Marty’s photo of the day #4721: I captured this somewhat grainy image with one of my motion-sensing cameras. For 28 years, my wife and I have protected our 25 acres as the Essen Wildlife Refuge. In the grand scale of Montana, our acreage is hardly anything. Nevertheless, people like us are sometimes castigated as greedy because we have the nerve to forbid hunting on our land! Yes, people even write letters to the editor complaining about landowners who “shut out the hunters.” Well, fuck that! I moved to Montana to enjoy the wildlife, not assassinate it. At the Essen Wildlife Refuge, the animals seem to appreciate the island of safety we give them. As proof, we have moose, elk, foxes, coyotes, wolves, bear, and mountain lions in concentrations that are far above what you’ll find in much of the rest of Montana. And as this photograph shows—we even have dancing deer!
The Essen Wildlife Refuge
April 14, 2024Written by Marty Essen