Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

After our maintenance tour in Wetaskiwin and Edmonton, we left for Jasper, one of Canada's national parks... and one of our most favorite places in North America.

As we entered the park, we saw a bull elk resting on a sandbar.  He was surrounded by about eight cows and yearling calves.

Further up the road, I was able to photograph two elks sparing.

When we arrived at our campgound, the park ranger warned us that the elks were in rut and very dangerous.  He cautioned us to give them plenty of space.

Our loop had only a few other campers.  By the time we had Oz set up, we noticed more and more elk cows surrounding us.  Then we heard our bugle boy.  As you can tell by the photo, so did this cow.  It quickly became obvious that we were in the middle of a bull elk's harem!

We finally caught sight of the bull elk, a massive, magnificent creature.  All night, he bugled to his girls.  If you have never heard an elk bugle, it is almost an eerie sound, something like a high-pitched whistle.

We awoke to rustling outside our camper and found that we were surrounded by over a dozen cows and their yearling calves.  The bull elk bugled close by but we couldn't see him through the trees.  I couldn't stand it any longer, knowing that my camera was on the front seat of the truck.  Once the cows had wandered a bit further from the camper, I made a mad dash to the truck to grab the camera.

What a show!  I was amazed at how the cows seemed so comfortable with us around them.  At one point, one of the cows came within five feet of me and the truck.  As I continued snapping photos, she moved a step closer to me.  Discretion being the better part of valor, I opened the door to the truck with as little motion as possible, placing it between me and her.  Thankfully, she moved off and began munching mushrooms.

Jasper on Dwellable

Then I spied the bull.  He was in a thick forested area with one of the cows.  As he moved onto the road, he spied me.

We must have watched the bull and his harem for nearly an hour.  

He would round one of the cows up, rake his antlers on a tree, then bugle again.

Finally, the herd moved back into the woods.  When David and I left the campground, we saw the bull by the men's washroom.  I took this shot just moments before he corralled one of his ladies off into the woods.

A few seconds after he moved off, five guys came barreling out of the washroom.  They had been trapped in there by the bull!

That afternoon, David found the bull resting in the forest.  

That evening, it began to rain in earnest.  We heard no more of our bugle boy and left the next morning for Banff.

Dear Friends, We are having difficulty finding reliable internet sites and have been unable to update the blog as frequently as hoped.  We will continue trying so you won't miss a thing!  

Jasper on Dwellable