Elk and Mountain Lions

It's springtime so the elk herd seems to prefer our elevation. I love watching them, and photographing them with a hand-held camera and with trail cams.

Whenever I spot the herd, I go back out in my car and shoot some photos without getting out. It seems that elk are not concerned about cars but they are very concerned about people on foot.

Last week, I watched a young and shedding bull elk lie down. The "spots" on his coat are clumps of fur that he's shedding. Lying down appeared to be quite a procedure for a big animal. Here he was, standing up and grazing.

Then he decided that it was time to rest his hooves and began the process of lying down. He lowered his front end first.

And then his hind end followed.

Soon, he was lying there relaxing. I suppose that this is one of the safest times and places for an elk to rest - in the midst of a big herd in a sunny meadow. Mountain lions, the elk's main predators, are not likely to stalk the elk in this situation.

I've also been seeing elk on my trail cameras. This is a somewhat older bull with broken antlers that tell the story of him fighting with other bull elk during mating season.

Then, he heard some people approaching but he also seemed to notice my trail camera at the same time. He gave the camera a quizzical look before heading up the hill and away from where people and their dogs walk.

When there's such a big elk presence in our area, the mountain lions soon focus on our area too. The collared cat followed in some snowbike tracks, heading toward the herd. It's a smallish cat so I'm guessing that it's a female.

A couple of miles from where my camera captured the image of the collared lion, another trail camera captured the image of a collar-free muscular muscular mountain lion, also heading directly for the elk herd.

In the case of that second lion photo, I wasn't planning to check that particular trail camera that day but Shyla "told me", loud and clear, that something scary had been in the area. She starts sniffing the ground incredibly intensely when a mountain lion has been through.

Based on her behavior, I think that the big collar-free lion had been on top of Hug Hill in the wee hours of the morning, in the same spot where Shyla and I play many days.

I once daydreamed about teaching Shyla to signal me when she found the scent trail of a mountain lion. That's starting to seem like a reasonable proposition because she reacts so obviously when she catches the scent of a mountain lion.

The elk and mountain lions always tide over my curiosity about our wildlife until the bears become active. Although I suspect that some bears are outside their dens now, I haven't found any tracks or trail camera photos of them yet, perhaps partly because their favorite routes are still snow-covered. When I find bear tracks for the first time in the spring, it's a day for celebration!