I am an Elk Stalker

So this winter, I've discovered a little niche that I enjoy - Elk watching. Yep. There is a small herd consisting of 4-5 males and maybe 6 females that live in a large enclosed portion of Busse

Woods and are cared for by the Forest Preserve. They are located off of Arlington Heights Road, right near I-90. In this busy suburban city area, there are Elk!

They have a fan club. I have stopped by several times this winter now, camera in tow, to check in on them. There are always cars there, with people inside watching them eat hay (yes, the Forest Preserve feeds them). Soccer moms in minivans with kids, businessmen in suits, and many others. I haven't run across another photographer yet but I'm sure I will eventually. Many times I see people at the fence staring in wonderment at these beautiful creatures. The only downside is that they are so tame....they will come over to the fence, begging for a treat (which all the signs say not to give them) and often the males will let you pet their noses, scratch their foreheads, and seem to love a good base of the antler scratch. The smaller females tend to be a little more skittish, but the big boss female will often let you scratch her butt.

But I digress. This story did start out having a point.

The other day I arrived after work to see a small crowd, a mom with a few kids, all watching the Elk. I pulled out the camera and ended up standing with them (good vantage point) and watched as two of the males started to clash. Now these Elk are usually really boring and quiet. From what I know of horses, I could tell that these two were really not putting much effort into it, and actually, seemed to be scratching each other's antlers and just playing around. The mom and kids started freaking out - I had to laugh. I told them not to worry I thought they were just playing, and we all got to watch two beautiful creatures play as the sunset. It was pretty cool!