Up to our necks in Elk

Living up in the Rocky Mountains about another 2,000+ feet above Denver, we have deer around our house every day, and about maybe twice per month we have a local herd of elk that wander through our neighborhood.

The elk usually ‘come down’ from some place higher up in the mountains when the temperatures get below 40 degrees farenheit, but they probably don’t go too far away since they are a local herd known as the ‘Genesee Herd’ (Genesee is a community in the foothills of the rockies at about 7,500ft) this is always somewhere around Genesee.

The Genesee Herd is well over 100 elk…some estimates put it closer to 160-200 elk. It’s pretty impressive to see a herd this size on the hillside.

Last night was especially cool…well, it was about 23 degrees and a foot of fresh snow, but it was also cool like neat/nifty. When driving home around 8:30pm I noticed the herd had moved to the end of our street mixed among the houses. Just before going to bed at about 11pm I noticed out my bedroom window that the herd had moved into our yard. They often come through our yard, but many times it is very very early morning, or at night, so I don’t always see them.

Last night I could see elk all over the place…but I didn’t have the best view from my bedroom window, especially since it was dark. So I decided to go down to the family room which is at ground level looking out the back of our house.

The elk were totally surrounding our house! Elk everywhere. I could see out from 3 sides of our house, and out every window were elk. And they were up CLOSE…munching on the grass just off of our back porch. You can hear them making noises, snorting, even breathing, and shaking their coats. A couple of them went head to head, and got on their hind legs to bout a bit.

After a few minutes, 3 different elk came up onto our back porch, prancing across it. They come up to about my height or even taller when you are at their same level, and weigh several hundred pounds, so it is amazing to be within just a few feet of scores of elk. And it’s amazing to think of how intertwined our lives are with theirs when you live up in the mountains. Like my brother said, who just moved here and saw the herd earlier in the day on the hillside, “it’s like being in National Geographic”.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures since it was very dark, and I didn’t want to scare them away. But I do have some photos from before that were taken during the day.

[em]I wonder where the herd is now?[/em]

This morning while writing this I saw a bobcat skulking by (couple weeks ago he ate a squirrel in our yard)…somewhere within my 93,000 photos I have some bobcat pics…