About 10 minutes after I crossed a little river apparently called Nanaimo Creek,
going south from the Blackjack Ridge toward Mt. De Cosmos, I came to a place
with scattered remains of an elk's skeleton. It was situated on an old deer
trail. One could guess that this poor elk was walking on the
trail during a severe storm, and a large tree fell exactly onto both of its
antlers, pinned its head to the ground and most probably broke its neck.
Because its antlers are still there intact under that fallen tree, it had
probably happened this past winter when we had so many windstorms.
The little critters have not yet started to gnaw at the antlers, but all
the meat was completely eaten long time ago by larger scavengers who
also scattered parts of the skeleton around. Only antlers still attached to
the skull, bones and hooves have remained.
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