The first real wildlife we happened upon in Yellowstone was the majestic elk. We spotted a group of bucks off on the side of the road in a snowy valley and decided to follow them for a bit. They had huge antlers because they hadn’t dropped them yet. It was quite the sight to see.

They were just roaming around eating grass. The funny part about going on wildlife hunts is that at first every little thing you see is amazing and you stop for an hour to watch it, but as time goes on it becomes normal. At the beginning of the trip we stopped a good hour and a half to watch these elk go around a valley and across the road, which was amazing. But my point is that by the end of the week we would drive right past them without a thought.

You would just say, hey look elk… okay moving on. It become normal so easily. This beautiful animal that I don’t see often, in a weeks time became something entirely ordinary in my mind. There seems to be something twisted in this idea. Maybe just how easily things can be taken for granted in life. Learn what you want from it, but appreciate it now because nothing is ever as ordinary as it seems.

As usual we got to watch how an elk finds food in this snowy terrain. It is actually very interesting but not as amusing as watch a buffalo find food.

Buffalo’s strategy: If I roll around in the snow enough, or grind my face deep enough into the snow, eventually I will find some sort of tiny shrub to munch on until I move on to the next snow pile in which to shove my face.

The elk just paw at the snow and push it aside with their noses to try to find some brush to chew on for some time.

I actually really enjoy this shot with the tourists in the background and the elk on the road. It has a corky quality to it. It is like a creeper photo and wildlife shot combined. The elk one by one would cross over the road. It was cool to watch because they would come right up close to us as we stood there with out tripods and huge cameras. It really was an experience to be so close to these huge creatures, and I will never take for granted this experience ever again.