# Deer seen by the road today



## Kacey (Dec 19, 2006)

My mother and stepfather are in town, and wanted to go into the mountains, so we headed up towards Estes Park.  Just outside Estes Park, a herd of reindeer were crossing the road, so we (along with a lot of other people) stopped to take some pictures.  The pictures I took aren't great, because they were with a camera phone, but they came out pretty clear, if small.


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## bydand (Dec 19, 2006)

Reindeer, or elk?  Either one makes for some good steaks, but at least with one you don't have an overweight guy in a red suit knocking on your door PO'ed and carrying a bag of coal.


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## MA-Caver (Dec 19, 2006)

From the photos they look more like Elk than anything else. Just FYI... still to see Bull Elk is a treat for anyone.


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## Kacey (Dec 19, 2006)

I'm not really sure - my mother called them reindeer, and I was just going with it.  Either way, it was a decent-sized herd.


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## Cryozombie (Dec 20, 2006)

Yeah, it all just looks like road hazards to me.

​


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## Jade Tigress (Dec 20, 2006)

Kacey said:


> I'm not really sure - my mother called them reindeer, and I was just going with it.  Either way, it was a decent-sized herd.



I think reindeer are elk. So...you're covered.  Pretty cool to see a herd that size.


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## CMS (Dec 20, 2006)

Great pictures. Reindeer are caribou. They're much smaller than Elk. Adult male Reindeer/caribou stand only about 43 inches at the shoulder and weigh about 215 lbs. Elk adult males stand 5 feet at the shoulder and weigh about 700 lbs. Both are members of the deer family (cervidae), but are of different genus and species.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/bela/html/rangifer.htm


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## Blindside (Dec 20, 2006)

Those are elk, Colorado is very very far from caribou/reindeer ranges.  But elk are cool too....

Lamont


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## Jade Tigress (Dec 20, 2006)

CMS said:


> Great pictures. Reindeer are caribou.



Oh yeah! That's right. I forgot..knew it was something like that though.


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## Drac (Dec 20, 2006)

That's a lot a Reindeer, Caribou, Elk...


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## Brian R. VanCise (Dec 20, 2006)

Drac said:


> That's a lot a Reindeer, Caribou, Elk...


 
Ditto.  That is a whole heap of Reindeer, Caribou,Elk....


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## Bigshadow (Dec 20, 2006)

Wow!  That is alot of venison steaks, jerky, and burger there! :uhyeah:


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## Cryozombie (Dec 20, 2006)

Bigshadow said:


> Wow!  That is alot of venison steaks, jerky, and burger there! :uhyeah:



And that, my friend is why hunters NEED full auto rifles to hunt.


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## ArmorOfGod (Dec 20, 2006)

Very cool thing to share.  Thanks!
In my neck of the woods, you see a lot of deer, possum, and armadillos (usually dead on the side of the road), but I have never seen elk.
Those pics look good for a camera phone.

AoG


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## shesulsa (Dec 20, 2006)

Note:  A herd of elk is a rare find ... an elk is a rare find.  Those stories about hunters having a bull elk walk silently behind them within about 10 feet ... are true!  They are very intelligent animals and surprisingly quiet ... and HUGE!!!!

I hear they're yummy ... I can't do the big game taste thing.


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## MA-Caver (Dec 20, 2006)

shesulsa said:


> Note:  A herd of elk is a rare find ... an elk is a rare find.  Those stories about hunters having a bull elk walk silently behind them within about 10 feet ... are true!  They are very intelligent animals and surprisingly quiet ... and HUGE!!!!
> 
> I hear they're yummy ... I can't do the big game taste thing.


They are indeed yummy! Better than Bambi-types. The meat is solid and tender from all that alpine hiking that they do. But I've seen massive herds of elk (cows) in the high Unitas in Utah and around Jackson Hole Wyoming near Yellowstone park.  
Once had the privalege to see a small group of bachelor bulls about 500 yards away. Then was told, the last time I went up camping (with Ceicei's son Byron) in the Unitas, a couple of Bulls walked right by our tent bugling. I sleep without my hearing aid so I didn't hear 'em... dang it!


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## Bigshadow (Dec 20, 2006)

shesulsa said:


> They are very intelligent animals and surprisingly quiet ... and HUGE!!!!
> 
> I hear they're yummy



I haven't heard of a deer that wasn't. :uhyeah:


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## Lisa (Dec 20, 2006)

My favorite elk story:

I took my then teenage sister in law to see an IMAX movie back many years ago.  Part of the movie had a HUGE bull elk crashing through the woods directly at you...

A woman a few seats down from me started exclaiming to her husband "Look at the Moose!  Look at the Moose!"

My sister in law looks at me and says "Please tell me you see an elk too" 



I have had the luxury of eating moose, elk, bison and deer.

I will take bison over anything, then elk, then moose and then deer.

Deer is only good for kubasas, pepperoni and jerky.


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## elder999 (Dec 20, 2006)

shesulsa said:


> Note: A herd of elk is a rare find ... an elk is a rare find. Those stories about hunters having a bull elk walk silently behind them within about 10 feet ... are true! They are very intelligent animals and surprisingly quiet ... and HUGE!!!!
> 
> I hear they're yummy ... I can't do the big game taste thing.


 
They *are* yummy-more like beef than venison, and my favorite hunt of the year.

I get to see a herd of elk nearly every day, driving from my house to the lab. It's in the Jemez Mountains, and, this time of year-especially when the snow falls, like now-the elk come down in elevation a bit. In addition to having a few herds that roam the lab (and sometimes the town!) great herds congregate in the Valles Grande, an immense volcanic caldera that is just outside of Los Alamos....sometimes by the thousands....................
...sorry,though, no pictures like Kacey's-nice one, Kacey!


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## elder999 (Dec 20, 2006)

Cryozombie said:


> And that, my friend is why hunters NEED full auto rifles to hunt.


 
Huh?-a muzzle loader is _perfect_, and a bow is doable. Why in the world would you even consider a full-auto anything? 

If it's a joke, as a hunter, a firearm enthusiast, as well as a full-on, full-auto _junkie_;*it's not funny.*:tantrum:


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## bushi jon (Dec 20, 2006)

MY elk story I was hunting with my Bro and a huge bull walked right by me I put three arrows in it and still manage to get with in 5 yards of me before I climbed a huge rock and by the way when I dropped my bow a screamed like a little girl the game warden happened by and I was the talk of the town for about three weeks


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## bydand (Dec 20, 2006)

Lisa said:


> I have had the luxury of eating moose, elk, bison and deer.
> 
> I will take bison over anything, then elk, then moose and then deer.
> 
> Deer is only good for kubasas, pepperoni and jerky.



I second that, and in the exact same order!


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## Lisa (Dec 20, 2006)

bushi jon said:


> MY elk story I was hunting with my Bro and a huge bull walked right by me I put three arrows in it and still manage to get with in 5 yards of me before I climbed a huge rock and by the way when I dropped my bow a screamed like a little girl the game warden happened by and I was the talk of the town for about three weeks



:lfao:  :lfao:  :lfao:


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## Cryozombie (Dec 20, 2006)

elder999 said:


> Huh?-a muzzle loader is _perfect_, and a bow is doable. Why in the world would you even consider a full-auto anything?
> 
> If it's a joke, as a hunter, a firearm enthusiast, as well as a full-on, full-auto _junkie_;*it's not funny.*:tantrum:



Oh, wah wah wah. 

Get the **** over yourself.  And sign it next time.


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## Arizona Angel (Dec 20, 2006)

Those stories are funny, lol.  We have herds of elk here too just like that.  They are beautiful creatures, and hunting is so much fun long as it's not with your vehicle.  That tends to be quite expensive.


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## Cryozombie (Dec 20, 2006)

elder999 said:


> Why in the world would you even consider a full-auto anything?



And to answer your question, You need full auto to take down the whole herd.  That was my point.  I was making a joke, in response to Bigshadows comment about how much meat that herd was... the same way I stated they were a road hazard.

Difference is, you would *actually* kill them, and *I* dont hunt helpless animals.  Which one of us is ****ing wrong here pal?


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## Kacey (Dec 20, 2006)

They were a road hazard, actually - we went up to Estes Park for a while, and when we came back, there was a car facing west in the eastbound lane with a shattered windshield, and another car in the ditch... the herd had, for obvious reasons, retreated from the road.  I think it must have been just the cars, though, because I didn't see any signs of injured elk or blood on the snow.


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## elder999 (Dec 20, 2006)

Cryozombie said:


> And to answer your question, You need full auto to take down the whole herd. That was my point. I was making a joke, in response to Bigshadows comment about how much meat that herd was... the same way I stated they were a road hazard.


 
Well, as kacye pointed out, they *are* a road hazard, and will do one helluva job on the car of a driver  careless (or unlucky) enough to hit them.

On the other hand, killing the whole herd is also not something to joke about at all....



Cryozombie said:


> Difference is, you would *actually* kill them, and *I* dont hunt helpless animals. Which one of us is ****ing wrong here pal?


 
Well, it certainly isn't *me*. I'd hardly call them completely helpless-while they're not actually much of a threat, they're hardly easy to kill...and, as I've said elsewhere, I don't buy much in the way of meat: raise my own chickens, turkeys and rabbits-_they're_ helpless, but I kill them-and hunt deer and elk. Don't want to turn Kacey's cool photo thread
into one on the merits and drawbacks of hunting, but I think I'm a lot less wrong than I would be  buying my meat pre-butchered and wrapped in plastic-of course, that's just me......


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## elder999 (Dec 20, 2006)

Cryozombie said:


> Oh, wah wah wah.
> 
> Get the **** over yourself. And sign it next time.


 
Well, I didn't need to, did I?:deadhorse (Forgot to, actually.....)


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## Jade Tigress (Dec 20, 2006)

*Mod Note

Attention All Users

Please keep the conversation polite and respectful.

Pamela Piszczek
MT Sr. Moderator*


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