Elk

We are blessed with plentiful wildlife in our peaceful valley. Up until last year, it was the normal deer, turkey, birds, small mammals, the usual stuff. Up until last year. Oh sure, we even had occasional sightings of coyotes, and as you saw on yesterday’s post, a bobcat. And an occasional bear as well. But this year, an ELK! Yep. If you had told me there would be elk on our property, a likely response might have been, "when pigs fly". I took this photo in May 2006 on our property, and it was my only sighting. It was late in the evening in failing light, so it’s not a very good photo. Kinda like those UFO pictures you see. But rest assured, this was an elk. I was watching it through the binoculars and could see its antlers standing 18” over its ears. It was seen by many people in the area. It was either an escapee from a wildlife refuge or a traveler from the Pennsylvania wild herd. We never really found out for sure and last fall, it was rumored that an Amish farmer in Troupsburg shot it.