A meeting with an Elk or two

An Elk wasn´t what I had in mind when I steered the car towards Nossebro on Saturday.

Maria had prompted that we should go and visit her father to check out planks that she wants to use for a renovation project at home. I had nothing planned for the weekend so I thought it was a good idea as the weather should be nice, but not warm.

We arrived in Nossebro in time for the usual social coffee break that you always seem to have there. After the coffee, it was off towards the cottage at Anestad to look at the material at hand. Maria seemed satisfied with the plank so I suppose the renovation will get momentum soon, or will she wait until I am off to Africa?

We also did some work at the cottage and during the time there Bertil told us that he normally sees three Elks there almost every evening. That was off course something I wanted to explore later on, but the chance almost passed me by as I wasn’t in photo mood after dinner so I have to thank Maria for dragging me from the house when she saw the lovely sunset.

At first we couldn´t see any Elk’s just Roe Deer’s everywhere, but that was soon to turn as we passed the cottage. Just around the corner we stumbled upon two Elks happily eating. They looked at us when we stopped the car, but they were more interested in eating than running away so I could start taking pictures.

It wasn´t easy as Elks are big animals and we were just 15 to 20 meter away from them which meant I only could take portraits. Still it is nice to get the opportunity to photo these nocturnal animals as they are shy most of the year.

We left the Elk couple when they walked into the woods and continued on the gravel road. It didn´t take long before we came upon an Elk calf from last year.

You can see that this Elk is much smaller than the first one just by looking at the head of the animal.

My guess is that the Elk calf just have been rejected by the Elk mother as the female now had company by a big male. It is the time of year when you can find Elk calves wandering alone out in the open during late evenings when it isn´t dark. Young and stupid some would say or just inexperienced not knowing the danger.

I hope you will find these Elk pictures a little moody as that was the feeling I had when I took them.

And please Enjoy the gallery and the other pictures.