We regress for a moment........

Here we are again, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone N.P. with our cranky bull elk visitor to the downtown tourist area.

He's cranky because, #1, he's been separated from his does and calves, and more importantly, #2, there's a new guy in town, a younger elk buck, who's wandering around looking interested and generally causing significant tension.  It's rutting season in Yellowstone.  Old boys get cranky around young upstarts.

Lots of running around took place, as the bull elk and his doe and calf found their way back past the goofy humans.  Cousin Michele's theory that people are stupid (I think stupid was my word, not hers) around wild animals that can kill them easily, is that we're all used to zoos, enclosures, staring at wild things in safety, and then here you go on a street, with a bull elk with really big antlers, and people standing around with their point-and-shoots.  Not smart.  

Anyway, family's unified.

But don't anthropomorphize them.  He has many does!

Many!  It's a lot of work keeping order in town.

And here's the young intruder, on his way back out of town.

He'll try another year.

And at last there's a bit of rest for our hard working old guy!

We didn't have internet or cell phone coverage for much of the last week.  We'll catch up with stories now that we're back in Wisconsin.

                                    RJ