How close is too close when it comes to elk-watching in Estes Park?

As a crowd of onlookers gathered on a bike path along a nine-hole golf course in Estes Park on a brisk morning in late September, Rodney Ford peered through a magnifying scope attached to a tripod. He was focused on a magnificent bull elk that was sitting in the shade of pine trees on the ninth hole beside the Big Thompson River, surrounded by three dozen females that the herd bull was anxious to impregnate.

Ford and his wife had driven from Shreveport, La., spending the night in a van parked nearby, to witness the annual drama of elk rutting season in one of Colorado’s favorite mountain towns.

“I drove 16 hours just for this right here,” drawled Ford, who was situated about 100 yards from the herd. “We come here every year. This is what we do. We travel in that van, me and my wife; we go all over the United States looking at wildlife.”

Fall was in the air, with scarcely a cloud in the sky, and fresh snow was visible high on the north face of Longs Peak. Four miles from the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, enthralled visitors listened for the herd bull to bugle, which he often did. They wondered if they would get to see him hook up with a female, or maybe defend his turf if another bull dared intrude into his domain.

Occasionally the bull would sit nearly nose-to-nose with one female or another, seemingly staring into their eyes.

“They’re just so amazing, big majestic animals,” Ford marveled. “They come here out of the mountains to rut every year. Look at this, one bull with 35 cows, one bull controlling this whole herd. They will do what he says. He can push them anywhere he wants to push them.”

Then Ford noticed another bull “lying down yonder,” about 70 yards from the herd. Too close for the boss of the herd.

“That bull is trying to get to this herd,” Ford said, “but (the herd bull) won’t let him.”

The herd bull began walking toward the would-be interloper, which quickly backed off, but two other bulls were hanging out over near the bike path. While the herd bull was focused on the first interloper, one of the bulls by the bike path thought he saw an opportunity and jumped a wooden pole fence to get onto the golf course. When the herd bull turned his attention that way and began approaching, the second interloper jumped back over the fence.

Such is the drama that unfolds at the town’s nine-hole course, which closes during rutting season, and in Rocky Mountain National Park every autumn. That same morning, another herd gathered about a mile east of the Beaver Meadows entrance to the park, attracting onlookers who pulled their cars onto the shoulder to snap pictures with phones and cameras. Still another herd gathered near the Moraine Park Campground.

There is more to the ritual of rutting season than watching elk, though. An amusing sideshow comes from watching the people who come to watch the elk. Some of them tempt fate, getting way too close despite warnings to keep their distance. A Colorado Parks and Wildlife sign posted at the bike path by the golf course makes that clear.

“Warning: Aggressive elk present,” the sign says. “Although they can appear and behave tamely, elk can be aggressive in some situations,” Ford said. “During the calving season (in spring, or during the rut), elk can be especially uncomfortable with the presence of humans.”