The Bugle
Sound Begins Low and Rises to an Ear-Splitting Shriek
The first time I heard it, I’m sure my jaw fell open, my mouth wide in surprise. That loud screaming screech, the bull elk’s head tipping backward releasing a sound that begins low and rises to an ear-splitting shriek followed by the guttural thumping as their throat wobbles. It is the elk’s unmistakable bugle announcing that the rut has arrived.
A year ago, I was standing in the middle of the meadow at Willow Park along Old Fall River Road. The sun had barely peeked over the mountains, and I was all alone surrounded by solitude. The early fall air was crisp and the sky a deep mountain blue.
That’s when I heard the first bugle, from up on the mountainside echoing from among the Engelmann spruce. It was the sound so familiar yet so unique. Then, from across the meadow, another bugle followed by one on the opposite hillside, and one from back across the meadow.
Soon, as many as eight bulls, all hidden in the timbers on the hillside bugled. Each sound was a loud, independent trumpeting announcing their location to the others. This was their area, they bugled. This was where they would find the cow elk, gather them together, and mate for the strength of the species.
It was a symphony of the species, sounds pronounced and bouncing back and forth across the meadow. The echos responded in harmony. It was a sound of endearing power.
When I first began photography, capturing the bull elk in mid-bugle was both a goal and challenge. As my cameras became more technical and faster with lenses of greater length and better glass, my skills improved, and I began to capture the images I sought.
In 2020, there was the elk Atlas bugling in the fog, and a few days later, a younger bull who bugled with mist blowing from his nostrils as saliva drooled in his throat. And then in 2021, there was Kahuna, the King of Moraine Park.
I had just turned onto the blacktop road leading into the massive meadow when I saw him along the edge. Pulling to the roadside, I moved behind my SUV with camera in hand and extended the lens to its full length. Kahuna’s harem was forty cows strong, and he worked to keep them close.
When it was important to announce his prominence, he would turn his head sideways with a slight lift, and the bugle would explode. Kahuna had a strong, deep, and dominant bugle, so powerful and unmistakable.
I remember the chill I got capturing that bugle, thrilled knowing Kahuna was special, his mating call unique, and the image dynamic. So much so, a week later it graced the cover of Estes Park News.
A year later, 2022, an elk as dynamic as Kahuna with powerful curved antlers showed the uniquely long third tines with a twist on the left one. His body was not as full, but he was nearly identical to Kahuna, working his harem with the same dominance. I put his image on Facebook beside Kahuna’s saying, “I don’t know if this is Kahuna’s son, but they’re so similar, I’m going to call him KJ for Kahuna Junior.”
Last year and again this year, Droptine (or Kickstand) has been a dominant bull in Moraine Park. So named for the tine on his left antler that drops downward instead of up. His power evokes an incredible image of a bull elk bugling his September mating intent.
But my favorite image of an elk bugling was captured on September 20, 2022 in Moraine Park. As I stood along the road, the bull appeared on a distant hill. The sun was just rising, the yellow grass glowing at his feet while it brightened the tan of his body and the brown of his mane. Behind him, the blue spruce gave a colorful texture to the image as if you could feel the sound of his bugle.
I remember sharing the image with my friend, Chris. Chris looked at me and shared, “Can you imagine being a pioneer discovering the beauty of these mountains in the 1830’s. Arriving in the summer, you toil to build a log cabin, establish a home for your family in this land you are just discovering. Then, in the middle of a September night as you sleep in your bed, for the first time you hear the powerful screeching of a bull elk’s bugle. You have no idea what the sound is. Wouldn’t you be terrified?”
I know that once I had heard the bull elk bugle, it was a sound I would never forget yet always look forward to hearing. It is that time of year. It is the elk rut and the bulls are bugling.
