A bull Elk or Wapiti relaxing and enjoying a tasty breakfast of some sort of tree branch he has brought out into the open near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Happened upon this fellow while hiking - I have never seen a bull elk so mellow before although most are habituated to some degree to humans this is a little unusual. Of course I did not approach any nearer than my initial encounter - talked softly and then moved on. Although large this fellow is not big enough to seriously compete in the upcoming fall rut for the right to a harem maybe in a year or two.
Young Buck Elk feasting on ripe apples in the Great Smoky Mountains and checking out a bird feeder too. Much too young to participate in the fall rut he's off by himself enjoying a fall bounty.
An encounter between a young spike male elk (one really can't call him a "bull elk") went viral this week. The young elk took an unusual interest in a photographer at Cataloochie Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and appeared to be playfully sparring with the man who kept his head down early in the encounter. This intrigues me because I am very familiar with the elk in the GSMNP and have filmed them often and never seen any act like this unless people tried to approach or otherwise act threatening. Indeed, as the video below shows you can be quiet and low-profile and get exceptional video of the elk going about their business. A video playlist of some of my encounters can be seen here. Huge bull elks such as this 800 pounder I filmed below could kill you in a heartbeat if provoked.
Sadly the elk was killed by the park service after this event. I had many questions about the encounter - and it turns out this young elk had been causing some problems before and that people had been feeding it Doritos and chips etc., probably starting when it was still a calf. This is very unfortunate, and of course against the law and violation comes with a steep fine. But people will be idiots and feed the wildlife and the odds of being caught are low. I do not know how aggressive the rangers are at enforcement, but I do know that budget cuts have thinned their ranks. Cataloochie in particular is unfortunately set up for this kind of animal abuse because it is so accessible to people just passing through. The classic conundrum of the popular national park, how to somehow preserve wild nature while making it safe and easy for people to experience. The reality is most people never get more than 100 yards from the car at any time when they visit the park.
Clearly conditioning this young elk to expect a salty treat when people stand by the road is the root cause of this viral encounter. The photographer's actions can always be second guessed - he had an opportunity at the 2:42 mark in the video to just walk/run away as it appeared the elk was losing interest. Instead, he turned back around and that seemed to escalate the encounter leading to the head-butting. But he didn't have the advantage of our after-the-fact viewpoint. It really boils down to a fascinating, but sad convergence of an elk who had been fed against the law and a photographer who loves wildlife trying to get a good shot. The underlying message of this video should not be lost - and that is feeding large mammals like elk and bears results in endangerment of the public and, sadly, almost always is a death sentence for the animal.
A mellow clip of four elk (a mother and her three calves) I watched taking a nap in the Great Smoky Mountains this past October. What strikes me most about this session was the utter silence except for the slight rustling caused by the wind. It's so rare to have silence these days even in the national parks.
Cute Elk Calf Enjoying Breakfast in the Great Smoky Mountains
We were fortunate to spend some quality time with a mother Elk and her three calves one morning earlier this week. I focused on one of three Elk calves enjoying breakfast. Remote roadside forage next to heavy forest cover is one of their favorite hangouts. Sequestration and the closure of the prime Elk area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has led to much less "people pressure" on the animal life, making for excellent viewing.
Beautiful Bull Elk, mother and calf near a closed area of the remote part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. "Sequestration", and few if any people has probably resulted in some unique viewing opportunities. Not sure if this is the full extent of his family. As big as he is he is still not the top dog in these parts! Filmed in a steady rain.
