Thanksgiving Dinner, not on our table

There are the traditional Thanksgiving dinners and there are those dinners that the hunters in the family have influenced. Marty and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving in Boulder, Colorado with Jeff and his family and at this moment I am not aware of their plans nor do I plan to impose my tastes on them. However, as I toured the ranch over the last couple of days, I was able to capture live and on camera what may end up on someone's table. At least at this time these 3 creatures are not headed for a feast.

The first bird you typically do not find in Montana. They have been brought into the state to provide their importers with something new to hunt. As a result, many have escaped and are now starting their own breeding programs and are showing up in many new places. This rooster made it onto our property, was in a field with 6 horses, and was photographed next to the fence that surrounds our home.
As the hunting season comes to a close there will be many of these critters heading toward the dinner table. As I walked across our pastures, I spotted at least 25 or more of these guys. They must be aware of the season, because as they saw me sauntering along with my camera, they fled the property. But I fooled this one and a couple of her buddies. I got behind a hill, not sure where they had traveled to and as I arrived at the crest, one was taking a nap and two were leisurely grazing. When they saw me, they were very surprised and quickly headed across the nearby fence and field. I was very fortunate to capture her in mid air.
and finally another new face in the neighborhood. It was only a couple of years ago that I observed a few of these birds. Then there were more and now they are all over the place. Obviously they have matured and believe the Grove Creek is their home. I found this guy with at least 15 more at the southern end of our property. Today, he is not headed toward a Thanksgiving dinner table. If you knew his lifestyle, you would hope he didn't turn up at your festivites. They are wild, they fly to avoid other creatures and people, they rest in tree tops . . . . all of which means, they do not have those big plumb breasts that you are used to seeing and there is little if any white meat, as a result of their physical activities. On the other hand, he is a beautiful specimen.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

Hunting season with a camera

We left our ranch and traveled 40 miles to capture with a camera what others might being trying to capture with a gun or bow and arrow. Somehow the deer know when it's hunting season and they also know where it's off limits for the hunters. During our trip I counted at least 184 deer and never left the road. This picture was taken soon after we started the trip, 6 miles from our place.
We had not traveled too much further when we spotted this fellow. Based on the size of his rack, it is obvious that he has avoided the hunters with guns over the years. He was in a field not far from the road and I said, he should be hiding as we had been passed by a number of hunters as we made the loop. Then I noticed in was on a ranch that did not allow hunters. Don't go across the fence buddy or you could be in trouble.
We were near Beehive when we saw this guy. As I was finished taking his picture, I noticed across the road, a father and son had arrived on a four wheeler, and the son had taken his gun and was aiming at something. I looked around and saw these turkeys, perhaps he was in charge of getting the Thanksgiving dinner. He did shoot a couple times, his aim was not good as the entire flock of turkeys survived and the hunter and his son moved on.








and if you were a bird hunter, not far down the road was this flock of birds that decided not to stay around once I got out of the car to photograph them.

In addition to the wildlife and the hunters, we observed several hunters at a rifle range honing in their aim. What was surprising was there were at least 50 deer within a mile of where the rifle range was located. I didn't stay around to see if they would be aiming at larger targets. The drive was beautiful, a clear day, sunshine and the view of the mountains was great.
The final picture was this young deer who was resting in the sun in a neighbors yard. The only shots that could be fired at it was with a camera.
If you want to see a larger image of these pictures, just double click on them.