Thanks very much for the kind words. I presume that you (Travis and Jason) also saw that elk had its tongue out as it just licked its chops. This image was taken in as I recall June of 1991, 3 years after the fires of 1988. I had been to Yellowstone in 1985 as a hiatus during the time that worked in the field for my Grad degree in Geology in SW Montana. I returned in 1991 to take photos of regrowth of the Park. My partner and I were driving along through the Park when we saw a large group of parked cars and a crowd of people off to the side of the road. We figured that there must be an animal. We grabbed our 35mm cameras and zoom lenses. As you can see who had stopped the traffic. I was able to sneak in and get to about 10 feet from the ELK in velvet. I took the image as I recall on one knee (no tripod). Would you believe that there was some danged fool with a Handy Cam and about a 5 year old on his shoulders that kept moving closer and closer till he was about 5 feet away from the Elk? The Elk kept lowering its head and pawing the ground. My partner and I were sure that this I**t was going to get it. He was fortunate. Yes the Elk was in a burned area and passing through the burned trees. It does look different and as Jason says the Elk "pops". The fires of 1988 have had a remarkable affect on Yellowstone. They left a patchwork of burned and unburned areas. Some areas were showing remarkable regrowth after only 3 years, other places the fires were so hot and the growing season so short that it looked almost as if the fires had been there only a few days earlier. Rich
Great shot. You must have been fairly close (relatively speaking)(just read the comment on how close you were - wow). What I want to know is why was he sticking his tongue out at you?