Elk rut in northwestern Montana

[Art Rourke]

The first bull was destroying vegetation about head high and you can see some on his left antler

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The second bull was prancing around another 6X6 like he was in charge

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That resulted in a bit of a disagreement with another 6x6

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These two bulls pushed each other all over the hillside for about 30 minutes and then quit and went their separate ways

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[Micky]

It is that time of year! Great photos.

 

[ButlerKid]

GREAT photos!

 

[seh]

Great inages. Boys will be boys . . .

 

[trapper12]

Great set of pics

 

[Oldnintheway]

Great shots Art. Nice bulls, they've survived a few hunting seasons.

 

[Callie]

Really nice images!

 

[ChrisSinSeattle]

Art,
Really nice bull shots along with a little attitude
Chris S.

 

[BobbyV]

Great set of images. Is it loud when they crash into each other like that? (I know nothing about these animals.)

 

[Art Rourke]

Thank you one and all for the kind comments. It is still quite early in the rut and the activity of bulls locking antlers and pushing one another around is not nearly as intense or vigorous or noisy as it will be when many cows are in estrus. That said, you can easily hear antlers hitting other antlers even this early in the breeding season. The bulls are, however, far more cautious about what they are doing than when they are fighting over breeding rights to receptive cows.

 

[Louis champan]

Those are some big boys, great shots.

 

[ssheipel]

Nice shots! Let the rut begin (tourists beware!)

 

[Wapiti]

The first bull was destroying vegetation about head high and you can see some on his left antler View attachment 96552

The second bull was prancing around another 6X6 like he was in charge

View attachment 96554

That resulted in a bit of a disagreement with another 6x6

View attachment 96555

These two bulls pushed each other all over the hillside for about 30 minutes and then quit and went their separate ways


View attachment 96556

Nice shots! Let the rut begin (tourists beware!)

My kind of images, for sure!

 

[Wapiti]

My kind of images for sure!