“Elk Bulls on the Move”
This painting is of three elk bulls on-the-move looking for the elk cow herd. It is autumn and the scent is in the air in Horseshoe Park in Rocky Mountain National Park. Their genes are urging them to propagate so that their genes will live on. For the last eleven months they have been buddies living together in a small herd. Soon, when they find the herd of elk cows, their genes will demand that they fight each other for the right to breed so that their genes will survive and live on through future generations. Seldom do I watch a bull elk without remembering another one that was so unusual.
Every year, my wife Corinne and I visit Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. When arriving in Estes Park, we see the bronze statue of a magnificent bull elk that was named Samson. It always reminds me of three things. First it brings back the memory of a magnificent, noble, and unusual creature. Second it reminds me of just how low and despicable a human is capable of being. Third, the statue is a symbol that the majority of us humans are decent and that we care. If you are ever in Estes Park, I hope that you can visit Samson’s statue and ponder his story.
Samson lived in the Y. M. C. A. and residential area several miles south of Estes Park in the Thompson River canyon area. He was an unusually large bull elk that liked to be around people. He generally didn’t stay with the other elk bulls during the off season. He easily could be found hanging around the Y. M. C. A. compound which has churches, meeting halls, dormitories, stables and many, many cabins located on several hundred acres.
I remember reading an article in the Estes Park newspaper. The article was written by a local woman telling about the back yard birthday party she had given for her young daughter and her friends. She mentioned that Samson had come to the party and stood at the edge of their backyard during the party to watch the little girls run and play games. Most everybody in the Estes Park community knew and loved this big friendly guy.
A young man, in his early twenties, killed Samson with a crossbow dart. Since Samson didn’t run from people, he could drive his pickup up to point blank range and shoot him with the dart from his crossbow. Samson, shot with the dart deep in his chest, began his death run with the young man in his pickup truck following. This caught the attention of some of those people living nearby. I suppose that he thought he would be a big man if he could kill a big elk. He thought he could sell the head and antlers in Denver for several hundred dollars. He was caught, tried, convicted, and sent to prison.
People in Estes Park that knew and loved Samson started a fund to have a bronze statue made of him. My wife and I gladly contributed to that fund. The funds were quickly raised and the statue of Samson was made. So in a way his genes live on, at least in some of our hearts and memories.
Cheers,
Acree
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