On the road at 4:00 a.m. this morning, the weather report is good and hopes are high. We found a GHO on a wire, and cruised past Old Grey's hangout, but did not see her. Added a Norther Harrier to the list along with a couple of deer. Then it was Elk, 2 then 6 then 6 again, then our first two moose of the day, a cow and bull, antlers starting to show.
More moose then some Pine Crossbeaks and a pair of curious young Muley bucks sporting their fuzzy buttons. It was a little discouraging not finding any bears, but the wind was howling and the sky was threatening rain. Around a corner and we bumped into this young cow with her twin calves.
They were just great to watch.
We spent almost 20 minutes watching this threesome and mom was obviously very comfortable with us being nearby. We next ran into three Muley bucks, they were obviously larger and more mature than the earlier pair. They were under the bridge licking up minerals. This should help them develop that trophy style rack by the time the rut comes around in November.
They are still carrying their winter coat, but there are hints of a fresh coat of shorter, redder, hair evident in spots. We got distracted by a mess of Columbian ground Squirrels next, and just a little way down the road we found this very young bull moose with just his spikes starting to show.
He too is starting to lose his winter hair.
It was getting to be 10:30 by this time so we stopped and had a bite to eat. We took the opportunity to grab some more shots of the CGS's, we were really getting ticked off at the poor light and heavy winds. I can just imagine how great these guys would look in full sun!
Back on the road, and cruising along, we "spot" our firt pair of Mountain Sheep. This looks like a battle scared veteran.
With it being midday and poor weather, it took us nearly an hour before we found what was the bull moose with what looks like the best opportunity for a large rack for the fall, we will have to keep an eye out for this guy.
Just before heading into town to have lunch we found this fella, another battle scarred veteran of the mountain. His horns are chipped in several places from banging heads with his buddies.
On our way into town we ran into a bit of a "bear jam" as there was a young Grizzly in the woods. I had Jamie get up into the bed of the truck to see if he could grab a shot or two, there was no way that I was going to be able to get out and shoot. He managed a shot or two and I am expecting him to send me an image to post here.
So we tried out a new resturant and grabbed some gas for the afternoon cruise. Just out of town we spotted this Coyote.
Things slowed down considerably in the afternoon and it began to rain. So we parked the truck and grabbed 90 minutes of shut eye. The evening was looking pretty gloomy and the wind had not come down, so we headed off homeward bound. we were finding Mountain Bluebirds, elk, deer and raptors. Close to home we found this young man with his Handlebar sprouts hanging out.
We arrived home at 10:15 p.m. which made for a long day. I took about 700 shots and I believe Jamie pounded out about the same, so the images you see here are just a few of what we were able to find.
Have a GREAT week everyone.
Turbo
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