Herd of elk in front of the visitors center.
What a rack. A local hunter standing nearby told us he was
at Yellowstone to size up his prey for when they migrate out
of the park into the legal hunting areas.
Morning flirtations
Buffalo use the roads for travel too.
Yellowstone National Park - Animals
September 6-10, 2007 - One of the most exciting
things in Yellowstone is seeing the big game
animals up close. Our first morning in the park,
after driving down from Glacier NP, we took a short
hike from the campground to the visitors center. As
we climbed up the hillside through the forest we
looked up -- and saw a buffalo on the ridge above
us. I stopped dead in my tracks, remembering the
sign I'd seen at the campground, "More people are
gored by buffalo each year than are attacked by
bears." Yikes. There had been another sign
explaining what to do in case you encountered a buffalo or bear in the park. I wracked my brain trying to remember the
instructions, as each animal required something different. Do you make noise, or not? Back up slowly or run for your life? Be
aggressive or passive? The buffalo snorted at us. Mark reached for his camera but I was frozen to the spot. Suddenly the
mammoth, ungainly beast leaped away. He moved across the impossibly steep and rocky terrain with the grace and agility of a
dancer. In an instant he was gone. We gaped at each other, wide-eyed. What a way to be welcomed to Yellowstone National
When we arrived at the visitors center we found it was occupied by
a herd of elk. It was elk mating season and they like to congregate
at the visitors center. They wandered up and down the grassy
areas as if they owned the place while the rangers waved the cars
through and tried to control the exuberant park visitors.
A huge male was seated motionless in the middle of the grass
with his harem of females surrounding him at a distance. He
barely moved a muscle as he sat in the sun. We watched him,
willing him to turn to face us. He wouldn't move, despite the
crowd of onlookers snapping his photo. Almost imperceptably he
moved his head slightly. This seemed an indication that he might
stand up and the rangers leapt into action, waving everyone
away from the grass to give the big guy room. "These are wild
animals," they explained to us. "They are unpredictable." That proved true, as the enormous elk must have decided he didn't
need to stand up afterall, and he stayed seated in the sun for another few hours.
One morning we woke up to see a young buck elk flirting with a
young female right outside our trailer window. We grabbed the
cameras and started shooting right through the window. They
touched noses and then reared up on their hind feet, pawing at
each other.
They did this for about 10 minutes, pausing to nibble the bushes
every now and then between flirtations. When the young male
leaned over to munch on a leaf we could see that his antlers were
soft and fuzzy.
Out on the park roads it
was common to see elk
and bison roaming
around. The animals
use the park roads in the
winter because it is
easier to walk through
the snow there. So they
do own the roads
afterall, and they
continue walking along
them in the summertime
too. After a while we got
used to seeing the huge
buffalos. They didn't get
any prettier, but from the
safety of the car they
seemed a little less
intimidating.
The tamed wild animals
are just one of the many
marvels at Yellowstone.
We were intrigued by the
steaming and gurgling of
the hot springs and
geysers as well.