Spend any time watching these massive beasts and you discover they really like to scratch themselves on things. In this case, a tree serves the purpose but I’ve seen them use fence posts, road markers and just about any other vertical object they wander by.
These massive animals were hunted to the brink of extinction in the 1700s and 1800s with as few as 750 reported by 1890. Their numbers have since rebounded with about 500,000 now living on public and private lands. This one was part of the herd at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.
