Poking About Beaverhead County the Past Couple Days...

...yielded a few keeper photos. An all day tour out Blacktail, over the Clover Divide, on to Lakeview (Red Rock Lakes NWR headquarters) and then out to the highway at Monida provided us a pretty impressive bird list (for us, admittedly no expert birders by a long shot). All told we checked-off 40 for sure species while giving it our best shot to ID many others (mostly small sparrow-like birds) that just would not hold still long enough...oh well, good practice anyways...  High on Taylor Mountain we spotted two goats making their way across the shear cliffs...always a highlight for us even though no way to get even a lousy photo...

Grizz claw marks on this aspen tree in Bean Crick (noted hangout)...no, not smokin' but plenty fresh enough to get our attention...

Pair mule deer bucks gamboling about the Matador haystacks got the tour off to a fine start....

An-tee-lopes, this bunch all does and fawns, are almost cliche in the Blacktails...

...As are mule deer, especially does with fat, healthy fawns in tow...

...Sort of sad to see the once sagging roof of this old landmark barn at Monida finally give up the ghost...But as the man often noted..."to all things there must be a beginning and an end"...like ashes to ashes, dust to dust...or somethin' like that, eh?

Good News On The Local Sage Grouse Front...

...I ran into our local wildlife biologist yesterday and as usual took the chance to quiz him a bit on the state of the local wildlife situation. First on my agenda of course were sage hens. His response was just what I wanted to hear: "They're doin' ok, more than holding their own. With what is shaping up as pretty good nesting conditions hopefully we'll see even better numbers come fall. Have you been out to the ?????? lek this spring? The other day so and so's group counted 39 males and another guy reported even more...mid 40s actually. That's pretty good. All the lek counts (males) with just a couple exceptions seem to be stable or up...not many negatives.

We then went on to discuss the seeming upturn in Hun numbers in the area. Like most agencies because Huns are introduced FWP does not officially monitor population trends. But off the record most biologists have an opinion of what's happening in their areas...especially those who are bird hunters. More good news as he felt as I do Hun numbers are on the upswing. We both marveled at their tenacity and how Huns perhaps more than any other gamebirds seem to adapt quite well to a wide variety of habitats...especially surprising to both of us is how high you sometimes find coveys. And as I've ranted many times those coveys hang out really high...like above 8000 feet apparently live up there year around...Nifty birds and then some.

More good news for REAL hunters is the newly instituted elk and mule deer rules for some of the most overrun hunting districts in the area should eventually help alleviate the thundering hoard of road warriors who of late annually descend on southwest's best districts. To hunt bulls for example now requires applying for and drawing a permit...the draw is automatic but once drawn you can only hunt bulls in that district. Same for the mule deer districts...While "it'll take time to get the word out" the thinking is eventually we will be able to alleviate the chaos of recent seasons.

A word about the photo: Due to the intense backlight created by the rising sun directly behind the bird the photo came out of camera completely blown...as shot you could barely make out there was a grouse in the photo. But thanks to Photoshop, a decent (no not great) shot is just a couple mouse clicks away. First I resized the image for web viewing. Then I opened layers, clicked on adjustment layer levels, clicked to set the black, white and gray points, tweaked it just a little more by adjusting the sliders ever so slightly, clicked to flatten the image...and Voila! what would have been a sure toss in the garbage can with film now thanks to digital and the wonders of PS the image is saved. As I said not a great shot but dramatic as hell and ahem, ahem, I for one kind of dig it...