Rocky Mountain National Park – Photographing the Annual Elk Rut

There are four weeks I look forward to each year, roughly from the middle of September to the middle of October.  As the temperatures become cooler and daylight decreases, the season signals the elk to initiate their annual breeding cycle (aka the rut) and elk photography is absolutely at its finest.

Fall is not the only time I photograph these awesome creatures. . . I often photograph them above timberline in the middle of the summer with their slicked out coats and while the bulls still retain the velvet with which their antlers are covered.

Situated against the towering peaks of the Rockies or in fields of wildflowers they are indeed majestic . . . but in my opinion, there is nothing more striking than capturing images of them during the rut.  The rut is a time of non-stop action, the bulls competing with each other, sometimes physically, for the right to breed and add their DNA to the gene pool.  Large herds set against the beautiful backdrop of the mountain valleys provide unlimited opportunities for exciting interactions between the bulls and cows.

All of this action makes for dynamic, story-telling images that capture your eye and your soul.