There is a sizable elk and bison preserve in the Land Between the Lakes, which we drove through after our legs called it quits on Saturday evening. We saw lovely animals, after a time or two around the circular drive (it was warm, and they were reluctant to emerge from the cool too early):
We also heard some haunting elk calls ring out as we settled into evening. Wow, those would give you a chill if you were camping at night!
Unfortunately, we also quite a lot of another species: Humans Acting Stupidly. Although the park rules are quite explicit about how to act in order not to harm or threaten the animals, we saw one man emerge from his car. 20 or so vehicles were strung out along the road as we watched an elk in a pool down below. This guy thought it would be a good idea to wade through the grass simply so that he could get close enough to take a picture on his phone. The elk tolerated this for a while, but as the man got closer, the elk turned and leaped quite ably out of the pond and up the hillside. 20 cars full of people lost out and one elk was startled simply because of one idiot. Other strange sightings include a woman running back to her car to get her camera after she got her son into the right pose on top of a rock. Yes: she left her small child alone in the middle of a wildlife preserve full of huge beasts. Sigh. So our kids were treated to wild animals and much lecturing from us about good and bad behavior. A win all around!
Erin
Alan Schmierer