Marty’s photo of the day #4888: A moose portrait. Photographed in the Essen Wildlife Refuge, Montana.
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Tag: moose
Martha the Moose
Marty’s photo of the day #4863: This is Martha the moose. She is a part-time resident of the Essen Wildlife Refuge (Montana).
Naptime For Baby Moose
Marty’s photo of the day #4823: Naptime for the baby moose. (Photographed on the Essen Wildlife Refuge in Montana)
Mother and Calf Moose
Last Week at the Essen Wildlife Refuge: Some of you may remember my story from back in April, when Deb and I were hiking on the far side of the refuge. Our dog, Nellie, came running towards us with a moose in hot pursuit! My wife and I raced for a cluster of trees, but […]
The Charging Moose
I’m typing this with an icepack duct taped to my shoulder. Deb and I have lived in the middle of th,e Essen Wildlife Refuge for 29 years, and it wasn’t until 2 years ago that a moose charged us (the one in this picture). At least that moose gave us enough notice to dive out […]
The Official Moose of the Essen Wildlife Refuge
Marty’s photo of the day #4661: This is Martha, the official moose of the Essen Wildlife Refuge. Today’s photo is from a few years back, but the first moose of the new year have arrived. So far, all I’ve seen are tracks in the snow. I’m always amazed at how moose can hang around the […]
Forgetting all but the moose
Marty’s photo of the day #4546: Living in red-state Montana can be frustrating, but moments like this, at the Essen Wildlife Refuge*, make me forget that I’m surrounded by people who voted for bigotry, hate, and lunacy. *The 25 acres surrounding my house that I protect for wildlife.
Shrub Trimmer
Marty’s photo of the day #4542: At the Essen Wildlife Refuge, we get the shrubs trimmed around our house for free.
Martha
Moose in the sun
Marty’s photo of the day #4743: Here’s a moose for your Monday. Photographed on the Essen Wildlife Refuge (Montana).
The Essen Wildlife Refuge
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 […]
The disappearing moose
Marty’s photo of the day #4704: This is another photo of our spring moose, Martha. She has been hanging out in the Essen Wildlife Refuge for a few weeks now. Unless I’m traveling, not a day goes by that I don’t walk at least part of the 25 forested acres Deb and I protect for […]
The Return of the Spring Moose
Marty’s photo of the day #4700: Here at the Essen Wildlife Refuge—the 25 acres at the edge of the mountains in Montana that Deb and I protect from hunters, loggers, and four-wheelers—we have always had a consistent population of moose. Sometimes we only see their scat and tracks; other times we will see them in-person […]
First moose of 2024
Marty’s photo of the day #4683: Yesterday Deb (wife), Nellie (dog), and I were on our evening walk, following the border of the Essen Wildlife Refuge. Nine out of ten times, Nellie will see wildlife before either Deb or I do, but she was off in a different direction when I spotted this big moose […]
Naptime for a baby moose
Marty’s photo of the day #4581: Naptime for a baby moose. (Photographed several years ago on the Essen Wildlife Refuge, Bitterroot Valley, Montana)
Is she a fan?
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 […]
Four-wheeler devastation
Marty’s photo of the day #4473: Today I have some photojournalism. I shot this picture last week, looking down from a mountain in a remote area of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. If you look closely, you will see the gravel road and then a bunch of 4-wheeler tracks going off-road in the foreground. I fucking […]
Aggressive momma ungulates
Marty’s photo of the day #4445: After 27 years of protecting our forested land as the Essen Wildlife Refuge, I really believe the animals have figured out that they are safer here than elsewhere. As proof, both the number of animals living around us and the variety of species are off-the-charts. Consequently, this summer’s theme […]
Nellie’s playpen
Marty’s photo of the day #4416: Deb and I built our house in the mountains of Montana back in 1996. Deb designed it, with a little input from me here and there. All these years later we still love our house, and even though it’s more than quadrupled in value, we wouldn’t sell it for […]
Putting out the fire
Marty’s photos of the day #4388-4389: Last week featured a couple of outdoor adventures for Deb, Nellie, and me. Early in the week we had to dodge a charging moose, and yesterday we put out a forest fire. One of the advantages of being “a local” in Montana is that even when the tourists arrive […]



















