EXPERIENCE A BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN RUT
As the leaves begin to dazzle us with their color parades and chilly breezes gain bluster over summer’s heat, the Rocky Mountains change their tunes. We hear the magical music of elk bugling, echoing off of the rock faces and ricocheting through the trees. Watch and listen here.
Elk (Cervus canadensis) is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, in the world. It is one of the largest land mammals in North America and Eastern Asia. And one of the most powerful autumnal experiences to behold is elk rutting, when males (bulls) challenge each other, competing for the right to mate with the females (cows) of the herd.
Visit Rocky Mountain National Park from mid-September to mid-October, when elk rutting is at its peak to witness the glory.
The sound is incredible. Males bugle, making loud calls which travel far, signaling both their rivals, as they stake out their territories, and their female entourages, keeping them in line and close by.
Bugle calls start out as high-pitched cries that dive into a series of low, resonating grunts. Depending on the weather and the presence of predators, bugling can run all day and, during a full moon, well into the night until early dawn.
Testosterone rises and races through bulls’ blood during rutting season, pushing them to charge at each other, butting heads and locking antlers. The sound of antlers crashing together with the bugling is quite the drama. Sometimes it’s just to warn and sometimes it escalates into a bloody fight. Estrogen levels rise in females simultaneously. Each winning bull gets to keep a whole harem of up to 30 females happy, with a goal of a fresh crop of babies the following spring.
One of the best places to experience elk rutting in Rocky Mountain National Park is at Estes Park during their annual Elk Festival, held in late-September or early-October. Check out the bugling contests, educational seminars, Native American music, dancing and storytelling. Join an elk-viewing tours through favorite elk hangouts or simply find a quiet spot in a meadow and sit and wait for the rut to begin.
Check the hashtag #EstesElkWatch for up to date rutting reports. Add your own updates on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
You might hear as a young challenger steps out to bellow a challenge. The alpha bull bugles back, a deeper and clearer bellow, demonstrating his maturity and dominance. Often, the challenger retreats. Sometime he wins. Sometimes, while the two are having a go at each other, another young bull sneaks in and mates with a cow, although 8 to 9 year-old bulls stand the greatest chance of mating.
The autumn rut is a tough time for bulls. They are so focused on their mating challenges, they often don’t take the time to eat and so they lose weight, making them vulnerable to the onslaught of winter.
As the rutting season winds down, the bulls move away from the herd to recharge and to build up their strength and fat reserves. The pregnant cows stay together, offering each other support and warmth. Calves are born in late spring.
Yellowstone National Park is also rife with elk rutting. While elk are not native to this area, Rocky Mountain elk were brought to Arizona in the early 1900s and have since migrated north to the park. The South Rim of the canyon offers a great rutting vantage point.
Read more about Autumn Beauty all this week on BeautifulNow. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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