Were they trying to look like trees with their arms out?
Beautiful photo of Molly with flowers.
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