It doesn't feel natural or desirable to start off on a walk by going downhill, but that was what we had to get used to, at our current campsite in eastern Oregon. But I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard some loud and strange animal noises.
Some You Tube videos clarified things: I was hearing the plaintive mating calls of rutting elks. They sounded so close! And every 30 seconds! I have never heard so many 'bugles' by elks in my life. The bugling is so high-pitched, it is hard to believe it comes from an 800 pound beast!
There were so many bugles going off in my neighborhood that it was almost funny. If an elk cow can't find a willing bull in this area, she just isn't trying very hard.
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In the inland Northwest, winter is the wet season, so May and early June is the season of maximum food.