This pair of bulls put all of Estes Park, Colorado on notice about elk rut season.
It’s estimated that over 280,000 elk live in Colorado, which is enough to give the state the honor of housing the largest concentrated population of elk in the world. Believe it or not, that many elk bring in tourists from all over the planet, and one of the more popular places they visit is Estes Park, Colorado.
The town acts as somewhat of a base for the Rocky Mountain National Park, and always has elk moving through and around the city limits. Herds occasionally take over Estes Park, and the humans that call the town home are often witnesses to elk-on-elk encounters… like this extended, rather aggressive one that was captured on camera.
Some tourists ended up getting a front-row seat for a heavyweight match between two sizable bull elk. And this antler clashing is no surprise, considering we’re right in the middle of elk rut season. It’s normal for bull elk to be more aggressive and vocal from September to November. They start “acting up” during that period of time to establish dominance, claim territories, and in hopes of securing a female mate.
There’s no doubt that’s what was going on in this video.
Good Bull Guided, a wonderful follow on social media, shared the length video of two elk – one named James and the other a young, yet-to-be-named bull – clashing antlers with one another. Neither elk was holding back as they dug their hooves into the Estes Park grass and lowered their antlers to show off for the cows that were standing nearby.
The two elk barely even noticed the tree that they accidentally danced around mid battle. And despite it being a fairly even fight, with plenty of power showcased, the younger bull elk did eventually give up and allowed the elk named James to be crowned the winner of the face-off.
Clearly, experience was the difference maker in this Colorado showdown. The older and slightly bigger elk still proved that he’s worthy, but there’s no doubt he was tested. Though I’d imagine the younger elk will challenge James again sooner rather than later, the more mature elk can still trot around Estes Park with his head and antlers held high.
Guess you could call it James’ “I’ve still got it” moment, which Good Bull Guided described like this:
“We got our first battle of the year yesterday between James and a bigger, younger bull but James came out on top. These two went at it for almost two minutes.”
And props to everyone else in the area for staying far enough away (maybe minus the guy casually driving by in the golf cart) to safely witness the two wild animals clashing. According to National Park guidelines, people should stay at least 25 yards away from elk. If you are out in elk country and happen to see a fight like this one brewing, it doesn’t hurt to give the antlered animals some extra room.
You know… just to be safe.
