Visiting Elk....

[Cougar]

Here's some security cam footage of one of those elks that have been visiting our place lately. Mrs. Cougar says she looks pregnant....

 

[Westerly Wood]

pet

 

[HeyMikey]

dinner

 

[walrus]

Cool!

 

[Minnesota Flats]

Back when I was doing a lot of mountain biking, I used to ride some on the Humboldt coast. Lots of Roosevelt Elk on the beach there. You have to keep your distance during mating season: the bulls don't like people to approach they wimminz.



As you can see, these are large, powerful animals: quite a bit bigger than deer. And they gots large, pokey things on their heads. What the Japanese tourist in this PIC is doing is, shall we say, "unwise"? Better to invest in a telephoto lense and keep your distance:

 

[Stuball48]

Lots of bone nuts and saddles in that set of horns.

 

[Minnesota Flats]

Bull Elks at band audition for lead vocalist:



And, as if simulating uncontrolled feedback wasn't enough, they also spray themselves with their own urine. Evidently, this is something which lady elks find quite alluring.

Oh well: "different strokes for different......elks..."

 

[bobouz]

We get these deer in the backyard all the time. Here on the north Oregon coast, Elk annually come down from the hills & hang out on dairy farms & sometimes even on the beach. Once saw a whole herd literally prance through an ocean estuary, like kids playing in the water. Quite a sight!

 

[WaltW]

I've seen Elk up close and personal on a trail in Yellowstone about 12 years ago. I was at the edge of a clearing, walking in, and there they were 3 doe and a buck in amongst some large cedars only about 20 feet away. I stopped and reversed course walking backward slowly for about 100 feet. I realized it was time to walk back to my car.
I was in Yellowstone for 3 days this past July and I saw plenty of people out of there cars walking up to Bison. I don't understand how stupid some people are acting, like they're in a petting zoo. Oh, those "City Slickers!" A few days later, when I had made it to Spokane WA, I saw on the evening news that someone had been gored in Yellowstone by a Bison. Elk and Bison are beautiful as well as all wildlife but they are WILD.
Cougar, I'm envious of your living location. If i was a younger man and not married, I would be out there somewhere. I went to Yellowstone for the first time when I was 8 years old and it's been in my blood ever since. That whole rugged area in the Northwest is so captivating and envigorating to all of the senses, all at once. imho

 

[Cougar]

Cougar, I'm envious of your living location. If i was a younger man and not married, I would be out there somewhere.

Thanks, yeah we only got up here after retirement. Would be tough finding a job around here.

I guess like most of the country, it's been really cold (-10 F) the last week or two. Our place overlooks a bay that's about halfway iced over. First time I've seen that. It's a huge, (over 1,000 feet) deep lake, but apparently some places are shallow enough to freeze.....

 

[chazmo]

Beautiful pic, Cougs!

Chilly there, eh? We've had a week under 20 here in central MA, but no comparison to ID!

 

[WaltW]

Cougar, Absolutely Gorgeous! I noticed the water in the background in your original picture. You've got a spectacular view too!
What ya think chazmo, worth living in that cold environment for that view? I would in a heartbeat but the wife uses a blanket here in July with only the fan blowing in the window.

 

[chazmo]

What ya think chazmo, worth living in that cold environment for that view?

That, @WaltW , is an excellent, thought provoking, and truly timely question. I ponder stuff like that a lot these days. @Cougar 's place is unbelievably gorgeous.

No two ways about it; where I live in MA is a compromise. I have a lovely property... and I do have some beautiful waterways and hills near me... and the weather is probably a bit more livable in winter than where Cougs lives... But, I'm so much closer to wanting to abandon "civilization" than I've ever been, and thoughts of moving to a place like Cougs' than I ever would've imagined.

 

[Stuball48]

Cougar:
I can see now that I should be consulting you when I am buying COLD weather clothing for winter (ha ha compared to Northern Idaho) Sauger fishing. My feet and hands get coldest. Hands and fingers super important to detect the light and quick bite.
Both your Summertime and Wintertime views suggest solitude. Enjoy for all of us "wannabes."

 

[Cougar]

I noticed the water in the background in your original picture.

Yeah, there's the bay, then the peninsula, which ends a little further to the right -- you see the end of it in the next pic. Then the lake goes on for 43 miles!

We "exchanged" our place in SoCal for our place on 15 acres in the forest. Yeah -- idyllic.

 

[Stuball48]

Yeah, there's the bay, then the peninsula, which ends a little further to the right -- you see the end of it in the next pic. Then the lake goes on for 43 miles!

We "exchanged" our place in SoCal for our place on 15 acres in the forest. Yeah -- idyllic.

Good trade

 

[WaltW]

OMG Cougar! My breath was taken away for a moment with those pictures. . I'm a bit more than envious now.
I'm driving out that way again in Aug or Sept and I'm going to check out northern Idaho after I leave Yellowstone and Glacier NP. I only drove through ID on RT90 this past year. Took in a bit of Missoula for 6 hours in between Livingston MT and Spokane WA. After that we're on our way to the Olympic Peninsula and the Oregon Coast. Then back east to Utah and Zion, Bryce, Arches and Canyonlands. The 2023 road trip was 30 days and 7600 miles long. I can't wait

 

[Cougar]

I only drove through ID on RT90 this past year. Took in a bit of Missoula for 6 hours in between Livingston MT and Spokane WA. After that we're on our way to the Olympic Peninsula and the Oregon Coast. Then back east to Utah and Zion, Bryce, Arches and Canyonlands. The 2023 road trip was 30 days and 7600 miles long.

Wow, great trip. We had been living in Salt Lake for about 20 years, so we're familiar with those national parks. Over a couple years I've made the trip from Salt Lake to East Hope more times than I care to remember, hauling stuff that we could handle ourselves.

We'd cut over onto Hwy 93 after Missoula, then to Hwy 200, which runs along the Clark Fork River for what must be 100 miles before feeding into Pend Oreille. Hwy 200 is about a mile down the hill from our place.

 

[adorshki]

pet

dinner

Cool!

Humans is fickle creatures, no 2 think alike.

 

[adorshki]

Lots of bone nuts and saddles in that set of horns.

I think you might know this and were just playing for the joke, but just in case: Horns are keratin (hair) protein, not hard like bone. Might work but for sure it'd wear out faster.