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    • David Petersen
      Member
        May 23, 2012 at 2:05 am
        Post count: 2749
        #4765

        Fresh off the press, this pic was taken minutes ago on my evening dog walk. Not great quality (I shot it by putting the camera lens up against one lens of 8x binocs, a good half-mile away) but it does show what I get to see most every day here, in one form or another. There were 11 elk feeding amongst 11 horses (not all are visible in the photo), and probably twice that many elk now, as darkness approaches. Near as I can tell, all the elk are yearlings, confirming that calving season has begun (roughly 21 May through mid-June with a peak the first week of June). As the time approaches the cows leave the winter herd and last year’s calf and go off by themselves to give birth. In 2-3 weeks, when the new calves can keep up, they rejoin to form a nursery herd and head for the high country for summer. What a blessing to have this as a view rather than … well, you know. Anyhow I just wanted to share …

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      • Brennan Herr
        Member
          May 23, 2012 at 11:56 pm
          Post count: 403
          #34630

          Dave,

          Are they wild horses?

        • George McCloskey
          Member
            May 28, 2012 at 10:40 pm
            Post count: 55
            #40910

            Beautiful pic Dave. I’m 92 days from opening day in Idaho and can’t wait to check on the herd in the Copper Basin area. I’m hoping to make a scouting trip this summer, but meanwhile I am stuck in the big City. I can appreciate what you get to enjoy every day though!

            I hope to catch up with this Bull that eluded an arrow that I sent his way on September 29. This year I’ll take my new Shrew Classic Hunter….not that my marksmanship will be improved by the new bow…I’ll be a little wiser this time and see what happens!

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          • Jeremy Holden
            Member
              May 30, 2012 at 8:16 pm
              Post count: 60
              #43135

              Lucky ducky…

              -Jeremy

            • David Petersen
              Member
              Member
                May 30, 2012 at 8:57 pm
                Post count: 2749
                #43162

                Brennan– No, they are very fancy high-bred horses in fact, pastured on a ranch across the valley from us. I’ve seen this for at least 30 years, if not often, with elk getting in with horses and even cows. If the horses were the least aggressive they would easily run the elk off, but they don’t seem to know the elk aren’t white-butted horses. You’ll also hear plenty of true stories about rutting bulls approaching people on horseback (and more than a few get killed for this mistake), apparently thinking the loud hoof strikes and thumps are other elk. You never know what animals are likely to get along well under favorable circumstances …

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              • Brennan Herr
                Member
                  May 31, 2012 at 5:01 am
                  Post count: 403
                  #43551

                  Dave,

                  Thanks for information and maybe if I get to go elk hunting someday I will have to do it from horseback!!!

                • Clay Hayes
                  Member
                    June 1, 2012 at 4:18 pm
                    Post count: 418
                    #45310

                    I had a raghorn come running up to me last season while riding my horse up to a bench where I planned on getting off and calling. He was nearly on top of me before I saw him. My horse actually saw him first. I noticed my horses ears perked up, then looked up to see the bull standing there at about 20 yards. Same thing happened the year before a few miles away. Problem is, with the horses making noise, you can’t hear the elk coming, and when they get there, they’re facing you and very alert.

                    I think Dave’s right about the hoof thumps. They sound a lot like a herd of elk moving through the timber. Throw a cow call in, and get ready. This year, I’m going to use them more, tying one and letting the other walk around and graze while I call a short distance away.

                    ch

                    ch

                  • skifrk
                      June 1, 2012 at 6:51 pm
                      Post count: 387
                      #45437

                      I am not surprised with the horses and elk together. That is one of the way I find of smelling wallows in the wild is to recognize I smell a horse barn nearby. Might be hard without owning horses to pull off an idea like Clay has though.

                    • Hiram
                        June 7, 2012 at 4:47 am
                        Post count: 484
                        #51443

                        Dave, ever seen Elk in the same pasture with Sheep? Or, shall I call them the lawn mowers that eat their grass? lol 🙂

                      • Robin Conrads
                        Admin
                          June 7, 2012 at 1:43 pm
                          Post count: 916
                          #51849

                          Hiram, I believe Dave is gone for a week or two, but I’m sure he will answer when he returns.

                        • skifrk
                            June 7, 2012 at 5:31 pm
                            Post count: 387
                            #52036

                            Hiram, while I am not Dave. In talking to the sheepherders and sheep ranchers, they say they never see elk around their herds. This is due to the sheep being to noisy for the elk to be comfortable around.

                          • David Petersen
                            Member
                            Member
                              June 7, 2012 at 10:54 pm
                              Post count: 2749
                              #52272

                              Hiram — I’m sitting in Bondurant, WY, just south of Jackson Hole, before heading into the park tomorrow in hopes of seeing grizzly and/or wolf kill elk calves (an old hobby), in the home of an old friend who grew up on a WY sheep ranch and she agrees with Kirk, as do my observations and many talks with biologists … domestic sheep pretty much put an end to all things wild, except predators, and the sheep herders take care of that. Right now this place is overrun with Uinta ground squirrels because the fed trappers came in and killed all the coyotes off the adjacent public land last winter to “clear the way” for grazing this summer.

                            • Hiram
                                June 8, 2012 at 9:32 pm
                                Post count: 484
                                #53293

                                Have a great and safe trip Dave!!!! Enjoy the difference in scenery myself when I travel. I like Home but getting away really doe’s help clear my nostrils some! lol

                                Great info fellas! I used to go high first in archery season Colorado to see where the sheep were before I wasted my Gator juice powder walking into a herd of sheep and finding no Elk.

                                Bad for this up on the mountain Dave! YOU KNOW,,Tank creek and Stag Mesa,,Grasshopper etc. I now just stop in Durango DOW and ask Game Officers till one can tell “NO SHEEP” BEFORE I go there. Hope you arrowed your spring Gobbler Dave,,,safe trip home!:)

                              • skifrk
                                  June 10, 2012 at 5:38 pm
                                  Post count: 387
                                  #55412

                                  I found for myself that it seems to take almost a week after sheep have left an area before the elk come back in. That can change though if there is a lot of rain or other moisture to rejuvenate plant growth

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