It pays to get up early if you want to catch the critters--especially the magical, mystical, mythical Montana Moose! On Saturday the wife and I hit the road to do little critter creeping with a primary goal of catching sight of a moose. Since moving to Montana nearly three years ago the wife had not seen a moose despite her best efforts. She followed up on every lead given her to catch the elusive moose with no luck. She had come to the conclusion that there were no moose in Montana--thus the magical, mystical, mythical designation. At 6:15AM the adventure began . . .
We drove up the West Fork Road near Red Lodge--a place notorious for moose sightings. It was not long before we encountered our first moose. The wife was stunned as we stopped and watched the critter from afar. It was a blast!
Moose Number 1
But the fun was only beginning . . . after watching the moose walk down the creek and out of sight we headed onward up the road until it became dirt. There standing on the side of the road was Moose Number Two--this was one big moose. The moose couldn't have been more than fifty yards from the truck. This enabled the wife to get a good CLOSE look at the moose.
Moose Number 2
Moose Number 2
The fun was not over yet. On down the road towards the trail head and dead end we encounter a young moose that we happened to disturb from a nap. This moose was not a happy camper and did not stick around like the other two did for pictures. I was lucky enough to get one good picture of this one. At this point the wife was amazed at how fast the moose could move.
Moose Number 3
To say the least, the wife was pretty much in seventh heaven having finally gotten to see her first moose--times three. She hit the jackpot with a Moose Trinity. Now she wants to get up every day and go moosing! But getting up early also allows one to see a lot of other neat critters. Besides the moose we saw a marmot and a beaver. Then this morning, in our backyard bird feeder, I got to add a new bird to my photograph collection. This black, white, orange bird was quite colorful. Turns out it was a Black-headed Grosbeak.
Black-headed Grosbeak
Black-headed Grosbeak
It was a wonderful weekend at the ol' homestead. Seeing the Trinity of Moose, catching a Black-headed Grosbeak, celebrating the number two son's birthday with family, and enjoying the joy of sharing something special with the wife--you can't beat it with a stick! But, I am still on the prowl for this critter:
If you see this critter anywhere please let me know. In the meantime I will keep my eyes on the horizon for the elusive "Beer"!
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