Montana Outdoors: Spring migration heating up...

Clark Canyon is mostly open along the south shore and mouth of Red Rock River. Every piece of open water is more or less duck and goose city; swans, while not near as many, nonetheless are easy to find. Gale thinks this one we shot below the dam is a trumpeter but is just a bit too far to be sure...lack of big lens angst strikes again.

Mallards, teal, goldeneyes, mergansers and wigeon are most abundant; occupying a large part of all the open water and especially the river. Below the dam we saw our first big flock of mountain bluebirds since last fall. And more invasive starlings and european sparrows than seems healthy.

It seems not all that long ago goose hunters were crying the blues; sure ain't so these days. The ubiquitous Canadas are everywhere--on the water, in the stubble, in the air; nesting in the trees, in the great blue heron rookeries and in the grass. Many we saw yesterday were paired up but a lot more were still in gangs. With the warmer temperatures forecast this week no doubt more water will open up and make room for even more migrants...In spite of the recent snows hard to argue spring is indeed sprung...bring it on.

Montana Outdoors: Snow shots...

Biggest snow of the winter, all 5-6 inches of the white stuff, did make for a scenic backyard; with mid-week temps in the 50s won't be white long so I guess best thing is to enjoy while lasts...

Can't speak to all wirehairs but Kate loved snow, no matter how deep, no matter how cold, even the sight of it morphed her instantly to the "energized bunny." Annie, pictured here, is also very much the snow puppy...We took her out yesterday afternoon and she could hardly contain herself...bounding about at warp speed, leaping into the air coming down stiff legged, pounce, pounce, pounce, rolling, all four feet in the air and of course doing what we come to call "the wirehair thing"...rubbing whiskers too frenzied for words...you have to see it to believe.

 Bushes such buffalo berry with their many stems and limbs make for some intricate and interesting patterns...While I'm sure this one won't be the last and as I might have mentioned previously we sure did enjoy tramping bare ground all winter our high desert does not do well without adequate snowfall so...Bring it on...over and out...

Sage Hens Are Indeed Alive and Well After All...

(click to enlarge)

Witnessing scenes such as this, (here Annie's nailed 'em, Kate's backin' her up) are the main reason I hunt birds in general and sage hens in particular. As I have noted previously this fall sage hens, for us anyway, were tough--such that more often than not we failed to find even a single grouse. Worse in all our best spots there was little or no sign of their passing. In a typical season which runs from September 1 through November 1 the hunting starts off slow, hit or miss through much of September, then October rolls around and like flipping a switch the big grouse start to show up. Growing in numbers until the last two weeks of season it is not at all unusual to see 50 or more birds each day. Killing a limit often becomes too easy, so much so I take to shooting only when the dogs do a really good job. And then other days my heart really isn't in it. In that sort of frame of mind usually even if the dogs do good my shooting isn't so hot and...Like I said is all about the dogs anyway so what.

But with the sagebrush virtually empty all fall I fretted and fussed hoping nothing catastrophic happened. And thanks to the sage hen gods I can now report nothing did. Three weeks or so ago winter hit southwest Montana with a vengenance. Snow, bitter winds and cold (some days the high failed to top zero) and while it didn't happen overnight for the past week or so Voila! sage hens everywhere, at least everywhere they're supposed to be...Yesterday the Sisters found two bunches; one of about 12 or so and the other more like 35 or 40.

Pretty damn nifty, 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...