Megafauna

John has a little pocket calendar. Each day he notes where we camped, what we did, and what wildlife we saw. It may include birds which are new to us, but mostly it is the large hoofed animals that get counted and noted. White-tail deer are common, but we get excited when we spot elk. Just yesterday we encountered a band of 11 crossing the road in front of us. We were getting dinner together the other day at our campsite, and Mom exclaims “Look, a moose!”, and sure enough there was one sauntering up the creek, just a hundred feet away. It gave us barely a glance.

The best so far, however, was the band of seven Mountain Sheep we spooked on a ridge hike near Challis Lakes in Idaho. We were hiking cross-country about mid-morning. John was leading, and he turns to me gesturing for me to come quickly. There they were, maybe 30 feet away, and when they sensed our presence they moved as a unit to the next ridge over. We could tell that was not where they wanted to be. We stood still, and when they decided that we were not a threat, they moved across to a rock promontory where they were hidden from our view. We had enough time to get it on video – click here to see it.

Posted using free wi-fi from the public library in Missoula, Montana.