Elk Day

Last year, I talked about how to sneak up on a deer.  Click here if you missed that glorious post.  

Well, last weekend during our day-trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, just outside of Estes Park, we needed no such skills.  These elk were begging to be our friends.  No sneaking necessary.

Um, yep. He's right next to us.

And it wasn't just one or two elk.  There was a whole bushel of them.  A bushel and a peck. 

Mr. Shedder here was feeling a little protective of his territory.  Whoa.  

They were honestly beautiful.  (Not that I wasn't also picturing what one of these might look like on my plate... or in the smoker... oh man.)

But they were just so darn friendly I couldn't maintain the hunter's daughter mentality for very long.

A few hours later we headed back this way again and the elk were still all there.  

This picture shows how close they were to the road and to people.  No stranger danger there.