Dusk in the Mountains

Hi again, everyone! Here's another of what will probably be too many elk images Jenaya, Josiah and I share with you over the coming months! 

My son, Josiah, and I decided to check this area in Jasper National Park one last time before heading east in search of a good bull at the end of the day. We walked up to this small ridge and didn't find an elk, so we started to head back to the truck to head out when this beautiful bull stepped out of the forest. What followed was a race to burn through our memory cards as this guy put on a veritable show for us. We swapped lenses, camera bodies, angles, tripods, releases, you name it. Eventually he bedded down and dusk moved to twilight and we just sat in the field together and soaked in the experience as he listened to other bulls calling in the distance and invariably responded. Quite the evening, to say the least.

This frame came from the latter part of the evening and probably my 5th or 6th angle (I ended up photographing him from angles covering over 180 degrees of sweep!). I had just switched my 500mm with Josiah for the 300mm when he heard a bugle in the forest behind us and zeroed in on it, giving me this fantastic look and expression. 

Happy to receive comments, critiques and suggestions!

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Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR
ISO 3200
1/8sec @ f/3.2
+0.7EV
mounted on FEISOL Elite CT-3372 Tripod with Acratech GV2 ballhead and Wimberley Sidekick
electronic cable release

EDIT: Just posted a horizontal version of a similar shot here. Would love your input as to which you think is the stronger of the two and why! Thanks!