Coming out of YNP through Gardner at night in the fog I thought I saw all sorts of peeps on the road. Turns out it was a herd of legged Elk standing in the middle of the road.
Good thing I was going slow.
I have seen some bloated, dead elk on US 191 just north of the canyons south of Bozeman. The State Highway guys eventually picked them up, but I am sure glad that they were not my road kill.
The dead ones are probably hit by folks who don’t know the score in that area. I live southwest of there, we have a creek on the west side of the road and a hay field on the other. Speed limit says 65 but between dark and dawn you better be down to 45 so you can stop or slowdown for mule deer. Don’t like your car or want a hood adjustment just let’er fly.
They do get hit. I find that they’re not as dumb as deer though.
Maybe the only thing worse than hitting an elk (in North America)
is hitting a moose. Longer legs and heavier bodies. Oof!
And their population here is slowly but surely rising
since they were re-introduced a few decades ago.