Mountain Happiness

My friend came up with this saying:  "If you are lucky enough to be in the mountians; you are lucky enough."  I agree and since my wife wants me to get an elk to eat this winter, I have been spending evenings and weekends in the mountians.  All the elk have escaped me, but this week I have seen over 30 moose.  It is breeding time and there are usually numerous bulls with the cows.  Here is a cow with a lazy bull  sleeping behind her.

I have seen over 20 deer.  If you look close you can see four in this picture alone.

But the most thrilling were four more Great Grey owls and two Great-horned owls that I saw this week.  That makes nine Great Greys that I have seen in a week.  The most for me ever during a fall or winter.    Usually they work the old clear cuts that have some patches of grass for them to hunt rodents in.

Sorry for the sideways picture on this one, I just could not get it to straighten up.  But this one was successful  as it has a gopher in its right talons. 

What an exciting week.  Five partial or full days to spend in the wilds of Idaho.

Great Grey owls - five of them.

Yesterday I hit the jackpot - I observed five of them.  I flushed on out of some scattered pines.

Two others soon joined it.

They were working an area with scattered pines and aspen

I was finally able to sneak up behind several pines to get about 30 feet away from this one and get this shot through the trees.

It finally flew off with the other two.

As I was coming out of the mountains, I found a pair of them hunting the CRP ground about four miles from the other owls.  The light was bad but I was able to get this shot after it harvested a rodent.

Its mate continued to fly over me as it hunted the same area.

  By the way, I spent today looking for the five and I found all five of them again.

What a great way to end another wild day in Idaho.

Fishing Henrys again

With rain and snow predicted at Henrys Lake, I still ran up to get a few hours in.  We thought the storm would roll in about 11, but it rolled in about 9.

I got there early and had caught eight cutts before the sun started to come over the eastern skyline.  The clouds were rolling in, but a beautiful eastern sky made catching fish a little more enjoyable.

Before the weather chased me off, I was able to fish next to some fishing friends.  Dave from Utah who is "Utah's Greatest Olympic Diver"  (another story for another time) and Garth from Burley, Idaho, helped me laugh about some old experiences.  A very enjoyable few hours. 

The cutthroats were willing as I caught a total of 14 for the morning before I headed in to protect my camera from the rain and snow.

Another wild day in Idaho.

SkyWatch Friday - Harvest sunset.

Yesterday evening I decided to go scouting for elk.  I saw two elk, two Ruffed grouse, three wolves, a golden eagle and six moose.

Here are two dating moose.

Then they start kissing!!!!!

As I was driving out of the mountains, the sun was just setting.  The dust from the potato harvest along with the thin clouds in the sky, made for a wonderful sunset.

A great way to end a beautiful sunshine filled day in the wilds of Idaho.

Fishing with moose and coots.

Yesterday, my son-in-law, Jesse, and I went fishing on Henrys Lake.  We had a wonderful time and the full report can be found on http://billschiessfishing.blgspot.com/.  We got some spawning brook trout and saw some amazing wildlife.  Here is a male spawning brooktrout over five pounds that Jesse caught.

Canada geese flew over us several times.

Coots were working the shore and we saw seven moose along the shoreline.  Here is a young bull that was feeding in the willows as we were fishing.

Just another great day in the wilds of Idaho.

SkyWatch Friday - storms

When clouds start rolling in mid afternoon, you might just camp out in a scenic place to see what happens.

Storms started rolling in during the afternoon today with a few sprinkles.

Then as evening came, a break in the clouds allowed the sunlight to sneak through, coloring the western sky.  I stayed outside until all the light was gone.

Another verson:

The end of a really wild day in Idaho.

See other great sky pictures at:  http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Church Conference Sunday

I slept in until 6:30 today but was still greeted by the sun as it peeked over the Tetons.  The impurities in the air colored it a brilliant orange.

I decided to go for a drive out to Market Lake, but the duck season opened yesterday and there were more hunters than birds.  West of Market Lake and the freeway, I found a newly baled hay field with 19 hawks in it.  Swainson's, kestrels, Ferruginous and the Red-tails that have started moving down out of the mountains were all killing gophers and mice.

I watched as a pair of Swainson's were trying to teach two immatures how to harvest gophers.  Here one of the adults carries a gopher out in the field to drop it.

The other adult yells at the youngster (and me) to get going.

Both parents chase after the Red-tails that were trying to get it, but eventually the immature Swainson's gets it before one of the Red-tails comes back to the post.

Then the parents try to chase the other youngster off its perch to try to get it hunting, but like a lot of stubborn children, it is easier for mom and dad to provide.

Just another wild day in Idaho.  I make it back home by 10a.m. for the Conference broadcast.