Valentine's Day, 2010, 8:30 AM, between Cell Phone Hill and Farabaugh Lane. It was cool. Here's how it went.
My wife and I were driving to the lodge so I could do some work. I had a few small chores to attend to that Sunday. I don't normally have duty at the lodge on Sundays this time of year but I had agreed to fill in for someone else and since it was Valentine's Day, my wife decided to ride along. We would continue our Valentine's Day date after work.
We had spotted some elk in Mullen Gulch and we spent a few minutes glassing them through the binoculars. Couldn't find the dropped antler bull in the herd that I talked about in the post Ice River, Wack Rack, Eagle Eyes and a RZR but there were a few young bulls in the herd. We counted 43 animals before we moved on.
Probably less than a mile from those elk, on our way up to the lodge, I spotted something out of the ordinary. Couldn't tell at first what it was, but I knew it wasn't part of that particular hill side. Stopped the car and put the binoculars on it. WOLF!
Big and gray and holding still trying it's best to be invisible. We were 300 yards away and it held still for a while but couldn't take the pressure. It made a run for the timber. We got to watch it for 15 seconds or so as it made it's way into the trees. It was pretty cool and the first wolf that Deb has ever seen in the wild. It was my second on Rock Creek property.
A story titled "Powell County wolf pack count now in" by Mark Eisenbeil in today's Silver State Post reminded me to post about our sighting. Here is a quote from Mark's story; "According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wolf Management Specialist Liz Bradley, there are an estimated minimum of six packs, representing 21-plus wolves. Bradley acknowledged that there are probably more wolves out there."
I didn't have enough camera with me to get a good photo of our sighted subject. You can barely make out a gray dot on a snow covered hill in my photo. You can however, find some good stuff on wolf identification at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks page entitled Recognizing A Gray Wolf .
Sharp Hooks and Tight Lines,
Ron
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Rack and RZR Follow Up plus Something's Bugging Me
Wack Rack Follow Up
Last week, I included a couple of photos of a young bull elk that had a dropped antler on his right side.
I called a few elk expert types from friends to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to get some additional info on the possible causes of that bull's rack plight. Most common cause-Broke the antler while it was in the velvet growth stage and it then sort of calcified in that position. If that is the case, it will shed the antler like they do every year and when it grows the replacement next season, it should be normal, unless the pedestal is damaged. If the pedestal is damaged or scarred, it could cause the antler to grow down and out instead of up and back every year.
It could also be a genetic deformation, in which case it will continue to grow in a similar fashion for the remainder of the animal's life. We'll have to wait and see.
Used RZR For Sale
I also posted about Randy Rupert letting us all know of the customized Polaris RZR for sale. At that time I thought the asking price was 11,500. Randy got in touch with me to share some additional information.
It is a 2008 model, with the extra equipment package running about $4,800 and the rig only has about 72 hours of run time on it. New asking price is $9,900. Sweet deal. Same thing brand new will be over $15,000.
Here are some additional pictures.
If you are interested, shoot me an email or call me at the lodge and I'll give you Randy's contact information.
Something's Bugging Me...
And it's called a Swkalla
The month of February has many fly fishermen thinking about the upcoming fishing season, including me.
I saw one fly shop posting about their day dreams of the Skwala hatch that should hit some regional rivers in mid-March or so and could last through May. The Skwala is a type of stone fly and while not as large as a Salmon Fly, it is a big fly, and the fishing can be exciting. Cross your fingers.
Sharp Hooks and Tight Lines,
Ron
Last week, I included a couple of photos of a young bull elk that had a dropped antler on his right side.
I called a few elk expert types from friends to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to get some additional info on the possible causes of that bull's rack plight. Most common cause-Broke the antler while it was in the velvet growth stage and it then sort of calcified in that position. If that is the case, it will shed the antler like they do every year and when it grows the replacement next season, it should be normal, unless the pedestal is damaged. If the pedestal is damaged or scarred, it could cause the antler to grow down and out instead of up and back every year.
It could also be a genetic deformation, in which case it will continue to grow in a similar fashion for the remainder of the animal's life. We'll have to wait and see.
Used RZR For Sale
I also posted about Randy Rupert letting us all know of the customized Polaris RZR for sale. At that time I thought the asking price was 11,500. Randy got in touch with me to share some additional information.
It is a 2008 model, with the extra equipment package running about $4,800 and the rig only has about 72 hours of run time on it. New asking price is $9,900. Sweet deal. Same thing brand new will be over $15,000.
Here are some additional pictures.
If you are interested, shoot me an email or call me at the lodge and I'll give you Randy's contact information.
Something's Bugging Me...
And it's called a Swkalla
The month of February has many fly fishermen thinking about the upcoming fishing season, including me.
I saw one fly shop posting about their day dreams of the Skwala hatch that should hit some regional rivers in mid-March or so and could last through May. The Skwala is a type of stone fly and while not as large as a Salmon Fly, it is a big fly, and the fishing can be exciting. Cross your fingers.
Sharp Hooks and Tight Lines,
Ron
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