Posted September 16, 2023
Showing off in RMNP…
It was an interesting morning! One of the bulls dug his antlers into the dry grass and came up with a new “headpiece”. He seemed proud of his accomplishment and strolled around as if to impress the cows in his harem. Whether the well distributed ornamentation did much for the cows or not, I was sufficiently impressed!
The bull made no effort to shed his new headgear, and strolled around for a prolonged period of time. The bull moved into the aspen grove. When the morning sunlight became too harsh, I returned to my car to call it a day. He still had the grassy mass atop his antlers as I drove by.
I’ve seen bull moose display similar behavior, but intead of clumps of grass, the bulls break off branches and lodge them into their antlers. I always assumed they did it to impress the cows and intimidate smaller bulls.
Several locals identified this bull simply as the “bull with the drop tine”. When l lived in Jackson Hole, I took a winter sleigh ride on the National Elk Refuge. The sleigh driver/guide told me and the touring passengers that most elk antlers have a fairly consistent shape. He explained that elk cows reject bulls with”non-typical” antlers. Interestingly, this bull with the down tine and G5 (seen in one of the other pages) both have non-typical antlers and both have sizeable harems. These unique bulls will be passing some of their unique antler patterns to future generations in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Bull Elk with his Grassy Toupée
Photos on this page were taken with a Sony A1 and Sigma Sport 60-600mm lens, handheld.
