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Ed Dentry, Rockymountainnews.com
Bull elk sound the signature anthem of Rocky Mountains
October 2, 2002
Photo by Ken Papaleo
The most eerie and compelling sound in the great outdoors provides grand fun and entertainment to wildlife-loving tourists at Rocky Mountain National Park, Genessee, Evergreen and elsewhere in autumn.
Hunters especially thrill to the sound of bull elk bugling when it echoes in the backcountry. The shrieks and yodeling whistles followed by a series of hollow belly grunts will bristle the hair on your neck, enhancing romantic illusions about nature.
But make no mistake, the elk behind the bugle is one humorless, stressed-out gladiator. He is preoccupied more with crisis management than fun.
Charged with hormones and meaner than any junkyard dog, a bull elk, particularly the dominant herd bull, burns calories faster than a world-class marathoner from late August to mid-October. His incessant policing and breeding duties during the fall rut leave him edgy, sleepless, haggard and prone to random acts of violence.
Attempted murder, even. The scene of the crime was County Road 65 near Bergen Park one day last week. The suspect, a herd bull with a sword-like drop tine extended threateningly from one antler beam, was seen allegedly plotting to kill a troublesome young spike bull, probably his own son.
The monarch had been cruising his herd of 30 cows and pretending to tolerate the rude spike until the moment he spied his opportunity to wreak some vehicular destruction.
Unless my eyes deceived me, that herd bull gauged the speed of the car, factored in the trajectory of the trotting spike and charged with premeditated malice. He deliberately chased the youngster into the path of the oncoming vehicle. Then he stood on the berm striking a kingly pose, grinning.
Owing to the driver's quick braking reflexes, the spike elk escaped injury or death, but only by millimeters. Shaken and humbled, it wandered off into some woods, while the old master resumed his frantic herding duties. Not far away stood a smaller 5x5 bull, surely weighing his chances.
In the course of their six-week to two-month-long breeding season, bull elk will lose 20 percent or more of their body weight to such antics. They end up bony, rank-smelling and tired.
The rundown condition of bull elk and bull bison, especially after their rutting seasons, provided the logic behind an old saying the mountain men of the early 1800s often used when referring to any stupid woodsman:
"He doesn't know fat cow from poor bull."
The insult arose in an age when meat mattered, particularly fat meat. The early trappers and hunters applied it liberally to anyone without good sense.
By the mountain men's standards, most modern hunters do not have good sense.
While many of today's elk hunters do prefer to feed their families fat cow elk steaks and roasts, many more remain fascinated by bulls with big voices backed up by impressive hat racks. No matter how rank they might be.
For the past month, archers have had their go at the bugling bulls, as well as the cows in their herds. In mid-September, muzzleloading rifle hunters, heirs to some of the ways of the mountain men, joined bowhunters for a week.
Next come hunters with high-powered rifles, who this year should be hearing more bugling than in the past several years. State big-game manager John Ellenberger says that's because the elk harvest was poor last year.
Bull elk in areas not managed for quality hunting seldom live longer than 2 ½ years. Because many of those post-adolescent raghorns survived the 2001 hunting seasons, the composition of many herds leans slightly more heavily toward older, larger and more vocal bulls this year.
"Where you have high bull/cow ratios, you hear a lot of bugling activity into October," Ellenberger said. "But in the areas where the majority of bulls are 2 years old or younger, you just don't hear as much."
The observation explains why hunters often can't agree whether bulls are bugling or not bugling, from one area to another.
Although the rut tapers off in mid-October, bull elk might be heard occasionally into November. Without entertaining any romantic illusions about nature, hunters and non-hunters alike still have time to enjoy listening to the signature anthem of the Rocky Mountains.
dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-5481.
Bull elk sound the signature anthem of Rocky Mountains
October 2, 2002
Photo by Ken Papaleo
The most eerie and compelling sound in the great outdoors provides grand fun and entertainment to wildlife-loving tourists at Rocky Mountain National Park, Genessee, Evergreen and elsewhere in autumn.
Hunters especially thrill to the sound of bull elk bugling when it echoes in the backcountry. The shrieks and yodeling whistles followed by a series of hollow belly grunts will bristle the hair on your neck, enhancing romantic illusions about nature.
But make no mistake, the elk behind the bugle is one humorless, stressed-out gladiator. He is preoccupied more with crisis management than fun.
Charged with hormones and meaner than any junkyard dog, a bull elk, particularly the dominant herd bull, burns calories faster than a world-class marathoner from late August to mid-October. His incessant policing and breeding duties during the fall rut leave him edgy, sleepless, haggard and prone to random acts of violence.
Attempted murder, even. The scene of the crime was County Road 65 near Bergen Park one day last week. The suspect, a herd bull with a sword-like drop tine extended threateningly from one antler beam, was seen allegedly plotting to kill a troublesome young spike bull, probably his own son.
The monarch had been cruising his herd of 30 cows and pretending to tolerate the rude spike until the moment he spied his opportunity to wreak some vehicular destruction.
Unless my eyes deceived me, that herd bull gauged the speed of the car, factored in the trajectory of the trotting spike and charged with premeditated malice. He deliberately chased the youngster into the path of the oncoming vehicle. Then he stood on the berm striking a kingly pose, grinning.
Owing to the driver's quick braking reflexes, the spike elk escaped injury or death, but only by millimeters. Shaken and humbled, it wandered off into some woods, while the old master resumed his frantic herding duties. Not far away stood a smaller 5x5 bull, surely weighing his chances.
In the course of their six-week to two-month-long breeding season, bull elk will lose 20 percent or more of their body weight to such antics. They end up bony, rank-smelling and tired.
The rundown condition of bull elk and bull bison, especially after their rutting seasons, provided the logic behind an old saying the mountain men of the early 1800s often used when referring to any stupid woodsman:
"He doesn't know fat cow from poor bull."
The insult arose in an age when meat mattered, particularly fat meat. The early trappers and hunters applied it liberally to anyone without good sense.
By the mountain men's standards, most modern hunters do not have good sense.
While many of today's elk hunters do prefer to feed their families fat cow elk steaks and roasts, many more remain fascinated by bulls with big voices backed up by impressive hat racks. No matter how rank they might be.
For the past month, archers have had their go at the bugling bulls, as well as the cows in their herds. In mid-September, muzzleloading rifle hunters, heirs to some of the ways of the mountain men, joined bowhunters for a week.
Next come hunters with high-powered rifles, who this year should be hearing more bugling than in the past several years. State big-game manager John Ellenberger says that's because the elk harvest was poor last year.
Bull elk in areas not managed for quality hunting seldom live longer than 2 ½ years. Because many of those post-adolescent raghorns survived the 2001 hunting seasons, the composition of many herds leans slightly more heavily toward older, larger and more vocal bulls this year.
"Where you have high bull/cow ratios, you hear a lot of bugling activity into October," Ellenberger said. "But in the areas where the majority of bulls are 2 years old or younger, you just don't hear as much."
The observation explains why hunters often can't agree whether bulls are bugling or not bugling, from one area to another.
Although the rut tapers off in mid-October, bull elk might be heard occasionally into November. Without entertaining any romantic illusions about nature, hunters and non-hunters alike still have time to enjoy listening to the signature anthem of the Rocky Mountains.
dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-5481.
