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Spring is here, and that means the nighttime activity is wild at the Essen Wildlife Refuge in Montana. My motion-sensing cameras switch to infrared mode at night, hence the lack of color. The photos from this week: mountain lion, coyote, racoons, fox, deer, bigfoot.
People can spend a lifetime outdoors in Montana and never see a mountain lion. But as my motion-sensing camera proves, the mountain lion knows you are there. These photos are just a few minutes apart. In the second photo, the lion is looking exactly where Nellie and I are coming from. This was not unexpected. […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4668: I’ve often wished that I could “speak dog” to tell Nellie about the dangers of being queen of the Essen Wildlife Refuge. She never goes outside alone but still managed to tree this mountain lion last night. Fortunately, the mountain lion also agrees that Nellie is queen.
Every night, Deb and I take our dog, Nellie, on a walk around the perimeter of the Essen Wildlife Refuge. This evening, she was off-leash and started barking at something—and her bark was more protective than usual. I put her on a leash and investigated, expecting to find a moose or racoon. Instead, she had […]
Here’s the Story of Buddy, as told in my 6th book, Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer: Four years after that, Lucy was still going strong, albeit with the help of a daily pain pill and glucosamine tablet. That’s when a third dog, Buddy, adopted us. I had known Buddy […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4428: “Dad! What do I do with this thing? I can’t chase it, like a squirrel, but I can’t really play with it, like a dog, either.” In my book, Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer, I have a story about Buddy, a cantankerous Saint […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4251-4254: Many years ago, I started going on early morning bike rides to stay in shape. My ride is roughly four miles, which isn’t far, but since I do it on a steep mountain road, often in the snow, it does the job. I quite literally wore out the drive […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4243: Sometimes even sweet Nellie can be a bad girl. Because we live on 25 acres of protected mountain forest (affectionately called the Essen Wildlife Refuge), we have mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, porcupines, skunks, and other animals around that Nellie shouldn’t mess with. And the only safe way for her […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3025: Living in the forest at the edge of the mountains, surrounded by the Essen Wildlife Refuge, is mostly wonderful. It’s beautiful and we see so much wildlife. All the animals are protected here—I just wish they would understand that the Wildlife Refuge does not include the inside of our […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2506: Early each morning I go on a bike ride. Since it’s still dark, I’m always scanning for mountain lions, bears, and sasquatches in my path. Two days ago, I was heading down the narrow dirt road from my house and my bike light caught what appeared to be a […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2122: I think I’m going to have some impressive, albeit gross, photos to show you over the next few weeks. About a month ago, Deb and I were out hiking in our backyard (we have a very big backyard), when I found a dead deer that I’m pretty sure a […]
