Firehole of the Upper Madison.....

and one really pissed off bull....

I awoke ready to hit the Yellowstone again and repeat the previous days performance in waders and boots; but as my mind works; I instead thumbed thru a magazine (while on the pot) and found an interesting article on the Firehole in West Yellowstone and well...you know the rest...


The above pics of course are NOT the Firehole or even the Madison, but of the Gallatin which runs along the near entire length of the roadway upriver from my home toward the western half of the park. Its a scenic drive I never get tired of in any season and though its full of big fish I was determined to seekout new water for the sheer thrill of doing something different.


I will say this part was tempting (the rivers hidden behind the bushes). Its a long serpintile stretch I've yet to explore, but have passed many a day going to-and-from hunting or fishing spots elsewhere. Its in the park (road winds a bit into Wyoming), but without a definitive gate-entrance its really just out there and open. Your required to have barbless hooks and a Park Fishing Pass (both I have); but for simple lack of time to fish all the water I want this year; I just put it on next years' list and stepped on the gas.


After a quick bite to eat in West Yellowstone and a stop into Blue Ribbon for some flies and advice; I was soon inside the park entering from the western side for the first time (and using my new Annual Pass; avoiding any wait in traffic).


As I've posted before, bison are common sites in Montana along the roadway, but they still deserve our respect and attention when we see them; especially when there's no garuntee they (now standing streamside) wont kill you with your back turned while landing a pretty 10" rainbow on a Millers white caddis imitation...

.........

Funny, with bison I'm aware of the dangers; but elk hand't previously worried me much...


"Ah, what a pretty elk, just standing out there getting a little sip of water..how cool..."

I'm sure that was the thought of the dozen other people standing beside me taking his picture. And several looked quite serious about it with monster zoom lenses and shutters ripping off frames; though most were using flash (which probably didn't help)..


Me I just stood there dripping wet after fishing a section along the way; stopping to take a few shots with my consumer Nikon and 70-300, not even changing out of my waders and felt bottom boots...which I would later regret..


The herd of roughly 20 seemed content to just do their thing; while letting us tourists do ours; but what we didn't factor in was it being peak rut..


Soon enough the 'sweet little bull drinking water' was one really agitated dude and he put on quite a show to prove it too...



He wasn't happy thats for sure and began pissing on humself and raking his antlers in the sand...


Still, the closer he got the better pictures I was getting so I didn't even think about budging...


"Wow look at that, he has sand on his face...'old sandy face' thats what we should call him.." I told the guy next to me (sounding like a dork probably, but I was excited to be getting such nice pictures I let my touristy-voice surface for a few minutes)...


I'm pretty sure when he started swishing his rack around violently I should have detected this was not the place to be, but somewhat stupid it never dawned on me what was to come....


"What a show!" I said aloud...


"Awesome..!!"


I was shooting roughly 5 frames per second to get this sequence and I'm not sure but I think he could probably hear it we were so close...


"%#@*"


"Dude.."


At this point I zoomed-out and this put him at under 30 yards..I also finally lifted my face from my camera for the first time in over a minute and noticed I was all alone. Everyone around me had by now evaporated into their cars and no one bothered to suggest I do the same..

"Bastards!"


This is the best picture I took and its quite amazing as I was running behind a blue minivan at the time and holding the camera out, not even looking thru the viewfinder....



Unbeknownst to me a cow had slipped across the street behind me and was standing no less than 10 steps when he made his charge... Whether he mistook me for another elk (I am kinda tall and fat); I'll never know, but his intentions were clear and he won this draw by taking his gal away, before I even laid eyes on her.


Once his girls were safe; he finally seemed content.


Though just in case I "didnt get the message" he was kind enough to tell me one last time: ...I was too close for comfort, and its his' domain I'm in now...!?

...

And so I went on...'the Firehole' being the original destination.


No shortage of elk here either, though this area wasn't really the Firehole either ( a mile short of the junction and true head of the Madison); it did provide some nice 10 to 12" fish and the hatch was pretty insane.



Destination reached; the Firehole....


An otherworldly place to wet a line...geothermal gases bubbling up all around, several buffalo keeping an equally watchful eye, and a full moon overhead to illuminate the rising heads of a hundred hungry trout.

...All of it, including the elk close-encounter, provided a nice ending to another perfect day in Montana. And to think I almost just went and fished below the highway on the Yellowstone again...


Moe

The Yellowstone River.....

...In all its colorful splendor...


Carters Bridge

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Emigrant

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Some dudes coming off the river..

...


Point of Rocks

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Mallards Landing

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Livingston, for a bite to eat..

...


Saqaguea Park (I'm sure thats spelt wrong)?

...


My destination thru town was to cross the river at 9th street bridge and find the islands under the interstate..(found them)...

...


Even Montana has a few graffitti artists it appears...

...


As the sun set I put the camera away and busted out the Sage Z-Axis again and threw on a hopper dropper and caught two nice sized rainbow right off the bat.

"Hot damn!"

Thats a great spot to fish, but not entirely allowed I dont think; as its signage leading in said for:'residents only' (to cross the bridge); but oh well. I also caught several white fish; as they're spawing right now and very agressive.

It was such a nice way to spend my day off...so beautiful, peaceful and relaxing; I intend to do the same tomorrow.

Cant wait!


Moe

Bulls are tending cows now...

... as the big group seems to have split up a bit...

This is good news actually; not so much for pictures but better for hunting. My hope is a few elk head back toward the public-areas I've pretty well scouted by now; and I might see one before gun openner with bow in-hand...

When I stopped to checkout the area they've congregated in the past two weeks all I saw were three bulls and a few cows (above); no sign or sound of the massive herd from just days before.

...
About a mile up the road I spied a tan hide moving thru the brushy hillside; so slowed to see what it was..?


..Two cows and a spike calf were feeding into the openning and right behind them was this guy.

He didn't stick around long, and even ran the young spike off; before tending his cows corralling them back deeper into the forest and out of sight.

Still, at this location it puts them less than two miles from public-access and moving in the right direction..
It's purely wishful thinking they might keep going and stumble back into public lands; though that's about the only strategy I have right now.

...

I'm off for the next two days, but with temps in the 80's here in Bozeman; I'm more likely to go fishing on the Yellowstone than hunting in the Bridgers, but still intend to stop up there one of the evenings to see what I see...

Check back; I'm sure I'll have more pics up by Wednesday..


Moe
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New Country....chasing after big bucks this time...

Headed up to check out some old whitetail haunts from last year and saw quite a few nice ones...


While I intended to simply try and put a doe in the freezer; once there I realised I'd mistakenly purchased a doe tag from another district. Being ethical and lawabiding I decided to do the right thing and not fling any arrows at any doe till I got that straightened out. Kinda absurd really, not just me driving an hour to kill a doe when there's a half dozen in the pasture every morning, but not being able to shoot one here was a bit ridiculous too; since I saw well over 200 doe's in all.



This is the Sheilds River bottom and I figure the doe-to-buck ratio must be around 40 to 1. While this little guy was all alone, most of the bucks I saw were travelling in bachelor herds still and tough to get close too.


Had I snagged an antelope permit for this region these would have been fair-game and a tag would have been definately punched; considering I was very close with bow in hand at the time they were taken. Both the antelope and myself were surprised to find ourselves in such close proximity that I barely got off a frame. They didn't stick around long enough for another one though once they realised what I was and what I was doing there.


These two were on a BMA I have hunted before, but were not the caliber I moved to Montana for so I didn't even get out and sign in. They were with three more smaller bucks and all very nervous when I pulled to a stop to take their picture.


The colors were fantasic, even though the light wasn't. It was bit overcast and cool around 50 all afternoon. Perfect for deer hunting, but I just wasn't into it for some reason. I'd slept most of the day, not used to working five days a week, and even after having Monday off I was still dragging ass and not too intent on killing anything but time.


That is until I spied this guy and his friends!!! The one in front had me freaking out at how to circle on him in an open field and not be detected..?? Though they all were on a private piece, they couldn;t have been a few hundred yards from the public stretch I'd signed-in on at the time.


....It'd be near impossible, but was worth a try...


..As expected it was a bust, couldn't get within 400 yards. Still I have these pics as incentive to try again next week ...when I get another 'day off'.


Before I'd stopped to hunt I'd also spotted some promising grounds for taking the girls up after birds. I waved to a few local ranchers and even told a lady on an ATV where she could find four of her stray cows. I did all this so I could then go back next week and ask for permission to hunt their land. It probably wont work and they'll forget they ever saw me, but at least it was worth a shot.


It wasn't a total bust since I wasn't at work and got to drive back home thru Montana...

Moe