In the coastal range of the Pacific Northwest, Roosevelt elk are currently in rut. Roosevelt elk are the largest elk in North America. This dominant male had gathered a harem of 40 females, some with young. We were on foot and well aware of the importance of staying about 50 yards away and not making any eye contact or sudden moves. The bulls are extremely aggressive and easily agitated during this time. This beautiful male was said to be about 1000 pounds.
Handheld Canon EOS R5, 100-500mm zoom lens
400 mm, f/9.0, 1/2500 sec, ISO 2500
Post-processing: Decreased highlights and shadows, decreased exposure and clarity of the background, and cropped. I removed a collar from one of the cows. The bull could sprint and was working to keep his harem together. He was what is known as an ‘imperial’ bull elk, mean his age, size and number of points on his antler rack made him the dominant elk in the area. Another bull tried to heard 5 of his cows off, but he was promptly chased off.
2 comments posted
Tracy Kaminer
Wow. What fun to see this. 40 females. A sight to behold. I also would have taken the collar off. I know the importance of them for researchers, but as a photographer they are a bummer. What a magnificent bull elk. I agree with darkening the background, but I'd like to see the elk brought out even more by lightning them if that would work, especially the bull elk's face. I also might crop out the elk on the left that is looking away. Very interesting capture. Posted: 10/06/2026 17:34:44
Mike Cohen
This image has a lot of immediate impact for me. The star elk is imposing as he looks over his harem with a magnificent rack. I'm not too bothered by the female looking away but you might watch to see how it looks with something like a 4x5 vertical crop. I like your post processing. Nice job. Posted: 10/08/2026 11:54:12
