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Wapiti Experience
This long post can be called a Wapiti Experience and was the very best adventure I had last summer.
Also IF any do not know what a wapiti is they can google it or better yet read all of this post...
I had seen some people's cabin before but could not remember the color of their roof. All they said was it had a blue roof.
So on Wed. 9/2/09 at 6:45 A.M. I Had to go look for their cabin to know exactly where it is.
No one else that I could see was up anywhere at any cabins that I could see. I left to hike just before sunrise and hiked straight down the mountain and followed an old logging road, then the private road to where I thought their cabin was. After about a mile and a half hike I found their blue roof cabin. I quickly went around it but no one was around. They probably were their on Labor Day weekend but I stayed on my land that weekend. Lots of traffic, dirt bikes etc. on my private dirt road but no one stopped, like usual. And people wonder why they don't know me and some call me a hermit. I do sometimes go visit and help some at their cabins whenever possible though.
Behind this blue roofed cabin there is a narrow 4 wheel drive road that is almost always used only by ATVers - ATV is short for All terrain vehicle for any who might not know.
I thought I might as well hike on down this narrow road which is the only road I have never hiked on since it is hard to get to with the locked gate...
After half a mile or so going down hill I came to Nellie Creek. Then I saw that the road got Real muddy and torn up by the ATVers. Also the trail went up the hill - mountain and I did not want to spend all day hiking. So I thought I would take the scenic route back to my mtn place. I knew I could follow Nellie Creek and If I went too far I would end up in the ghost town of Battle where Nellie Creek begins. Which is not too much of a ghost town with at least 15 cabins built there in the past 10 plus years.
After hiking a while and thru swampy grassy areas but also almost always thick dark timber, I wondered if and when I would see some wildlife. It was very quiet. But the sun was still coming up as I could see it thru the trees sometimes. I kept thinking I should at Least see some deer even elk for this seemed like perfect elk habitat. Thick, some say black timber with many fir and spruce trees. It looked like it had never been logged or burned. Too wet, too remote, too steep and many Engelmann Spruce trees looked like they were more than 300 years old. Twice as wide as the spruce on my mtn land.
For 5 minutes or so I kept thinking I should see some deer or elk. I thought it would be really nice to at least see one cow elk as I have sometimes in the past when I was hiking. And then Suddenly I saw it standing above me on the mountainside. It was large with a dark brown neck etc. I knew it was a cow elk - Wapiti as some call it, an old Injun (I should I suppose, say Native American) word.
As soon as I saw this wapiti - elk, I froze. I knew if I moved, breathed too loud, burped or whatever the elk would flee.
Then I saw another elk and then some calves. All these elk were above me for I was down - about 5 feet from Nellie Creek which at this time of year, end of summer, looks like a 2 foot wide spring.
The first elk seemed about 100 feet or so up the mountainside above me. I just thought to myself, trying to possibly tell the elk, "Don't mind me, I am just a tree stump with beard and glasses. I was Not wearing any camo. Just had on faded blue levis and a black hooded sweatshirt, which has many spots of paint, white, brown, green paint on it from about ten years of painting in it.
I was wondering when the elk would stop coming thru the trees for they were slowly moving and grazing on the mountainside; slowly going east towards the rising sun.
I tried counting them but it was difficult with the thick trees. I thought there were much more than a dozen but no more than 2 dozen which seems pretty large herd of elk in such a rugged steep area. I first looked at my watch at 7:35 a.m. when I saw the first elk and after I think I saw the last elk it was almost 8 a.m. I had not moved all this time and shifted from one foot to the other sometimes. The time went very fast for I was fascinated by these elk being so close. I was almost as mesmerized as most people are when staring for long periods at the television...
The very last elk was large and I thought finally although I would have stayed another hour. This last elk slowly but majestically came thru the trees into my view. It was a huge Bull Elk with a magnificent rack of antlers. I counted 1,2,3,4,5 Yes 6 points!! In some far off places I have heard they say 12 points since they count all the points on a rack of antlers. Whatever, it was The largest and Most awesome sight of any animal I have ever seen and I have seen Many kinds of animals.
It was not simply the huge and beautiful creature I saw before me but the way it acted. Surely No human king, tribal leader etc. has ever acted any more magestic or had any more right to... He turned his head one way then the other then ate some. Then he looked out again over his tribe, harem, herd. Protecting them as much as any creature can. Slowly he and they all moved on. I was sure this great bull elk had seen me but I was unmoving like a statue or tree stump. I kept thinking I never want to shoot and kill such a magnificent creature. Others can hunt these bull elk for their great rack of antlers if they wish but I just wanted him to grow old, spread his seed and possibly even someday get a rack of 8 points!
IF I was starving and had a family or tribe to feed I would shoot one or more of the fat cow elk and probably even the one spike - which is a young elk - one year old I believe. This young elk is called a spike because it has two spike like antlers. The young elk would, I think be tender & tastier than a large old bull elk - which with six points is six years old from what I have read.
I also want to add that these are Truly wild and free animals unlike the elk, deer etc. etc. that one can see in Rocky Mountain National Park or even in Jellowstone or the large elk refuge in NW Wyoming. Some of these places people can almost reach out of their vehicles and touch the elk! I much prefer the wild and free wildlife. I believe a cow elk in the herd I just described got within forty feet of me although most were 60 or more but still incredibly close for such very wild animals.
I had no weapon except my trusty Leatherman Wave tool. Even If I had a gun and would have shot one of these great elk it would have been difficult to get it back to my mtn place which is about 1 and 1/2 miles above this place next to Nellie Creek. I could have drove my 4x4 pickup truck down and carried the meat a half mile thru the trees. I would have possibly have had up to two days to carry the meat etc. but Maybe another time when I am more needy of food and Hope to have one or two good survivalists to help me. But now I know of one more excellent elk sanctuary. Please don't tell anyone else ok?
My last view was of the spike elk rubbing its two antlers against a tree. I waved at him but he was too busy. I could have shot him for he was not much over 100 feet away. I was slowly moving at this time for all the rest had moved on. I was hoping to hear the great one bugle but I have heard elk bugle in the past. But this was The closest and longest I have ever been to such a beautiful herd of truly wild and free elk. Hope I will be able to see such sights a few more times while I walk thru the wilderness.
Just another wildlife experience - Just anuther adventure!
MM Mike
For any out there who possibly do not know what elk look like here are some pics from the net that I quickly found. If any have better pics of elk plz post em.
I had no camera and since I was standing as still as a tree stump, any movement of a camera would have scared the elk off much sooner than the approximately half hour I watched them so close. The pics in the following link gives a fairly good idea of what I saw although what I saw were elk in thick trees, grazing with the very large bull elk behind them all. This link gives many beautiful pics of some wapiti - Elk which will give you all a good idea of what I saw and experienced first hand and up close >
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DN%26um%3D1
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Wow Mike. From one observer to another (I do hunt, but sometimes watching is just more fun!) I know that there is nothing in the world that compares to just sitting and watching magnificent creatures of the wild. There are no elk around here, but from my experiences just "chilling" in the woods, there is no TV show, no movie, or even a book that can describe the feeling you get just being a part of the forest, the animals oblivious to your presence, silent as the grass, and vigilant as an eagle. Thanks for sharing this story with us. I only wish I could have shared the moment with you.
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well ,my experience was in flagstaff Az, i was heading out one night from flag to camp verde, heading down the 17 just to the point where you really start going down the mountain, there is a pull off spot that during the daylight you can look out over copper canyon.
So there i am looking out at this vast expanse of darkness and all of a sudden i hear this very haunting sound,now mind you this is october and middle of the rut, but in the pitch black of the night it was such a beautiful sound.
The only thing i can compare this sound to is up here in ontario on a very foggy morning, sitting on the dock listening to the call of a loon.
My understanding of elk antlers is not age but of genetics about how many points they have, but as i say thats just my understanding
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Sounds like a wonderful experience. Thanks for telling us about it Mike.
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Thanks for sharing that, Mike. The outdoors does some magical things from time to time. You just have to be out there and paying attention.
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Thanks for the thanks and good comments. Hope I have more extremely good experiences in the Rocky Mtns which I have had many but that one was one of the very best.
Better than any movie or seeing the elk in a national park. I told one guy this story although much more briefly and he just said, "Oh, you can see elk up close in the national parks such as Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, CO "
I tried to tell that guy who most probably has never seen an elk outside of a park that the elk I saw were truly Wild and free, not tame and not used to seeing people.
I have also been in a remote forest near my land and was digging in the ground into a rotten tree trunk and got up turned around and a baby deer = fawn was almost touching me with its nose. I jumped the fawn ran off and the mother deer was stomping its hoof, which means it was not pleased.
I bet that fawn had never seen a human before or someone like me either. :tongue_smilie:
Also wareagle I have heard elk bugle in the distance and it is beautiful with the echo off the mtns.
And maybe an elk antler expert can tell more about the points on antlers.
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MMike, thanks for posting, I'm sure that there are alot of people that never had this kind of experience.
Your ability of observing and relating those observations are rare, as is your effort.
Thanks again, fantastic!
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this may help
wikipedia elk-then look at section subspecies then the 5th paragraph down just under the highlighted word velvet, it gives an explaination of elk antlers.
ungulates are kind of a hobby of mine, i have raised several moose and deer, i like to learn where ever i can from folks about behaviors, thanks for your post about elk
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When we were in Danali, we were told to leave any racks we came across. I don't remember if it was just advice or if there was a rule against taking them. In any case, we were told that other animals use antlers as a means of keeping their teeth worn down. Pika is one I remember being mentioned that use the racks. Lemmings may have been on the list, too.
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