YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Yesterday Deby, Verne and I played kind of a hopscotch up and down the Madison River.

The following is a little difficult to keep up with but if you pay attention you may learn a little about bull elk. Some of you, I am sure, already know the following, but it was new to me.

We watched several bull elk along the Madison River yesterday. I always thought bull elk corralled female elk into their herds. Maybe some do, but after yesterday I think some bulls move into an already existing herd of females and calves. When they are finished with them they leave to go find a new herd of females. I say that because that is what happened yesterday. One bull elk had a small herd near Madison campground. Another, larger bull, had a small herd about a mile east of 7 mile bridge. In the late afternoon both bull elk left their existing herds and started walking in the direction of the other bull’s herd. We knew both of them were moving towards the other guy but it was amazing how they could just disappear for much of their 4 or 5 mile journey and how fast they moved. Towards evening the bull who had been downstream near the bridge was up at the herd near Madison campground, but so was the original owner, the “campground” bull.

When they got close to each other it was obvious the “bridge” bull was bigger than the campground bull. The campground bull was a 6 x 6. The bridge bull was 6 x 7 but also had bigger antlers. Their was never much of a fight, unless you count when the campground bull repeatedly attacked some tall grass. He must have realized he couldn’t win against the bridge bull and took his feelings out on the grass rather than risking being hurt by the bridge bull.

When it was all over the bridge bull successfully stole the campground bull’s herd. The campground bull crossed the river and moved upstream bugling several times. The bridge bull moved into his new herd to sniff around and get to know his new girls. I was surprised at how relaxed the females were. They seemed to take it all in stride as if it happens all of the time. Maybe it does and I just never say it happen before.

When we got home and looked at our movies and photos we realized there had been a third bull there too. We didn’t see him near either herd but we did see him traveling from the campground herd to the bridge herd. We just didn’t notice it wasn’t either the campground bull or the bridge bull until we looked at the photos. So we now think the unknown one went downstream and got the bridge bulls females while the two larger bulls were fighting over the campground herd.

Sometimes being the biggest gets you the females, but sometimes being the smartest and sneakiest wins the day, or at least gets some females.

I learn something new every day, but sometimes I don’t learn new things until I look at the photos and film clips. It really is amazing what you don’t see while things are happening quickly.