July National Georgraph photo

[biederboat]

Did anyone else happen to notice what's wrong wtih the elk photo on page 28 & 29 of the July National Geographic?

I let them know of the error, hopefully they'll acknowledge it.

Biederboat

[2LEYS]

Good catch!!! I didn't notice. That bull must be one of them San Francisco Bull Elk!!

[biederboat]

Thanks, I was tempted to make some kind of remark to that extent to them, but in the end just said:

"I think Ms. Morell needs to look a little more closely at the elk on page 29 of your July 2003 issue. While I can't dispute that a bull may have to round up a reluctant cow on occasion, the real story in this photo is that the big bull is chasing away a challenger in the form of a lowly spike. The proof is in the small antlers on the lead elk, cows do not grow any antlers."

Now, I really do question whether or not cows would stray from a bull during rut, unless there was possibly a better suitor in the area? Wouldn't they wait to see the results of the challenge? Can a bow hunter shed some light on this? I have to confess I didn't read the article yet, I was too busy looking for pictures of animal sex and was rather disappointed but that griz on page 55 sure looked like he was giving his mate a headache. And I sure wish I got "lucky" like that goshawk on page 40 everytime I brought home fish, fowl or fur !

Biederboat

[gottafish]

Satalite bulls will cut the a cow out of the herd and she will go with him but if the herd bull finds out he will cut the satilte but off and regain control of his cow, this is the idea of calling elk firs you make some soft mews of a cow and then a small no threatning bugle to sound like a small bull this will bring the herd bull in to investigate but what really works is to mew softly and then rub a large branch on a tree this will drive the herd bull nuts and he will investigate. I know this to be fact I am 13 for 13 on bulls with a bow, Cheers Rich

[biederboat]

Rich, all sounds reasonable but this photograph showed a big bull chasing after an alleged "cow" (in reality a spike) with a caption that claimed the bull was "chasing" after a run-away cow. Does this make sense?

Biederboat

[gottafish]

Cows that are not in esterus will run away from the herd bulls , they want to get a piece and the cows don't want to give it up. ( Kinda like my wife) anyway spikes will nstick with mom until the herd bull kicks them out and mom will try and go with her boy but the boss will prevent that and in turn she will go into esterus and will be bred again this will happen around the 15th of september give or take a day. many guys think the cooler weather brings this on but that is not true it is the lenght of daylight that causes this the same as with the winter coat growth. I saw someone above said" cows don't have antlers" I agree for the mos part but last year in the saddle mountain unit I had a spike cow at 10 yards in full velvet I had a clear veiw of the sex and thought about shooting her but you can't shoot spikes there and I would have a hard time explaning it the the staters. Anyway hope this helps. Rich

[biederboat]

You're right on about cows on occaision having antlers, they do. I thought about clarifying that but figured most people new what I meant. That's why big game regs always describe by the type of antler and the sex.

Biederboat