Monarch of the West Wapiti

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Wapiti prosper in the most pristine of natural surroundings.

An upshot of the rut is that many a lovespent herd bull enters winter malnourished and exhausted — liabilities that can prove fatal should the season prove harsh. Meanwhile, the cows are plump, rested — and pregnant.

The gestation period for elk is 8-1/2 months. Thus, having mated at the height of the rut in late September, a cow will come to term in early June. When her time arrives, the matron will wander away from the herd to select a nursery in thick cover. There, in stoic solitude, she will deliver her young-most often just a single calf.

The typical Rocky Mountain elk babe enters the world as a 30-to 40-pound bundle of white-spotted sorrel. A healthy calf will rise on wobbly legs within hours of its birth, and by the age of one week will be swift enough to elude most predators — at which time mother and calf will return to the herd, a grand wild species renewed.

Like brook trout, wapiti prosper best in the most pristine of natural surroundings — country that's high, cool, and lonesome. And just as the presence of a healthy population of "brookies" indicates a quality aquatic world, thriving herds of wapiti indicate a balanced land environment. But elk can be more than mere indicators of environmental quality: To me they are magical beings which, by their very presence, redefine the landscape. The meadow or glen where I spot elk or even just signs of their passing — a deep split print in the forest duff, a fallen antler, a bleached thigh bone, the compressed grass of a cud bed, a pile of black-green droppings — that place is forever transformed in my mind, sanctified.

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