D800, 300 mm f4 at f8, tripod, mirror up, ISO 400, 1/320 sec.
This bull elk was in Moraine Park, RMNP every evening by himself. Its the full rut now but he was not participating. From looking at him and watching his behavior I surmised he was well past the years where he could challenge another male for some of the females. He moved pretty slowly.
Hi Kathy!
Despite the age, he has great set of antlers and I just love the feel of grassland.
Jagdeep Rajput
PS. Was this image shifted from Wildlife Gallery to Wildlife Critiques Gallery?
If this was mine, I would either have a full green tree on the left or no green leaves at all.
HI Jagdeep
Yes I switched it. Wasn’t sure about that tree .
Thanks
Kathy
He looks like he might be in the declining of his life. He still has a great rack. You wonder how he could hold his head up with that much weight on it. I personally think I would shift the whole frame so the animal is to the left side of the frame and the tree is gone. He is then looking across the frame.
I agree with Richard. Bightening it up just a skoshe might help also. It looks a little dark on my monitor.
Kathy, I like your repost much better. I think that the original composition felt a little awkward. The repost holds up to the crop pretty well. Very Nice!
This to is a classic example of a bull elk nearing the end of his breeding life. Big antlers, but seems not to have the “fire of the rut” well taken.