And That Should Have Been A Full Day

After all the excitement of seeing the Tetons and coming within an inch of getting eaten/mauled by a grizzly/elk/moose, you would think that would have been enough for one day.  But if you think that, then apparently you have never been on vacation with Vol Fan and Woody.  They treat each vacation day like a cheapskate trying to get 'just one more' shampoo out of the empty bottle!

As we headed to our next stop, we spotted this herd of pronghorn antelope.

And this beautiful spot along the Jackson Lake.

We were headed toward Oxbow Bend in hopes of spotting a moose or, at the very least, a beautiful sunset.  This beautiful spot is where the excitement took place.

As we soaked in the beauty, a ranger arrived.  Seems we had picked the spot chosen for a ranger program - a bird watching program.  Now we aren't exactly bird watchers.  If the birds happen to be where we are, we will watch them and appreciate their beauty but we're not going to specifically go somewhere to bird watch.  But anyhoo, there we were.  And in a few short minutes, a bird arrived.  A white pelican.

Initially, we were like 'Cool - we've seen pelicans but never a white one' but we weren't extremely excited.  Until the ranger started giving some information about white pelicans.  They are one of the longest birds in North America, reaching lengths of 50-70 inches.  And they have the second largest wingspan of birds in North America, reaching lengths of 95-120 inches.  Wow!  That is one big bird! And then he circled around and landed in the water directly in front of us!

And that's when the real excitement started.  Vol Fan spotted an elk coming out of the treeline in the distance.  A cow.  First one then another and another and another.  We were getting really excited.  In the fall when elk are in rut, a group of this many females means there is definitely a bull nearby!  And then he stepped out!  Wow!  I cannot tell you how excited we were.  And we were extremely thankful for the ranger with his spotting scope!!

The bull and his harem grazed in the open meadow for quite some time.   Eventually the bull moved out further into the meadow, a little bit away from his ladies.  And then the excitement started.  Another bull bugled and came out of the trees.  And then another.  And another!  Three bulls had come to challenge for the harem!!

The first bull we had spotted (I'll call him Mr. Big) immediately turned to answer these challengers.  As Mr. Big closed in, one of the bulls decided he was WAY out of his league and returned to the forest.  But the other two remained.  And Mr. Big was not a happy camper.

Mr. Big and the other two bulls were converging when one turned away.  Mr. Big locked antlers with the remaining challenger.  They battled and battled and battled.  Eventually, the challenger decided that he had had enough and turned away.  He moved off into the meadow.  We could see the injuries that he had sustained.  He stopped and wallowed in the dirt several times - I assume to attempt to clot the blood.

Mr. Big was strutting his stuff, bugling, looking triumphant.  He and his ladies went back to grazing.  Eventually, the third challenger worked up his courage and came down out of the trees.  He and Mr. Big locked antlers and the battle was on again.  It raged and raged - eventually moving into the treeline, blocking our line of sight.  Within a few minutes, Mr. Big returned triumphant!

I think I know who that harems' baby daddy will be!!

The ranger said that he had never seen elk battle before - that it was something pretty rare for people to witness.  We counted ourselves extremely lucky.

On top of all that, the sky put on a fantastic sunset show!  What a perfect day this had been!