Pals
One of the consequences of the “hired gun” period of my career is times of financial weakness. Mrs DT & I came to understand our life was airplane flight on a less-than-airworthy aircraft. There would be periods of soaring upward flights … and times when the engine sputtered. Obviously from a hindsight view we came through OK but there were periods where the propeller picked up grass stains … I’m not a pilot but I understand such is not a desirable situation.
Anyway, it was during one of these times, we ended up renting a cabin on some friends property up in the hills west of Loveland, Colorado. Our friends lived in the main house and had a couple of Great Danes. This one was “Max”.
The property was at the mouth of what could be called a mini-canyon but was more a break in the hills a small creek passed through.
And elk.
This young bull lagged behind the herd and got curious about that critter on the other side of the gate. That green street sign is misleading; there’s a private two-track path alongside the small stream through the hills to the right. It’s a 1-foot spacing between horizontal bars on the gate.
They played together a bit – then the elk moved on to catch up with his herd.
It’s not a trivial task keeping elk out of a garden … that elk could clear that gate without thinking about it … although he’d prefer just pushing it over.
Excellent!
Great Dane?
Animals are my favorite people.
Life In These United States
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Why we can’t have nice things.
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/unsupervised-child-hersheypark-zoo-injured-wolf-crawling-safety-barrier
A toddler described as “unsupervised” was injured by a wolf over the weekend in Hersheypark’s ZooAmerica after managing to crawl into a restricted area.
The parents, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, were charged Sunday by police with one count each of misdemeanor child endangerment, according to multiple reports.
Police say the parents moved about 25 to 30 feet away from the toddler toward a seating area and were looking at their cellphones at the time of the incident, reports say.
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The natural evolution from this will be the zoo will be required to install CHILD-PROOF barriers at each animal exhibit, which will further stifle the interest and entertainment value of the whole thing.
A few years ago my wife and I visited the Indianapolis Zoo and it was almost impossible to enjoy it because of the parameters. There were many instances where 30 or more baby strollers had been just collected together ad hoc while the parents gawked at their phones and the toddlers ran loose.
We wanted to see the animals but we ended up seeing mostly 2 legged retards instead.
This is why I am reluctant to visit places like the Grand Canyon, Biltmore, Ruby Falls, etc. The idiocy is out of control and I know I should just stay my ass at home where is some normalcy. Instead, I can watch youtubes and documentary’s on those things, as reality as I require it, slips away…..
I remember the US.
Grand Canyon is something you need to see in person. I recall the first time I was there, it literally took 3 days for my brain to adjust to the vastness I was seeing. Unfortunately, these days, Grand Canyon – like many other parks – have become so overrun with people, it’s next to impossible to enjoy the experience. Of course, that’s not to say with a little effort to get away from the touristy spots, you can experience the parks the way they were intended to be enjoyed. I don’t go to Grand Canyon or Yosemite (except 120 to cross the pass) anymore and I know the back ways into Arches and Canyonlands. Glacier is an absolute traffic jam in summer days (best to travel east to west to avoid the worst of the traffic).
If you’re up for it, I can recommend a visit to see the Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Indian Reservation, adjacent to the Grand Canyon National Park. Its a 10 mile hike from the parking lot to the village of Supai and then another 2 miles from the village to the camping area next to the Falls. There is (or at least, was) lodging and a small restaurant in the village, but it ain’t fancy so don’t expect much. But once you get to that last of that twelfth mile, this is the sight that greets you…..
The village of Supai is remote. The Supai park their cars 10 miles from where they live.
So how do they get their supplies and groceries home? There are 2 ways.
But when they’re running their horses, you need to get out of the way. They’re not stoppin’.
Elk were reintroduced into the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains in 2001. Several years after that I ran across one close up in Cherokee, NC. It was a buck that appeared to be pushing his chest into a fence right beside the road and doing that odd whistling they do. He seemed agitated as though tangled or frustrated but I couldn’t stop to observe and discretion told me it was best left to someone else. He was gone when I went back by 30 minutes later.
A year or so after that I was taking a back road from Cherokee to Maggie Valley and at the top of the pass where the road met the Blue Ridge Parkway a bunch of cars had stopped. There was a full herd of elk grazing on grass, probably 15 or more. I was driving a large step side van so was easily 8 feet above the road and a placid cow walked over and looked me right in the face, just the window glass separating us.
I grew up on a little farm and have experience with cows and horses but if you’ve never seen one up close, you aren’t prepared for just how large those critters are. They aren’t moose but they are bi-ig.
Later on I’ve observed a herd walking through the river in Cherokee and we’ve driven to Cataloochee to see them in the evening a couple times. They appear to be thriving and the numbers increasing. I wouldn’t be surprised if they institute a limited hunting season in the future though I expect that’s a long way off. Amazing the Indians took them with bow and arrow.
“doing that odd whistling they do”. It’s called bugling. If it was fall, he probably was trying to get to a cow (female elk; males are bulls). If not fall, he was probably signaling distress. The males can go crazy in rut season … like college sophomores on Friday night at a bar.
22% of Idaho’s F&G budget comes from out-state elk licenses; 19% from residents out of about $60m revenue. Another $5m comes from related expenditures. Hunting was just declared Idaho’s official sport.
Moose are bigger.
I’ve killed three cow elk over time in the Colorado Great Sand Dunes near Alamosa. Elk meat is fantastic.
Jean, the elk are hunted by humans, wolves or other predators. Most predators look for the old and weak. That is just part of the cycle of life of course. Humans are hunted by other humans, and you can be a target if we appear weak among human predators.
Stay strapped.
‘stay strapped’…so I should keep wearing a bra? 🙂
“hired gun”?…
That’s a beautiful creature. I hate the thought of anything being hunted.
It’s beautiful, isn’t it?, how animals can be friendly to each other even when they are of different species, big or small, prey or predator. wild or domesticated. It’s like they know when it’s safe to approach each other; a thing like magic. I’ve been blessed to witness it many times.
I was riding my horse one late afternoon on a mountain trail through an area of re-prod, juvenile trees so close together that you couldn’t see more than a yard into it. It was just a day in the fresh air, nothing more. Inside the re-prod, very close to the trail, I heard an elk bugling and moving about. My horse was very nervous: I could feel him trembling underneath me, the instinctive urge to flee from unseen danger about to overcome him. But he had grown to trust me, and I was able to keep him between the reins, though his feet were very active. Suddenly this elk, not much smaller than my horse but with antlers that towered over us. materialized out of this juvenile forest. Almost nose to nose with my horse, not 15 feet away. They faced each other silently and time stood still forever, meaning for about 10 seconds. And then as quickly and silently as he had emerged, he disappeared. (It’s funny how certain events in your life can be recalled and replayed in living color, like a movie on a reel.) It defies the laws of physics that an animal that large, with antlers that wide, could move about that thick young forest, without hardly a stir.
I like elk; they are graceful, majestic creatures. I’ve also hunted elk with rifle, handgun, and bow and arrow. They are tasty and filling. I have seen moose in the wild . Moose are big animals, much bigger than elk. 2,000 versus 800 lbs. A moose is an animal that requires serious respect.
I think we were intended to be out in nature to witness such things, up close and in person. And the inanimate part of nature that is necessary to sustain life. I think it must give one a certain perspective about one’s own life that cannot be gained otherwise.