Elk in the Campground

 

Elk in the Campground

It’s fairly rare that Jeff and I get to see elk – deer are far more common.  However, just outside of the campground we stayed at in Ruidoso, New Mexico, while walking Max, Jeff saw this very large bull elk, and rushed back to the RV to tell me to grab my camera and follow him!

Jeff took me to the “pet walk” area, which was just on the outside of the campground.  Waking just a few yards, brought us to this big guy, kind of hanging out near the trees, and munching on some grass.  He seemed to peek at me through the branches.

Then, he started down the ravine that separated us.  He seemed pretty calm, so I wasn’t really worried about this 1200 lb. wild animal getting within a few yards of me and Jeff.

He walked along the bottom of the ravine, sort of thrashing around breaking off small branches of the trees and shrubs growing in the ravine.  Both Jeff and I were thinking that he was working at getting some of the velvety fuzz off his antlers.

After a few minutes of thrashing the branches, Jeff thought he might also be getting a bit irritated with us being so close to him.  He didn’t display any aggressive behavior but waiting until an elk so large he made me feel small, did so, was probably not a good idea, so we quickly retreated and left him to his personal hygiene!

Enjoy!