The Rocky Mountain elk breeding season, commonly called the rut – is one of the truly spectacular phenomena of nature.

Whether a bow hunter hearing a big bull answer his bugle call or a photographer in Yellowstone or Rocky Mountain National Park, the eerie call of a bull elk in the high hormone weeks of the rut will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

And we — Bobby and Carolyn Whiteside, my wife Beth and I — were perfectly positioned to see and hear it all. Our log cabin rental near Estes Park, Co. was three miles from the gate of the Rocky Mountain National Park. More than 3,200 elk call this park home.

As autumn approaches, the elk descend from the high country into lower elevation meadows to begin the breeding season. The rut peaked about Oct. 1 and we were in the park from Oct. 10-14. A little late but there was still plenty of activity happening.

Big mature, heavy-antlered bulls, some weighing more than 1,000 pounds, were nervously working to protect their harem of cows from younger bulls trying to breed cows still in estrus.

It’s a tough job. The competition is strong. Young bulls hang around the edges of the dominant bull’s group of cows looking for an opportunity. The big bull would move quickly toward the thieves and back them down.

Real powerful fights were rare. Primarily, he just had to bluff the invaders – paw the ground, bugle, grunt and stretch out his powerful neck. Occasionally, there would be a little sparing, pushing and clashing of antlers.

Some of the bulls were covered with mud. To increase their attractiveness to the cows, bulls will urinate into a dirt depression and then wallow in the resulting mud. What a way to gain a girlfriend!

All this activity, with little rest or food, results in the prime bulls losing 200 to 300 pounds of body weight during the rut. This makes them highly susceptible to the hardships of the coming winter months.

But it all makes for high drama. We literally saw hundreds and hundreds of elk each day — big bulls, smaller bulls, young spike bulls still in velvet horns, cows and yearlings of all sizes. The mountains and valleys constantly echoed the shrill, high-pitched bugling of the elk.

The abundance of elk in the Rocky Mountain National Park is a conservation success story. By 1900, commercial hunters supplying meat to the Denver market and predators had killed all the elk in the Estes Park area. Then in 1913-14 the U.S. Forest Service transplanted 49 elk form Yellowstone Park to the area. Also, an all-out effort to eliminate predators – especially the gray wolf and grizzly bear — began about the same time. Then Congress acted to form the Park in 1915. Today the park has a huge elk herd but no wolves or grizzly bears.

Our first four days in the Park were beautiful autumn days. Mornings were cool. Afternoons were warm. Golden cottonwoods lined the rivers and creeks. Isolated stands of yellow aspens still held their leaves.

Then we got a blessing. The first winter storm of the season arrived. Snow began to fall during the night. We awoke the next morning to be greeted by a winter wonderland. The boughs of spruce and fir trees were decorated with fresh glistening snow.

After a breakfast of ham, eggs and toast we were off to the Park again. We visited the same areas but it was a whole different world. Some elk were pawing through the snow to uncover their grass breakfast. Others were lying down in the snow like it was a feather bed. Coyotes were hunting mice and rats in the snow-covered meadows. Hunting was good. We filmed several of the coyotes stalking, leaping upon and eating their prey.

Bobby and I just had to fish a little in the snow storm. Between elk viewing excursions we had caught lots of brown, rainbow and brook trout. But fishing in the snow was a real novelty. We laid a colorful brook trout in the snow for Carolyn to photograph. His red and gold colors contrasted brilliantly against white the background.

For an outstanding vacation of wildlife viewing, majestic mountain scenery and trout fishing you couldn’t do better than a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park next fall.



Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host/producer of the syndicated outdoors show God’s Great Outdoors. His column runs every Thursday in the Daily Record.