YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Every day at sunrise finds me inside of Yellowstone and hoping for an exciting day of photography and wolf watching.

But, the unseasonably warm weather and melting snow have made things a little slow.  Except when love was in the air for the wolves – we did have some exciting days and a little close action, most of which I missed.  But, I got lucky a few times.  So, not much going on and I have been leaving early afternoon, heading towards home or a hike.

Today, after viewing Twin and three of his friends in the middle of Slough, howling for those girls that now seem to be done with him.  And, seeing 4 bald bull moose heads in Lamar Valley, a grizzly bear on an old carcass at Junction Lake (first in the Northern range for 2015!) and some Junction Buttes on a new carcass from Hell Roaring, I headed to Rescue Creek for a hike.

A little windy and some times cold and some times too warm, I wandered down the trail and made my way over to the river.  I came up on a rise right before the Yellowstone River and there was an eagle sitting in a tree, not far from me.  We both spooked.  The pronghorn were everywhere and it was tough to get past them without disturbing them some. Luckily they just move a little and continue grazing.  After the eagle flew off I noticed an immature and 3 more matures, all flying around.  No sign of a carcass anywhere but there were birds all about.  Possibly bison gut piles up near Jardine.

There were some rams I wanted to get to but that meant going right through the pronghorn so I decided to head east along the river.  By the time I spotted another group of rams they were too far down the hill to get the view shots that I wanted with my short lens and so elected to leave them alone.

I was way below where these rams were the day I took this photo, and on the other side of that big hill.  The river was a gorgeous color of blue and the willows, along with some of the trees looked stunning.  It is just such a treat to get off of the road and explore new places and even better when the hike is fairly easy, with cell coverage in case I fall down.  I am trying to build up my muscles, particularly my bad ankle, for harder hikes in the near future – want to make sure I am in shape and safe!

Life felt good – easy, light and happy – when I returned to the car and headed towards home.  Except that I decided to drive down Old Yellowstone Trail instead of 89, which is always a mistake during the bison killing days.  The Nez Perce won’t remove their gut piles from near the road – I am beginning to despise the rudeness of that tribe!  And, I can’t look at the corrals without thinking about the captured bison’s last moments.  It is terribly hard to live here for many reasons and the plight of the bison is one of them.  Myself and everyone else who cares has to take the good with the bad.  Not sure they balance out but it is a choice that we make.

So, that was my day but what I really want to write about is photographing the big horns.

It is true that I don’t spend much time with these animals if other things are going on.  Not because they aren’t beautiful and amusing but because you folks don’t seem to like them.  I just can’t get people interested in beautiful big horn shots!

But, in recent days I have taken what I consider to be some of the best big horn photos ever.  Not just because I took the images, but because they are downright gorgeous with layers of interest from the expressions on the big horn’s faces to the out of focus animals in the background.  Plus, the lighting on them is amazing.  I would prefer great photos of wolves and bears but these images of the big horns are ones that I could look at for a lifetime.

So, please take a second look at these magnificent animals.  I know that you see lots of photos of big horns but look into their eyes…you won’t be sorry.