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?

Enough Grim Flood Stuff, eh? Let's Kick Back and Enjoy Some Good Stuff...

For a Change...

Rain, snow, sleet, hail no matter, you can bet ringneck roosters will be struttin their stuff come spring...

Pussy willows are a sure sign spring has sprung, livening up any visit stream-side no matter how high the water...

Wyoming ground squirrels must jump for joy amid all that fresh greenery after enduring yet another upper Big Hole nasty winter...

Gumbo evening primrose seems to further disprove the theory "sagebrush ain't nothin' but empty, lifeless, worthless wasteland..."

Believe it or not but many antelope bucks start laying out and defending breeding territories as early as March... for the uninitiated breeding usually peaks around mid-September.

Because of all the snow by the time we made it into the mountains many shootingstars  were already wilted...obviously this one we shot just a couple days ago beside Fish Trap Creek is a late bloomer...

Pronghorn (Antelope) Rut In Full Swing

There exists a dichotomy in hunting antelope with a stick and string...the easy way or the hard way. The easy way of course is to stake out a fence crossing or better yet a water hole, park your butt and wait for a good shot...an iron will and plenty patience is mostly all it takes to punch the tag. The flip side is to attempt to stalk, which for most of us means within 30 yards, closer is even better; no where near anything like easy still to me the challenge alone to say nothing of the adrenallin rush should you pull it off beats ambushing all to hell. But wait...there is an even better and way more exciting and fun way...that is to get yourself a decoy, wait until the rut starts (about mid September) and...well, if you haven't done it you are as they say missin' out on one of hunting's biggest thrills.  

Antelope bucks are territorial in the extreme. Beginning as early as March dominant bucks mark and defend huge territories against all comers as early as March. Over summer and as the rut nears these bucks gather large harems and gradually reduce their territories to something more manageable. Should an interloper so much as show himself on the horizon Mr. Buck quickly pushes the harem together and takes off putting the run on the would be rival...Here is where the fun begins should the "interloper"  be your decoy.

Sometimes the buck comes right in but more often a doe or does take off in the opposite direction which of course does not sit well with Mr. Buck...forgetting the interloper for now he runs the recalitrant does down, herds them back to the group...satisfied all is in order once again he turns attention to the rival...and this folks can and often does go on for several hours, sometimes all day...fun as hell, nothing like a sure thing...well, like I said if you ain't done it best try it...I guarantee you won't be disappointed unless of course punching a tag is more important than enjoying a fun and entertaining hunt...

Over the past couple weeks we have seen several really nice bucks not far out of town that have gathered some of the biggest harems we can recall...hint, hint.