Male Elk Bugling in Colorado MountainsMale Elk Bugling in Colorado Mountains
Male Elk Bugling in Colorado Mountains
Male Elk Bugling in Colorado Mountains
Male Elk Bugling in Colorado Mountains
Male Elk Bugling in Colorado Mountains

Bugling Elk

Cervus canadensis

I spotted this monster of an elk with his herd when I was about to give up for the day. I carefully approached them under cover of trees, and tried my best to make my mouth bugling sound believable (it wasn’t), so after getting a few shots under cover I decided to slowly walk out and stop, tripod and camera leading the way. Amazingly, all of them noticed me and continued grazing and doing “elk” things. This big bull had 3 broken tines and a gash on his other side, but was still maintaining his group of over 30 cows and fighting off his satellite bull rivals. At this point, he stepped over to the edge of the canyon returning the bugling calls of several other bulls, letting them know that he was there and that he intended on keeping all of his harem.