I was at Estes Park Colorado for the annual Scottish Highland Games. Yep i'm one of those guys that wear a kilt & carry a dirk
& sword at every oppertunity. although i wasn't in my kilt & didn't have any long pointed sharp objects to protect myself when this happened. For those of you familar with Estes Park i was on the South side of the lake almost straight across from the golf course about 0730 on a walk. i knew the bulls were in rut so I was keeping my distance from them & their cows. this young guy caught me by suprise coming from the bushes as you can see in the photos. I was a photographer in Vietnam & my instinct kicked in & I started shooting. I was backing up as i was shooting not wanting to turn my back on this very pissed off & (horny) no pun intended elk. I kept backing up & he kept coming. He backed me up against a bunch of bushes like the ones he came out of. all I could do was crouch down so as to appear as small & non threatening as I could & keep backing up into the brush. Thank god it worked because he just stood there glared
& snorted am me then turned around & when
back the way he came. For you photo buffs
I had a 28 to 105 zoom on my Cannon 90 & when it was over I looked at the zoom setting. For the last shot i was on 35MM!
I have posted the shots in the sequence they
occured.

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[This message has been edited by Bear Claw (edited 11-10-2001).]

BearClaw - he just thought that you looked "purdy" and wanted to be with you! In the last photo I think he was asking you where your kilt was! I live down US 34 in Loveland. Every year the elk seem to become less afraid of people and more bold. I'm sure you were a little apprehensive about the situation. Great pictures and a better story too.

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Bearclaw,
You must have been in heat Hope you faired well.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Close call. Too bad one of the fat broads from daytime t.v. wasn't there to show you how if you just talk to the wild animals, they'll be your friends.

My the elk must of thought you had pretty lips.

I once bugled near a wallow before I climbed my tree well before daybreak.
I'll never do that again.
Nothin' like having a lovesick bull elk answer and break down small trees from ten feet. In the dark. Arrows safely in the quiver.
Ya can't get small enough.

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To be old and wise.....first you have to be young and stupid!

`Ol Sarge, I've got an amendment for your motto: To be old and wise ... first you have to be young and stupid (and lucky)! LOL!

Harald,
I wasn't so young then - just stupid.
That was only a few years ago.
If I was worse when I was younger, I am the luckiest feller still kickin'.

BTW, I stuck a bull from that stand at 2:00PM when he came in to cool off. I had always hoped it was the same one.

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To be old and wise.....first you have to be young and stupid!

[This message has been edited by Ol' Sarge (edited 11-11-2001).]

HA!!! The mule deer 'round here are rutting pretty hard right now, and this weekend while driving on a rather loud ATV, me and my friend had a 3 pt mule deer follow us, grunting and sniffing...could almost hear him saying, "you sure do got a purdy mouth."

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God Bless and Shoot Straight