They grow up too fast!

They just grow up too fast.  We've all heard this said a million times and  we've heard our parents say it many times.  The spooky part is that we actually find ourselves saying it now.  Oh my, how we do end up sounding like our parents.  Actually that's not a bad thing because we all end up realizing that our parents were a whole lot wiser than what we thought.  Now of course elk can't talk, but if they could I'm certain they would echo those same words, "they grow up too fast".  Now don't get me wrong they probably would have other things to say too such as.....

Enough with the cameras already!

You come any closer I'm going to scare you real bad.

Can't you just let us eat in private!

We like apples!

I can't wait until these antlers fall off!

Oh boy, I gotta crap again! Maybe I'm getting too much fiber.

Don't these people have homes!

And last but not least, "We miss Fred too".

But on a more serious, a newborn calf grows at an amazing rate.  They will be the size of a mature whitetail within 6 months.  They keep a real close eye out for their Mom and will stay right with her if she decides to move on.  It's actually quite amusing to watch them try to match the stride of their Mom.  Those little legs move along quite well in a very short time.  In the pictures below it is easy to see just how large a mature elk is and makes one wonder how a hunter could mistake one for a deer.  The calf is not much smaller than a deer at this point and is dwarfed by the mother.  A large bull will even dwarf this cow.