Preliminary notes for my 2008 Elk Watching Journal page.
(NOTE: NOT ALL photos shown here have been cropped and processed. Video isn't here either.)
The photos on this page are of wild, free-roaming elk, not game farm, pen-raised or baited animals. They go wherever they please, traveling from grazing area to grazing area. In addition to State Forests and State Game Lands, their range includes farms, towns and villages within the Elk Range in the Allegheny Mts. of western PA. Radio collars you see on some animals in these photos are used by PA Game Commission biologists to track, record and manage the herd. (We traveled mostly in Elk County, occasionally crossing into Cameron County.)
Click a camera or underlined link for photos.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Eugene left work early and we were able to be on our way by 4:30 PM to make the trip to Benezette. I had a campsite reserved at the Benezette Store Campground.
The weather called for rain in the evening but it was already raining in Elk County when we left. We ran into rain after we passed thru Williamsport in Lycoming County. It was raining lightly when we got to our destination.
As we were unloading our camping gear, we could hear elk bugling in the nearby mountains. It was a good sign. Setting up the tent progressed quickly and we were soon inside our dry quarters.
We turned in early, but the constant bugling of a bull kept us awake until long after midnight. He was a short distance upstream either across the creek or on our side. Probably no more than two or three-hundred yards away. It was loud in this peaceful valley. Beside the bugling bull, you could hear the gentle patter of rain on the tent roof. It was tolerable. Along with the annoying bull, hickory nuts from the tree we were camped by fell when the wind blew and hit the metal roof of the campsite pavilion with a resounding clunk. Needless to say, we didn't sleep very soundly.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
We were on the road shortly after 6:30 AM. After a stop at the Benezette Restaurant for coffee, we were on our way up Winslow Hill Road. The rain stopped and it was very foggy in the valley. Very few places on the mountains were clear.
07:00 AM — We walked to a grazing area located some distance behind the Elk View
Diner. I didn't take my camera — too foggy. After a half-mile walk,
we could hear bulls bugling. It was coming from the far end of the food
plot. The fog cleared a bit and we spotted a cow elk feeding about 100-yards away and another about
250-yards
away. Then we saw a large bull herding his harem downhill. 
08:30 AM — We watched the elk for a short while and decided to leave this spot and go down
to Porcupine Hollow which is
in the
direction the herd was heading. It was foggy in this valley. We parked at the PA State Game Land gate.
Eugene
hiked the access road to another food plot. I stayed, giving out with cow
calls occasionally. A bull with a deep growling bugle was answered my calls and
Eugene's bugles. I estimated he came within two hundred yards of me.
I thought he might continue in my direction and cross the road toward Dent's
Run. After trying to entice the bulls in, nothing happened. They
answered. We could
hear 'em — several of 'em, but could'nt see 'em. The only wildlife I
shot were some wild turkeys scurrying by, a small bird, and the beginning of
the lifting fog with the sun peeking thru.
10:30 AM — After making the rounds of Gilbert Farm, Winslow Hill, Dent's Run, Hick's Run, Medix Run, various farms, grazing areas and forests in between without any results from calling, we still had no close pictures. We returned to where we saw some elk cows and calves feeding in the woods near the campground earlier in the morning. Most were bedded down chewing their cuds when we found them, and no bulls were bugling. We were able to get a few pictures.
It was time for
breakfast at the Benezette Restaurant and a short nap at camp — didn't get much sleep
last night.
12:00 PM — After checking topo maps to see where some side roads go, we
headed over to Medix Run and up the Quehanna Highway to Hoover Farm. There's a viewing area
there where Eugene called in a large bull last year. No luck this
time.
01:00 PM — We decided to take Wykoff Road down to Driftwood and work our way back to
more familiar territory in the Dents Run area.
04:00 PM — Our plan was to return to the grazing area above Porcupine Hollow.
We sat there for almost two hours. All I saw were vivid colored autumn
leaves, a lone whitetail deer scurry into the woods two-hundred yards away, and
Eugene, on the hill above me, bugling to try to entice the bull which was below
us. He answered each of the calls, but wouldn't come up the steep hill in
response to the challenges.
05:45 PM — Eugene decided he wanted to check out the area near the campground where we saw the cows earlier and try to locate the bull that was keeping us awake at night. We parked along a horse trail. Eugene gave a bugle and got an immediate response from the direction of the creek which sounded like it was only about 50-yards away. He grabbed his camera bag and began to go investigate. He only went about 10-yards and returned indicating to me that a bull was coming up the trail. This bull was angry and bellowed each time we called. He walked near us at about 25-yards. Its the kind of situation I would like to be in had I drawn an elk permit for this year's hunt. We took pictures and videos for about 15-minutes. This turned out to be the most exciting event of our trip.
06:15 PM — We went to Gilbert Farm where we saw a herd of about 20 elk far off at the reclaimed strip mining area earlier. Too far for pictures — about a mile away, but great for tourists with binoculars. We later learned the herd was scared away when the mining operation set off a dynamite blast. There were no elk at the viewing area but we did find some on the outskirts of the farm. There was a large herd bull and his harem of cows and calves. He rose from his resting place to replenish it with scent and lay back down.
06:30 PM — We went to Porcupine Hollow and hiked to a newly reclaimed area developed for elk grazing. This is an area below where we tried calling a bull earlier. When we got down in the valley, there was another photographer there: Jason, a school teacher from Hershey. We met him earlier at Hicks Run. He said this was his first trip to Elk country so I gave him some hints on where to look for elk. This is one of the areas I told him to check out. He was there two hours before us and heard our elk calls from the hillside above and said the bull answered each call but continued to graze.
There was a large bull and his harem here. Another satellite bull was nosing around the cows, and the herd bull had chased off another bull before we arrived on the scene.
Darkness set in and we returned to Benezette and had a great dinner in the Restaurant. Returning to the campsite, we hoped for a good night's sleep. Campers had moved into adjacent campsites but the bull was bugling. An elk was feeding at the far end of the campground but it was too dark for pictures.
The night was chilly so we started up the heater to warm the tent before turning in. I was awakened at 1:00 AM by the incessant bugling by the bull across the creek. At 2:30 AM, he could be heard again. I wondered if it was going to be another long sleepless night but I managed to fall into a deep sleep.
Friday, October 10, 2008
06:00 AM — It was a cool night but the day was predicted to be warm. It was extremely foggy. More campers were arriving when we left. We were on our way and made the usual coffee stop at the Benezette Restaurant.
Now we needed to locate a bull and try to stalk close enough for pictures. We made the rounds of the places we know where to look for elk. Nothing was heard bugling anywhere we went and no elk were spotted until we went thru Grants Pass along the Sinamahonning Creek. But it was too foggy for pictures. The herd we saw was already crossing the creek and heading for the mountain. We saw quite a few whitetail deer.
07:50 AM — On our way back from Hicks Run, we spotted some elk in the woods next to a farm. We found a safe place to park and discovered there were three bulls feeding of choke cherries. Two young bulls sparred over who was going to eat the tasty morsels. Some cows could be heard calling further into the woods. The older bull ignored them and departed. The fog had not lifted and the sun wasn't shining anywhere we went on the mountains.
After making the rounds of all the places we know where elk habituate, and didn't hear any bugling, we resolved ourselves that we had to become tourists and keep riding and looking.
09:45 AM — When we passed where we saw the young bulls feeding on choke cherries earlier, we saw them grazing near a place with several hunting cabins. They were grazing and eating acorns. Its amazing what these young bulls will fight over. These two became aggressive to each other and we took some interesting shots of them sparing.
10:00 AM — There were still pockets of fog and further on, the older bull crossed the road and began feeding on apples. Its interesting to watch these bulls use their large antlers to hit the branches and knock down apples they can't reach.
Our stay at the campground was up at 11:00 AM so we returned to take down the tent and pack the car.
12:00 PM — After lunch at Kell's Place, we went to Porcupine Hollow and the new restoration area to await the arrival of the herd that frequents there. A few bugles with the elk call produced no response. It was like that all day. We took our camp chairs and sat and waited. We even took a nap.
During two hours of waiting and calling, we got plenty of fresh air while
being harassed by newly hatched insects. All we saw were the pretty autumn
colors and a flock of Wild Turkeys.
04:45 PM — After making the rounds we came back to Winslow Hill Road. It was warm. No bulls were bugling. Then we spotted a large bull making his way across some overgrown farmland.
05:00 PM — As we traveled down the road, I told Eugene I had many
photos of bull elk but not many of cows, so I asked him to stop at the next
opportunity we had to shoot some. It wasn't long after we came to the Elk
View Diner that a herd of cows came out of the woods and headed for some apple
trees to feed.
We were winding our way back toward Benezette because we wanted to get to Hoover Farm before it was too late. Its on our way home.
The bull and his harem were at Gilbert Farm again.
As we came around a bend, we spotted a bunch of tourists parked along the road where we had not seen any elk in the last couple days. There was a bull feeding under an apple tree and some guys were trying to get him to bugle with no success. Eugene gave a blow on his call and the bull responded instantly. I heard someone in the crowd remark, "This is better than Yellowstone!"
These were the last pictures taken on this trip.
We finally made it thru the maze of tourists to Benezette and Medix Run, and headed out on the Quehanna Highway thru Moshannon State Forest.
We stopped at Hoover Farm and went to the viewing blind where we met people from the "Bugle Corps." They are a group of DCNR volunteers who travel to state parks and areas such as the Elk Range giving demonstrations and lectures about the places where they are assigned. The volunteer couple we met were from the Scranton. The only visitors were from Hughsville.
We had interesting conversation with all of them. The lady from Hughsville approached me, smiled and said she saw me on the Pennsylvania Outdoor Life TV program photographing Bald Eagles. We showed them the digital photos we took over the last couple days and Eugene replayed the videos of bugling elk that he shot.
Eugene tried some elk calls but none answered. We were on our way as darkness fell.
It was another great experience of Pennsylvania outdoor life.
— Gene Maslar
