This beautiful old bull was just about to start bugling. I caught that whole series, but unfortunately it was directly side-on to me and the images just didn’t have the impact of this one, so I haven’t processed any of them yet. This guy had plenty of experience and wasn’t afraid of a few photographers. He crossed the road and went between the back of my truck and the car behind it just ambling along (I, on the other hand, made sure to keep the truck between us!).
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 260 mm, tripod with ball head and Sidekick, f/8, 1/160, iso 4000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Noise reduction with Neat Image. Added a touch of canvas to the top and cropped some from the right. Final dimensions before resizing were 4777x3621. Taken September 14th at 7:19 am (the sun had not cleared the Mission Mountains yet).
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I don’t think it’s a Roosevelt, but I’m not sure @David_Bogener. This was taken at the National Bison Range in Montana. I’m not sure which sub-species they have, but the Montana Outdoor Radio Show refers to them as Rocky Mountain Elk.
This is a beautiful bull and he sure looks ready to bugle. Nicely presented and the grass in front of his body really adds to the scene. Nicely done Dennis. For what it’s worth this in not a Roosevelt Elk, their range is in the Northern California, Olympic Mountains and into British Columbia.
Thanks Dennis. I am certain at that location it would be a Rocky Mountain elk. The antler pattern reminded me of the crown of thorns pattern that some mature Roosevelt elk exhibit.
