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Edge
Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 2, 2015 - 06:01pm PT
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Cervus canadensis, the Rocky Mountain elk. My new home is on the winter migration path for this herd of about 150 head who moved into this cow pasture today to get a little sunshine.
Those were taken 1/4 mile from our place through the woods. The previous owners told us to expect to find them sleeping in our yard right around calving time, but so far I haven't seen them. Still, they have been within 10 yards of my front door.
From a few months ago.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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This guy is of the roosevelti subspecies, the largest elk subspecies and the third largest mammal on the continent.
He spent most of his life on the Coast Range and is now in the Portland Zoo compound. Don't feel sorry for him . He has quite the harem.
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Evel
Trad climber
Nedsterdam CO
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Hi Edge. If you saw +/- 150 head then that's about half of the herd. My best friend lived on Twin Sisters for years and we usually could count at least 200+!
That's not a 'gnaw' mark but rather a 'rub' that is from rubbing their antlers on the tree to mark turf and help remove the 'velvet' from the antler.
How's the snow over there?
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Chewybacca
Trad climber
Montana, Whitefish
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Here are the results from the recent elk count for Yellowstone's controversial northern elk herd. http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/02042015.htm
Looks like this guy did battle with a bale of hay, presumably he won.
I don't know what spooked this herd. But they were so focused on it that they never noticed me.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Yer making me hungry.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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"Ungulate, ungulates, and be glad you have those hooves.
Coat them with sticky rubber and the sky is the limit.
It behooves one and all, including so-called
FUNHOGS, not to make a pig of oneself,
Nor split infinitives when writing,
Thank you, Great Goat in the Sky, for not makin' me a human being
Painted on the tipi wall or real...
Or the sun-devil with his size thirteen hooves
Will come and take you,
And have him some BBQ.
He's a strict grammarian."
As for actual waps-sightings,
We got'em in Middle Earth.
We have a saying,
Jesus Wept,
The Badger slept,
Dreaming of wapiti.
"Well, dear, locking horns over me isn't my idea of birth control."
Millis at work making pipes and stuff from antler. Tetons, eighties & nineties.
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ClimbingOn
Trad climber
NY
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Lorenzo,
How do you figure that Roosevelt Elk are the third largest US mammal? I would certainly count bison, moose, and polar bears well ahead of them. One could break down moose into several sub-species as well.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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I found several paintings of California elk done by Laura Cunningham, a respectable painter and prolific sketcher and a respected researcher in the field of forensic ecology.
You could say she wrote the book on it, and illustrated it, too. It's in use at UC Merced as a text.
These are from A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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ClimbingOn
Trad climber
NY
Feb 5, 2015 - 09:58pm PT
Lorenzo,
How do you figure that Roosevelt Elk are the third largest US mammal? I would certainly count bison, moose, and polar bears well ahead of them. One could break down moose into several sub-species as well.
We'll both Moose and Elk are pretty big, but at least in the lower 48 you'd be hard pressed to make a case for Moose. "High average" for both is around 1100 lbs, but there have been confirmed Giants of both species at over 1300.
There was and unconfirmed moose in Alaska purported to be 1500, and a couple Rosevelt that got chopped up before they were weighed In BC said to be 1400, but both are unconfirmed.
The guy still kicking at the Washingtom Park zoo is around 1300.
Moose are taller...
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Somebody has to say it, so it might as well be me. They make great food. I still revere and respect their lives. We will be one in the end.
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Edge
Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 6, 2015 - 06:25pm PT
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Hey Evel, thanks for correcting me on the antler rub; lots of new stuff to learn for this expat New Hampshirite. I only guesstimated the head count and it could have easily been 200, but this was about the average size of the herd I've been seeing from time to time. Snow? We got 8" the other day and it's mostly all gone now in the open; about 4" in the woods.
Wayno, I ordered an elk steak a couple weeks ago and it was pretty damn tasty. I've ordered about 6-8 hides in the last few years for making drums. This is my 23" elk hide and cedar powwow drum.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Reindeer are the best eatin...
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
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At least in the US, when you order elk in a restaurant, you are being served 'red deer' (It being illegal to sell wild game and all)
Cutting the backstraps and a hindquarter off a two year old cow elk on the side of the road in CO? Waay tastier.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Yeah, been wonderin' 'bout the missin' woodworker, hopin' to see his stuff here again (especially that moki dog)
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Sep 10, 2018 - 12:17am PT
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hey there, say, edge! wow... this is really neat...
thanks for sharing...
thank you to all that chipped in, too...
neat stuff!
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Sep 10, 2018 - 04:28am PT
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I hear you BJ.
Hope he is well.
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Sep 10, 2018 - 04:57am PT
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Sep 10, 2018 - 05:59am PT
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this june near Medicine Wheel
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