Big Walleye captured

Here is my latest column on the EIN.  I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.eastidahonews.com/2015/11/huge-ririe-walleye-captured/

Bull Moose Battle

This morning before daylight I headed into the mountains.  I saw a couple of deer and a cow and calf moose in the early morning mist and light snow.  Then I saw a big bull moose standing behind a rock.  It was way too early to get good pictures, but sometimes you have to take what you can do.

 

Next another bull showed up, but it only had one antler as the other one appeared to be broken off.

 

The two of them head toward the cow and calf.

 

The third bull was a small one that stayed away from the larger bulls.

 

A fourth showed up with very long eye-guards with smaller palms than the first bull that I saw.

 The three large bulls were walking down the ridge when the one with long eye-guards poked the one in front of it in the butt with it antlers.

 

The fight was on as the one with one antler acting as a referee - until it located me climbing the opposite ridge to get better pictures of the battle.

 

The rattling of antlers for about 20 minutes as the two big bulls battled each other.

 

I finally noticed that the one antlered bull was headed down the ridge toward me - with his tongue hanging out.  I quickly headed back to the truck, keeping it between me and the bull.  I must have been less threatening as I did not have any antlers.

 

I missed the most of the rest of the fight as I was too low to see them clearly.

 

To get rid of the one-antlered bull, I banged on the hood of the truck and all the bulls headed over the ridge. 

 

I don't know if any hooked up with the cow, but it was one of the most exciting times I have had in the Wilds of Idaho even with the poor light conditions.

Fall at Camas

Many times when it is raining in Rexburg, the weather at Camas is great for observing wildlife.  Last Thursday that was the case.  Fall waterfowl migration is an exciting time to visit the national wildlife refuge.  Local birds and animals are getting ready for the winter that is just around the corner.

Both the Tundra and Trumpeter swans are migrating south and resting at Camas.

 

"Love thy neighbor" came to mind as I watched two pair of Tundra swans in a argument on Big Pond.

 

Canadas, sandhill cranes and thousands of ducks join the swans in the migration.

 

Sandhill cranes are flying out to the area stubble fields.

 

The surprise of the day was a three foot Gopher snake I ran into on a road closed to motor vehicles.

 

In the evening five whitetails came out of the bulrushes to get a drink.

 

A great way to spend an afternoon in the wilds of Idaho.

Bear encounters

Here is my weekly outdoor column about my encounters with bears.

http://www.eastidahonews.com/2015/10/close-encounters-of-the-bear-kind/