The Wildest Wednesday

We made a supply run to the Walmart at Craig, the 60 mile one way drive today.   Along the way, we saw this  herd of elk waiting on the hillside where we know they will cross the road come nightfall.  The traffic is not too heavy here (it is out in the other part of nowhere!) so we feel that they will make it across with no problems.    We estimated there were probably 40+ animals in the herd, females (cows) and some young males (bulls) that you can tell had just spikes for horns.   These horns have to be so many inches before the animal can be hunted.   

I hope this herd will get to its winter feeding ground without being hunted.  The entire herd of elk in area of northwest Colorado is about 10,000 animals.  They migrate from the mountains where they live during the summer (cooler and more food) to the flat high desert area between here and Utah, 100 miles away.   We have seen herds in previous years along the roadway that we thought numbered over 200..we also had to wait years ago for a herd to cross the road..they just kept coming and coming down the hill.   It has been a long time since we have seen this many at one location.     So glad we made the trip to town today!  

A wild Wednesday photo for me and a wide angle photo as I tried to get the whole herd  in the photo.  I know there were more animals just over the hill that we could not see and who are not in the photo.