Pics and more pics...

[Tradewind]

Looking festive there,Harley :hump:

 

[noharleyyet]

..where Christmas is sort of a big deal.

https://flic.kr/p/RiUqLo https://www.flickr.com/photos/152360342@N02/
https://flic.kr/p/2c45Rcz https://www.flickr.com/photos/152360342@N02/

 

[NC2CO]

Utah

 

[BrentD]

You definitely get into it NoHarley, and you have more snow that we do in Iowa. Man, I would like some white.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Excuse the crappy phone pic....

 

[BrentD]

Whatchya hunting for in that sort of emptiness. Looks like cool country (pun intended), but not much cover from my way of thinking. Sharptails?

 

[psycho]

What happens when your gone hunting for a while.

 

[mtmiller]

Yesterday fun

 

[el unit]

Great picture of the lab and rooster, miller.

 

[BrentD]

Yes! That is a fantastic picture.

 

[madtom]

In this photo lies my mule deer buck from this October. Photo taken from my shooting position.

 

[Hummer]

Rosy-Finches!

Today we have a new yard bird, a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. It's a species we've never seen on our mountain property before, probably because we're in dense spruce-fir forest. They surely fly over from time to time, but just don't stop here because Rosy-Finches are birds of open areas. They nest on rocky cliffs along the top of the Continental Divide and feed on insects and seeds on the tundra and on snow fields. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches summer range is from Idaho to the Brooks Range in Alaska, and they winter in Colorado.

On October 14, we had another new yard bird, a Brown-capped Rosy-Finch. Very similar to the Gray-crowned, Brown-capped are almost exclusive to Colorado. They'll often be seen together in winter flocks along with Gray-crowned and Black Rosy-Finches. I think one reason we're seeing more of these tundra birds (like a Horned Lark two winters ago), is that we've gradually opened the forest around our cabin by cutting big trees for fire mitigation.



Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch:





Brown-capped Rosy-Finch:

 

[Hummer]

Two other tundra birds that have visited the feeders around our yard are the Horned Lark, and the Harris's Sparrow. The Horned Lark is considered the most numerous and widespread bird species in Colorado, nesting in open areas from the short grass prairie to the tundra. The Harris's Sparrow is the largest North American sparrow. It nests in the far north and winters in the lower 48.

 

[FAIR CHASE]

Jerky smoking weekend here, 46 lbs total and 5 flavors (marinated for 24-36 hrs). In the smoker for around 7 hrs total, smoke (hickory pellets) added at 90 min for around 60-90 minutes then drop temp from 170 to 160 for the remaining 4ish hrs. I also rotate racks a few times. Place all pieces in gallon ziploc bags for a couple days to allow moisture content to equalize between pieces then vacuum seal into small portions.

Pic taken at around the two hour mark .............

 

[Hunting Wife]

Whatchya hunting for in that sort of emptiness. Looks like cool country (pun intended), but not much cover from my way of thinking. Sharptails?

Actually, coyotes that day. Sharpies are few and far between in those parts, even when numbers are good.

 

[onpoint]

MTTW, are you the guy that sits in his suv while running the pit bulls down that road??

 

[BigHornRam]

A few trail cam pics from 2018. I think the last one is a rare western Montana unicorn.

 

[1_pointer]

Squirrel(s)!
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr

 

[fishing4sanity]

The last couple of days of elk season, the elk successfully defended their hide-n-seek championship.

 

[TheJason]