79-year-old Ove Lindqvist, who lives in Byske in northern Sweden, was making his morning coffee on an autumn day last year when he looked out the window and saw a large male elk making its way towards the garden.
When the Swede went to have a look the elk disappeared, but it later returned, and this time it started mounting his replica elk, Aftonbladet reports.
Worried the animal would break his 20-year-old statue, the Swede attempted to scare it away, but it didn't work.
“I shouted at him 'get lost', but he didn't give a toss,” Lindqvist said, explaining that the elk only left once it was content.
As a tribute to the fleeting love in his garden, Lindqvist has started to make a new wooden statue – this time of an elk calf.
Elks are an unpredictable bunch during the mating season. So much so that drivers in the Nordic country have previously been warned to watch out for the lovesick animals while traversing the country's roads in the autumn.
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