Many Camps

Hello folks, here's a quick story too special to "forget to post", which I usually do...hence no posts here on my blog in a too-long time. I'll try to do better. Anyway, last week was wonderful for Rambling here on my home turf. No hunting seasons underway, the backcountry pretty much mine to roam. I set up camp one evening and began to notice an elk bugling about 250 paces to the north of my camp, just over the ridge. At dusk I did my usual small game stroll and went over to take a look at the source of the racket. Sure enough, there he was: a big bruiser stalking around a grassy clearing, a dozen or so cows bedded at his feet. By the time I returned to my camp, at full twilight, the entire valley was alive with bugles. Throughout the evening a wild serenade soared back and forth around my camp. There were five camps in those parts: mine and four elk camps. I'm not sure all the bulls had harems, but all of them stayed exactly in the same location for many hours. One was calling from about 600 paces to my south. Another from something like 700 yards southwest. A third from only 400 or so steps due west. Then the verified harem bull just over the shallow ridge to my north. It was altogether an outstanding evening! I trust I will never lose my capacity to be awed by Creation. There is perhaps nothing on earth as evocative of wildness than the eerie, piercing call of bull wapiti. And I had the great privilege of listening to a full chorus of these astonishing animals over an entire evening. I wish everyone a wonderful 2009 Season!