CALL OF THE WILD

Words By Blake

Each year in the fall, the forest echoes with elk calls as males bugle to attract females and intimidate other bulls. The best place to experience this natural spectacle is in the great vastness of Yellowstone National Park, often referred to as the Serengeti of North America, where one has the incredible opportunity to observe the largest bull elk up close in their natural habitat. While hiking on a crisp fall morning along the Madison River, I watched in awe as this powerful bull proudly led his cows past me, stopping just to raise his head toward the sky and let out a resounding call nearly in my face—an awe-inspiring screeching, bone-chilling, and unmistakable call of the wild that echoed across the landscape. He then hurried his harem away and disappeared into the dense woods, leaving me standing alone beside the river to contemplate this incredible encounter.

Yellowstone is a stunning and remarkable place that consistently draws me back time and time again, year after year. It can be a very challenging location to capture great photographs, but when those rare opportunities present themselves, it is always wild, rugged, and raw. The greatest moments here are fleeting and one must spend a lot of time to be faced with the perfect moment. Artistically, there is still so much more I hope to accomplish here. There’s no place like it, offering such an array of great animals with the backdrop of misty thermal features, towering pines and expansive, great valleys that stretch endlessly before the viewer.