Above is a picture of one of the mountains as you head to western Montana. This is one where I have successfully hunted elk. This picture was taken in late summer, at around 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. Just another great reason to be glad there is another day before you, in Montana!
Below is a picture of an old run-down ranch field. Rusted windmill and field equipment. If you take the time and effort, enlarge the picture, you will see the name of the one-time owners painted on the tail section of the windmill.
Above is a picture of an area that has extremely mixed personal feelings! In the fields on the left (which are not viewable here) I have taken many whitetail deer. In was in this field that I had my first near-fatal heart attack while hunting one fall. I often go back to this "scene of the crime" and think to myself, "If I were to have died, where else would be better, and doing what else would have been more enjoyable?"
Below is another picture of that infamous field. On the left is the cookhouse, and on the right is the bunkhouse. Again, looks are deceiving ... even though these buildings look as if it has been hundreds of years since they were occupied, you'll notice the electric and phone lines running between the two! Behind the cookhouse is an old rusted-out propane tank and behind the bunkhouse, what else would you find, but the outhouse!
Not all of Montana is old and decaying (as my ex-mother-in-law saw it ...) I, on the other hand, see that part of Montana as nostalgic and historic. There is new life everywhere. All you have to do is look for it!
Below is part of a series of photos I took over a two year period.
While taking a nice walk behind where I live I came across "Buckie" and his sister. Yes, I shot them ... with my Nikon, not my Ruger!
The second picture is of "Buckie's" sister one night. They, as well as over 150 other deer come to my backyard every night during the hard winter for food. This night she got a little inquisitive and came up to my door. She did more than that, however, and since I had my back door open, in order to take pictures, she felt the warm air. Well, 70 degrees is much better than minus 35 degrees, even to a young yearling doe. She had her two front legs inside my dining room before she saw me. Whereupon she beat a hasty retreat, and thankfully in the correct direction!
The third picture is again "Buckie" and his sister, almost a year later. He has sprouted a scrawny set of antlers, but they made him proud, and evidently impressed his sister.
The final shot is of "Buckie", his sister, and their offspring! I was happy to see they had made it through another year without ending up on some table. But, Montana being what it is, I don't think he made it the third year ...
Was I ever wrong!
Here is Buckie a couple of years later, with a fine young Buckie and two possible grandkids!
Montana has more than deer ...
IT HAS ANTELOPE!
AND NOT JUST ONE ANTELOPE!!
BUT TONS OF ANTELOPE!!!
Oh, we have elk, also ...
While the deer and the antelope are playing, other critters, both with fur and with feathers, are kind of busy doing their things. From small and cuddly ...
... to large and not so cuddly. Here are a few more Montana residents.
Montana, as well as fur, has feathers ...
But some critters have neither fur nor feathers!
Montana has more than 4-legged critters
MONTANA HAS COWBOYS!
Both Big ...
And Small ...
AND MONTANA HAS INDIANS!
Both Big ...
And Small ...
But most of all. Montana has wide open spaces, great hunting, my Bronco and me,
