Wildlife

We were lucky to witness this huge bull courting a receptive cow during the Moose Rut. The active peak of rutting season for moose is generally the first two weeks of October. Farther North in the hemisphere is earlier as South is a bit later. Moose bulls may court cows for several days during their mating season. The largest and heaviest of the Deer family can often be seen in groups during this time, with both Bulls and Cows potentially competing for mates. Moose Bulls will chase off or even fight rivals for mating rights, while cows that occupy the same area may also chase each other away from a favorite bull moose. You can hear some vocalizations between the bull and cow along with seeing some very rare behavior in these gentle giants.

The Sheriff brings his Cows to a beautiful Lake During an evening of the Elk Rut. Here, the largest Elk Bull in this area fends off another Bull, Bear, and stress in an amazing Canadian Rockies setting.

A Magnificent Elk Bull shining with energy during this year's Elk Rut. Various elk rut season behaviors can been seen here as he pursues cows, bugles, rubs trees and travels lakeside in a few beautiful locations.

Here are 60+ Elk Bull bugles during this year's Elk Rut so far. This shows a wide array of bugling sounds and tones from the largest Elk Bulls in this area of Canada's Rockies.

The Sheriff(largest elk bull) faces another gifted elk bull's challenge. You can see there are several other magnificent bulls sharing this space tonight, but this was the only bull that was attempting to take on the Sheriff. Just two days ago, the Sheriff was in a fight in which he broke a tine and received several cuts on his shoulders and neck. It was suspected that this Bull inflicted this damage, but now we can't be certain. It is possible that this could be "round 2", however. These posturing displays are typical when Elk Bulls are measuring each other up, usually just before a battle ensues. When the challenger charges, the Sheriff doesn't flinch.. which must have been what changed the tide. It also may add to the possibility that this was indeed round 2, as the challenger was quite confident up until that point.

As expected, the Sheriff never really skipped a beat after being slightly injured during a fight. He does seem to tend to his knees a bit, but is moving really well again as his focus remains on ruling this area during the Elk Rut. There were several other big elk bulls along the perimeter here, but all moved away when the largest bull bugled or started moving in their direction. The Sheriff seems to like the safety and quiet that the Athabasca River offers much of the time as he moves his herd there to rest. Thank you for your patience where the bit of digital zoom came in handy.