Hilgard Peak, Madison Mountain Range, Montana.
This morning dawned cold and mostly clear. 14 degrees is not what we’d like to see in mid-April but neither is fresh snow and a stiff north breeze.
The weather forecast calls for a sunny-warming trend to develop this weekend. The wildlife could use a break. Its been a long winter and spring seems like it might never arrive in Yellowstone.
As the sun poked over Hilgard Peaks in the Madison Mountain Range just to the east I collared our 3 shorthairs and walked them down the hill towards the river. Halfway there I saw a long tail dragging through the aspen grove attached to a very large cat, slinking away from us. I caught site of the big male mountain lion when it stopped and looked back over its shoulder at us. Thankfully the dogs did not see him or the chase might have begun, it's happened before.
The same cat has been with us on and off for several years patrolling our place taking whitetail deer and calf elk when he can. Some ask me whey we don’t get a lion hunting license and take him out. They feel he’s a danger to us and our dogs. My feeling is if he wanted to, he would have caused us harm before. I know it is the same animal. In the snow I can see his right foot is missing the outer toe. I first noticed this 4-5 years ago when he left his footprints in our back yard. I have a few photos of him (one below) when he took a cow elk that had been wounded by a hunters bullet a couple years ago. Jackie and I have long supported "People and Carnivores" a Bozeman, Mt organization that believes in complete predator/prey ecosystems. Read about their work and support them if you can.
The bluebirds are back in force. Yesterday we saw hundreds of them hunkered in the snow, wind and cold feeding on midges along the shoreline of the Madison. I remembered their houses we put up each spring on fenceposts and aspen snags near our open hay meadows.
Jackie and I spent a couple hours checking on the houses and securing several that had come unbuckled from the posts during the winter. We love their morning song that herald in spring finally arriving in the valley.
Thanks to all of you that tuned into Instagram last Monday evening to watch our hour long fly tying session sponsored by Umpqua Feather Merchants and Trout Unlimited. In case you missed it then you can still see it on Youtube (click below) and the Umpqua sites. Stay tuned here as we’ll be doing more in the future.
Buttercups, Mountain Kittentails and Glacier Lillys are due here in the next 2 weeks. Blue-winged olive mayflies (Baetis sp) will begin emerging then too. My camera is ready and so is my fly rod and a fresh set of dry flies. I will keep you posted with news from the Madison Valley and Yellowstone country. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you soon.