Living With The Elk; Whitetail Year Around

The two latest releases from Grunko Films find the tireless wildlife naturalist, host, and company president Bill Grunkemeyer once again capturing wildlife in the camera's lens up-close and acting naturally. In Living With the Elk, Grunkemeyer spends week during the fall in the Rocky Mountains where he follows an elk herd as they rut, play, and engage in macho fights for control of the cows. Along the way, viewers will also learn some excellent elk watching techniques, in addition to seeing some pretty neat sights. One of the best sequences has a pair of bulls squaring off to decide who's going to be playing follow the leader in the near future. First they waggle their antlers in each other's faces, then they engage in a tree-charging competition (to see who can break the most branches), and finally they just drop all pretenses and lock horns for a brief tete a tete.The other title, Whitetail Year Around, is of more general interest, since whitetail deer are found in 45 of the 48 states. Here, Grunkemeyer chronicles a year in the life of the whitetail, and offers a slew of suggestions and tips for successfully observing whitetail deer in the wild (our favorite method for watching is the "rock technique": you drop a rock on the ground and then model the rock's behavior for a while). Grunkemeyer also demonstrates how to watch deer from a blind, and shares a lot of general information about deer, ensuring that prospective wildlife enthusiast will have a good idea of what they're witnessing when they go on an outing.Libraries with larger nature video collections, and those with other Grunko releases will want to add these. Recommended. (Available from: Grunko Films, P.O. Box 6261, Sheridan, WY 82801; (800) 638-7779.)