BULL ELK TRAPPED IN PECULIAR GRANITE STRUCTURE
by
F. R. Oberhansley, Junior Naturalist
The glaciated granite domes rising from Hellroaring Creek westward
offer some interesting problems. There appears to be a peculiar
structure in the granite which gives it cleavage along definite planes
somewhat coincident to the surface. Here great slabs of granite about
three feet in thickness have sheared from the main mass along even
planes and moved down slope under the force of gravity. These huge slabs
of granite are separated from each other by even, vertical fractures
varying from a fraction of an inch to several yards and the under
surface on which they rest is comparable to the surface of the thick
slabs themselves before they became detached from the main mass.
Sketched from a photograph by F. R. Oberhansley
While looking over this unique outcrop on April 26, 1938, I came
upon a large, dead bull elk. Apparently while walking across this snow
covered rock surface he had broken through with his right front foot
which became wedged in one of the cracks mentioned above. Had he pulled
up hill, release would have been easy as the crack widened up hill, but
instead his efforts were confined to down hill pull, resulting in
getting the feet so tightly wedged that escape was impossible. His head
was supported on one great antler and the imprisoned log had been
stretched to the point of dislocation. It is not possible to learn how
many days he suffered before death came to his relief.
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TRUMPETER SWAN OBSERVATIONS
by
F. R. Oberhansley, Junior Naturalist
Two incidents of more than passing interest and significance in
connection with Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) observations at Geode
Lake are worthy of recording.
On May 28 both birds were sleeping on the beach directly below our
natural blind of Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia). Neither bird
seemed to be particularly alert. After watching the sleeping birds for
several minutes they suddenly became alert, raising their great necks
into a rigid upright position and looking toward our hillside vantage
point. Our first thought, that they had in some way sensed our presence,
was soon dispelled as a large coal black bear (Euarctos americanus
cinnamomum) entered the scene covered by our field glasses. Here was a
wilderness scene that was worth any naturalist's day. Neither the bear
nor the swans suspicioned our presence. The bear scarcely looked at the
birds as he nosed his way across the beach; and after satisfying
themselves that it was only a bear, both swans settled back to sleep
while the bear was not more than twenty feet away.
Under almost identical conditions on the morning of June 5, nearly
the same performance was repeated. This time, however, I had remained
quietly in the blind for over an hour watching the swans when my
attention suddenly became fixed upon a coyote mousing along the lake
margin. He passed the swans in almost the identical manner as the bear
had done. More intent upon catching mice than birds, the attitude of the
birds was also practically the same as in the previous case.
