Boys Will Be Boys
The day dawned clear and cold in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Fog cloaked low-lying areas while the Teton Range lit up in early morning colors. I scrambled to capture the fleeting display with my camera.
Next, I set off for the National Elk Refuge in hopes of finding bighorn sheep on Miller Butte. It was the right time of year, but previous visits had taught me that the sheep keep their own schedules that don’t always mesh with mine. Today, however, turned out to be a very good day. Not only did I find sheep, I found three large rams huddled together at a mineral lick on a rocky outcrop - close by and in good light!
My good fortune didn’t end there. The rams were clearly agitated, and I surmised the rut was underway. Some shoving and kicking ensued before the trio descended from the outcrop to the flats below and started grazing - a mere 50 meters from me!
Over the next two hours, several lightning-quick rounds of head butting occurred, interspersed with long periods of nervous grazing. I managed to capture some of the collisions with high frame-rate photography. (By this time, my fingers were too cold to switch to video.)
Here’s the cinematic version.
Bighorn rams engage in head-butting contests at Miller Butte, National Elk Refuge, Wyoming.
