Elk Moons: Observations Of Wild Lives, Seasons, And Mountains By One Who Lived With Elk

This narrative follows one year in the lives of an adult Cow elk and her Bull Calf, a two-year-old cow and her female calf, and a five-year-old Bull. Observations in each season focus on one pair of mother and young, the other, both, or the bull, but none in any special order nor the same. This account begins in spring and ends in winter. Annual seasons documented by the appearance and movement of constellations, stars and the moon are partitioned into "Elk Moons", all relevant to annual physiological changes significant in the lives of "Wapiti", Rocky Mountain elk. For twenty-five years he worked as an Oregon Department Of Fish and Wildlife project leader and scientist in ecological research: first on free ranging Rocky Mountain Mule Deer in the High Desert Shrub Steppe and Ponderosa Pine and Western Juniper Forests of south central Oregon; second with Rocky Mountain Elk throughout the Mixed Conifer Forests in the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon. He made annual circuits of professional meetings and presented research at state, national and international forums. He has published results through agency reports and in national journal papers. Donavin discovered how to survive among fauna and flora from the Sonoran Desert to the peaks of the Santa Catalina Mountains in southern Arizona. His skills were adapted to Temperate Rain Forests hugging Puget Sound, Long Leaf Pine Savannah in Georgia, and Spruce-Muskeg Taiga of the Alaska Territory's interior. He began recording experiences and applied creative writing lessons to his narratives. He has been rewarded for poetry and prose published in local contests and for newsprint supplements.