Post Elk Rut

Post Elk Rut Musing

Well that was fun.

The rut has ebbed, and the bulls have retreated back to the thickets and cover to lick their wounds. Bull elk, especially the large herd bulls, expend a ton of energy during the rut. Chasing cows, fending off other bulls, bugling, to say nothing of the actual act, it really takes it out of them. Having spent time behind the spotting scope watching, I can understand why. While they may spend some time midday resting or cooling off in a wallow, a lot of the time they are on the move. I even watched a large herd bull leave his cows at 2:30 in the afternoon to trot over a mile down hill to water.  

It is an intense time and the large bulls will take the next month or more to hole up and recover. They will choose spots where they will not be disturbed, where they have cover, food, and water in a small area. Thick aspen sapling areas, scrub oak cover, and steep brushy areas can be good places to catch glimpses of large bulls post rut. You will have to really work to find these recluses. Mid-size bulls will often take this opportunity to practice with the ladies. You may still see the non herd bulls chasing cows and sparring into late October and beyond.

This season I spent most of my time glassing the herds on a large nearby ranch.  They weren’t running cattle this year and despite the drought there was still good water. The open pastures made for incredibly exciting glassing. There were two herd bulls with their own separate groups of cows. They mostly kept separate, though there were occasional minor run-ins. There were several largish satellite bulls around the periphery of the herds. You could almost sense their frustration at not having access to the cows. They would spar and chase amongst themselves.

While I had an incredible time watching, I was getting a bit frustrated with my digiscoping. In the past I have just taken photos through the scope with my phone.  This generated decidedly mixed results. Mostly blurry, dark shots which occasionally got the point across. I am trying to be better. I have started with the Magview s1 on my Kowa 883 spotting scope. The improvements over freehand were immediately apparent. Still, I struggled to get this system dialed in where I wanted. The focus for bare eyes didn’t match the focus for the camera. Mirage was much more noticeable in the photos and video. I know part of that is my technique, some was probably my antiquated phone, and the largest culprit was probably my impatience. I’m an excitable chap at the best of times, and where there are elk bugling and chasing, the last thing I want to do is fart around with my phone. I’ll do some more research and lock down my systems. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the slightly blurry videos of the rut.

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