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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 […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4685: Playing hide and seek with a big bull elk, last summer, on the Essen Wildlife Refuge.
Marty’s photo of the day #4660: Other than Yellowstone National Park, The Amazon Rainforest of Peru, or Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe, I’ve never experienced more consistent wildlife sightings than on the Essen Wildlife Refuge (the 25 acres Deb and I own and fiercely protect, surrounding our house). Rarely does a day goes by […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4499: I shot this elk photo yesterday morning on the Essen Wildlife Refuge. We get a lot of elk here, but because elk move to different locations depending on the season, seeing an elk on the refuge with a full rack is rare. This bull was with five to fifteen […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4480-4481: Deb’s and my house sits roughly in the middle of the 25-acre Essen Wildlife Refuge. A long gravel driveway comes in from the side, crosses in front of the house, and wraps around to our garage. A long raised porch runs across the front of our house, the porch […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4405: Here’s another elk photo from my motion-sensing camera. I always aim my camera low—in hopes of capturing wolf, fox, and mountain lion shots―so up-close elk have to be positioned just right, or the camera decapitates them. This is the tail end of the herd, which was following about 15 […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4404: During the past few weeks, we’ve had a ton of wildlife action at the Essen Wildlife Refuge, including moose, deer, wild turkeys, wild peacocks, nighthawks, foxes, and even a probable fisher. We also have a large herd of elk hanging around. This elk, photographed last week with my motion-sensing […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4094: “The Little Dog on the Prairie.” Okay, at 58 pounds, Nellie is more of a medium-to-large-sized-dog, but you get the point. I shot this photo during a long hike in the American Prairie Reserve, after Deb and I discovered that Nellie could successfully dodge all the cactus and gave […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4060-4064: Deer, elk, and wild turkeys galore! Here are just a few of the photos taken last week by the motion-sensing camera I have set up at the pond below our house, on the Essen Wildlife Refuge.
Marty’s photo of the day #4010: All the rain this year has made for spectacular waves of wildflowers at the Essen Wildlife Refuge, surrounding Deb’s and my house. A few weeks ago, the white flowers of the serviceberry bushes were everywhere; then they were replaced by the yellow flowers of arrowleaf balsamroots; now they are […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3956: Elk calf, waiting for mom to return. (Photographed in Yellowstone National Park)
Marty’s photo of the day #3921: I photographed this huge elk along the Athabasca River in Alberta, Canada.
Marty’s photo of the day #3809: My dog, Nellie, gets credit for this shot. Yesterday I took her outside for a pee break and she immediately sniffed the air and charged into the woods. I assumed it was just her five-times-daily inventory of trees containing squirrels, but then she barked and froze. Just ahead of […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3760: Stalking elk on the open prairie isn’t easy—especially when accompanied by a very active, medium-sized dog. The elk were at the beginning of their rut, when Deb, Nellie, and I visited the American Prairie Reserve earlier this month. A few times we even heard them bugling. These two bulls […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3136: You know that face people make when they eat a bad peanut? I think this elk just ate a bad piece of grass. (Photographed in Yellowstone National Park)
Marty’s photo of the day #2950: In the summer, I move my office out to the front porch. That means that while I work a wide variety of animals pass in front of me. On some days it could be a moose, a bear, a herd of elk, wild turkeys, or a peacock. But every […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2893: Early each morning I go on a bike ride (I live on a steep mountain hill, so it’s my daily workout), and each morning brings me a new sight. It could be a bear, a moose, a deer, an elk, or even a groundhog. The last few mornings, I’ve […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2715: Here’s another elk photo from the motion-sensing camera in my “front yard.” All ready for winter. She looks so fuzzy and warm!
Marty’s photo of the day #2713: Can you spot all five elk? Actually, there are six, but one is directly behind the elk on the far right. For the last two weeks, anywhere from 35 to 70 elk have been hanging out on the 25 acres we own, surrounding our house. Unfortunately because of all […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2699: Deb and I own 25 wooded acres, surrounding our house. Although we see animals every single day, we also miss a lot of them. Lately we’ve been seeing tons of fresh elk poo, but no elk. That changed this morning, when Deb spotted a herd of six or more […]
