Bull elk in velvet

Late May antlers are still soft and growing, covered in the fuzzy “velvet” skin that supplies blood to the growing bone underneath — a full rack won’t harden and shed that covering until late summer. This bull kept his head down in the new grass long enough for a close look at the texture.

Why it matters

Elk antlers are among the fastest-growing bone tissue in the animal kingdom, capable of adding more than an inch a day at peak growth in early summer. The velvet is shed once the antlers fully calcify, usually by rubbing against trees, just before the fall rut.

Getting the shot

A teleconverter stacked onto the 180-600mm got tight enough to fill the frame with just the head and antlers rather than the whole animal — worth the light loss for the detail on the velvet texture.