Close encounter of the elk kind

Nice to see Elk, love to capture them one day, not in the east, I'll have to travel.
I would advise you to one day to buy a monopod or use a tripod, it makes a big difference. I use my monopod all the time.

I want a ballhead, I think I would use a tripod more if I had one.  As it is, I feel stifled.

Marian, you know the elk waited for the light to go down before they came down, they're tricky like that

That's sounds really corny, but I agree with you. It feels odd to use a longer lens off of a monopod now.

Monopods, tripods, and heads seem like a good topic for discussion, so I split off the thread...

OK, first of all... they are cows and bulls, not does and bucks.    Second, why in the world did you take photos of the spike when there was an 8-point?!!!  Third, and most importantly... do you Washingtonians count points on one or both sides?  And 8-point bull that has 4 on each side is very likely not mature (maybe 2-3 yrs old), whereas one that had 8 points on one side is a monster of the rare sort.  Are those Roosevelt elk, do you know?

I need a monopod also...

I agree that these photos would be much better if they were sharp.

Travis

Around here, he would have been called a 4-point.  It's quite an adrenaline rush to see elk up close, or just about any other wild animal for that matter.  I'm pretty sure that your region is home to Roosevelt elk, but I'm not absolutely certain.  We have Rocky Mountain Elk around here, they are the largest subspecies I think (Edit: I was wrong , the Roosevelt Elk are larger).  Here is a photo of a 6X7 (13-pointer ).  This guy is probably 8-9 years old, I would guess.  When you hear the term herd-bull, this is what you'd expect to find.  This image was taken just before the rut would be really underway, so he is alone; but he will gather a herd and fight for his dominance soon, leaving the losers to roam the outer edges of the larger herds and be deemed satellite bulls.  This time of year, most of the bulls in a herd of cows are juveniles and still following Mommy around, as they age they will begin to hang out in bachelor herds or be loners for most of the year until the rut, then they'll fight each other to win the lady's favor and hang out in the larger herds.  The lead cow is always the boss, however.  Even the biggest baddest bulls will go where she directs.  She will also be the most alert for danger and the one that will alert the herd to leave the area.

Travis