Kind Of Sad Really!

[Nate Bailey]

#5534

I found this Sad!

[David Petersen]

#42014

Nate — can you provide a link to this site that I can copy to share around with friends? I don’t think the elk are slaves to instinct, forcing them to mix with touron mobs, nor is there a shortage of habitat in the park. They don’t have to be there but choose to be there because of the fertilized grass, yummy. Biologists call it “the fertilizer effect.” Sooner or later I predict, if it hasn’t already happened, a grizzly or lion will come to hunt elk just when a busload of Japanese tourists unload (every few minutes, it sometimes seems) and then things will get really interesting. 😛

[SDMFer]

#42060

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=794wEIbHlDc

[ssumner1]

#42061

Very true Dave. Proof that conservation works, and must be maintained. 😀

[Nate Bailey]

#42162

David Petersen wrote: Nate — can you provide a link to this site that I can copy to share around with friends? I don’t think the elk are slaves to instinct, forcing them to mix with touron mobs, nor is there a shortage of habitat in the park. They don’t have to be there but choose to be there because of the fertilized grass, yummy. Biologists call it “the fertilizer effect.” Sooner or later I predict, if it hasn’t already happened, a grizzly or lion will come to hunt elk just when a busload of Japanese tourists unload (every few minutes, it sometimes seems) and then things will get really interesting. 😛

David–point well taken, I didn’t look at it from that angle! thanks Nate!

[David Petersen]

#42182

Thanks, Tony, for the link.

As my friend Tim Cahill, who lives up there, points out, it appears parts of this vid were shot at W. Yellowstone, parts in nearby Jackson, and parts, most I’d say, at Mammoth. We could also add Estes Park (a town, not a park, but adjacent to Rocky Mtn. NP here in CO), Jasper and several other places. I’ve always viewed this behavior by elk as a conscious choice: we are occupying places they very much want to be at certain times of the year, and by trial and error have determined they are safe there not only from people (except drunk drivers and trophy poachers with x-guns) but predators as well. So they put aside their fear and disdain of us and come hang out. But take those same urban elk and put ’em back in the forest, and good luck getting within half a mile of one. What it is, is ironic.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#44265

“It’s not just the elk that are causing problems…”

Classic. The elk aren’t the ones causing that problems, period. And that vid offers abundant evidence of which species is.

[Etter1]

#45862

David Petersen wrote: Thanks, Tony, for the link.

As my friend Tim Cahill, who lives up there, points out, it appears parts of this vid were shot at W. Yellowstone, parts in nearby Jackson, and parts, most I’d say, at Mammoth. We could also add Estes Park (a town, not a park, but adjacent to Rocky Mtn. NP here in CO), Jasper and several other places. I’ve always viewed this behavior by elk as a conscious choice: we are occupying places they very much want to be at certain times of the year, and by trial and error have determined they are safe there not only from people (except drunk drivers and trophy poachers with x-guns) but predators as well. So they put aside their fear and disdain of us and come hang out. But take those same urban elk and put ’em back in the forest, and good luck getting within half a mile of one. What it is, is ironic.

Do all of you writers know each other? It almost seems like some sort of conspiracy now!:D

Love Cahill’s books.

[David Petersen]

#47023

Etter — No, I only know/knew the great writers! That is, those few who were reckless and unselective enough to befriend me. 😛 Seriously, Tim is one of the “big three” successful writers who helped me get started (along with Abbey and Guthrie, plus several others I met through those three). I sent Tim a fan letter in 1980, after reading an amazingly funny article in his “Out There” column in Outside magazine–I think it was called “Moby Trout Lives” or somesuch, about ice fishing in the Great Lakes–before that rag became just another hero-worshiping slick-media marketing tool. He answered, which made my day. We gradually became friends and remain so all these years later; visited him in Livingston most recently last June. One of the funniest people I’ve ever known, in person even moreso than in writing. It’s great to hear from other old-timers (sorry if you’re not) like me who enjoyed not only the greatest days of music this world has ever known, but also the best era of magazine writing “back in the day.” What’s really sad that is outside of university lit classes, so few today know about A.B. Guthrie, Jr., my very first writing mentor, who remains among the handful of greatest American writers of all time, IMHO. None of my big three writer friends were bowhunters, but I try to keep an open mind and forgive them for that. 😀 😀 Here is a recent pic of Tim and a very cute friend. He is old, 68, but he ain’t dead yet. In the past few months Tim did a 120-mile walk in Africa, then a couple months later hiked to Base Camp 1 on Sir Hillary’s little hill, nearly 18,000′. He is truly insane in a wholly positive way, which is why I love him. For avid readers who don’t yet know him, I highly recommend his collection “Jaguars Ripped My Flesh.”

[Author]

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