October 25, 2015
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Great Smoky Mountains 001
The southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway is in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This area of the Appalachian Range has many great overlooks. Karla and I spent two days in the Smokys viewing the scenery and chasing elk. The park has two herds. One herd numbers well over 300 and the other herd is 30+. We worked with the smaller herd because this herd’s seven-year-old dominant bull is huge. The largest elk we have ever seen. His six by six antlers must be over five feet long.
Great Smoky Mountains Elk 001
The ground was covered in fog early in the morning, which created a beautiful mountain valley scene. I got there before sunrise and was the only car along that stretch of road. The bulls could be heard fighting behind the open field. Between the bugling and clashing of antlers it was a morning to remember.
Great Smoky Mountains Elk 007
Later we encountered the herd on a side road in a small field. This spot was nice because not many people were around. A ranger came and directed us to where she said the elk would cross the road. The ranger was very professional and nice. She reminded me of the National Park Ranger at Grand Portage. The ranger and several volunteers were monitoring the situation to help the elk get to where they wanted to go and to keep people from getting hurt. The bull with his aggressive behavior had previously broken car windows, but thanks to the rangers and volunteers no one was hurt.
Karla and I parked where we were directed but one cow approached and moved behind our vehicle. Soon the bull followed with his tongue hanging out and appearing mad. We just sat there hoping that our windows remain intact. He came as close as four feet to our car but ignored us. I wanted to get a photo of him but all I would have gotten was his eye with my telephoto lens on the camera.
Great Smoky Mountains Elk 011
The big bull was the last to cross and traffic started moving again. All of a sudden he bugled and came back on the road. He was running and dodging around cars. An elderly white haired lady was standing in the field alone. The bull ran straight at her. She stood there frozen and stared at him. When the bull gets less than 20 feet from her he veered off and ran into the trees. This lady was so fortunate.
Great Smoky Mountains Elk 013
When we started to leave the rangers had left and this bull was thrashing the brush with his antlers. Pretty soon he ran out into the field and this man exited his car and approached the bull holding his iPad out in front of him to get a close-up photo. He must not have realized the danger. There were several signs stating that all fields were closed due to rutting elk.
Great Smoky Mountains Elk 014
One of the volunteers is Bob. He lives 10 miles from the park and is hooked on the elk. He loves watching them and sharing his knowledge with park visitors.
He keeps a journal of the elk activities. Whenever he has enough money for gas he drives into the park to watch the elk and informs park visitors what they should and shouldn’t do to keep safe. He has been there 250 times.
Looking in his eyes you could tell how much he loved watching the elk. He was a lot of fun to talk with and was very knowledgeable about the elk herd. He has his own web site
http://www.greatsmokieselk.com
