Winter in the Mission Valley of Montana

We had a sunny day on Monday and I took a few picture I thought you might enjoy.

If you look carefully at the first shot there is a hawk sitting on the fence post.
The rest are shots looking E and N respectively with our cows and weaned calves in their pastures. We hope to ship our calves next week.

(quoted from post at 10:23:47 12/04/14) We had a sunny day on Monday and I took a few picture I thought you might enjoy.

If you look carefully at the first shot there is a hawk sitting on the fence post.
The rest are shots looking E and N respectively with our cows and weaned calves in their pastures. We hope to ship our calves next week.

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Beautiful scenery. I could see myself wondering around up on those mts.

Yeah, you and the grizzly bears! That scope of scenery has the highest griz density in the lower 48.

(quoted from post at 11:59:47 12/04/14) Yeah, you and the grizzly bears! That scope of scenery has the highest griz density in the lower 48.

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Okay, so how do you deal with them? Don't they take some of your cattle now and then? Have you been there all of your life?

They really aren"t a problem in our part of the valley. I"ve been here for 12 years and have had one on the place that I know of and have seen their scat under numerous apple trees. Most of the region to the east of our place is closed to human entry from July 1 to November 1 to preclude problems. There is a place about a 2 miles N of our place that is closed in the fall when numerous bears come down into an old apple orchard. My old neighbor lived here all is life and while they saw griz on their place he said they never ever lost a calf or had any damage from them save digging up a buried yearling steer occasionally.
North of us in the Ronan area they have a real problem with folks raising chickens. The bears come in and they have no deterrent (hot wire enclosures) and they complain when grizzlies eat their chickens.
Elsewhere in the state there are regular griz encounters and some of them are fatal. In the Seeley -Swan area, people tell me if you shoot a deer or an elk you have about an hour to get it cleaned and out because the griz associate a gunshot with at least a gut pile and a hunter was killed there awhile back defending his elk from a griz.
Griz are very numerous in MT and they are even going back out on the plains (where the evolved) due their increasing numbers. There are more bear/people encounters every year around the state and I said previously many of them do not go well for humans. I believe they should and will soon be delisted and managed here.

Pretty.

That "Big Sky" country is very Beautiful! Thanks for posting Jerry!

Lovely photos, especially the 1st one.

"The last best place!"

Hawks and cows and bears! Oh my!


Delisted or not, if I saw a bear, it would be a dead bear, quickly.

In my world, I am at the top of the food chain!

I've been told that bear meat tastes sweet. Anyone here that has eaten bear meat?

I have hunted and got black bear. I don't know if I would say the meat is sweet, it has it own taste. I know that I will only eat it if it is cooked on a grill where the fat can drip away from the meat. I tried it once in the frying pan and I couldn't eat it, but on the grill it is very good.

Bob

What the heck are those cows grazing on out there in that snowfield? This question comes from a southern boy who doesn't see much of that stuff.

That's some mighty lonesome looking country out there. Can you imagine being an old mountain man out there with nothing but what you can carry on a horse, bunking out somewhere under a tree and trying to stay warm......gives me the shivers just to think about it!!!!
Irv

Beautiful!!!

Beautiful country, even if it does look a little desolate. How far between you and you "next door neighbor"? I noticed the hawk on the fence post, looks like a nearly new fence, too. Thanks for the photos and the commentary on the bear.

That 3 in 1 poly wire fence is a great tool once you have them trained to it.

getting caught shootin" an ESA listed critter will get you some time wearing stripped pajama"s.

Actually my neighbors are pretty close, within a 1/4 mile. The fence was put up in April of this year.

We actually have quite a bit of grass under that 4-5 inches of dry snow and those calves are feeding on that as well as the hay that"s in a feeder ring.
The "lazy" cows in the N pasture have access to fresh water but many of them just eat the snow. It increases their maintenance energy requirements due to the energy it takes to melt the snow but so does walking to the corrals for a drink of water. I thing the cows have done the calculations and the minimum energy solution is to eat the snow!

(quoted from post at 11:01:57 12/05/14) We actually have quite a bit of grass under that 4-5 inches of dry snow and those calves are feeding on that as well as the hay that"s in a feeder ring.
The "lazy" cows in the N pasture have access to fresh water but many of them just eat the snow. It increases their maintenance energy requirements due to the energy it takes to melt the snow but so does walking to the corrals for a drink of water. I thing the cows have done the calculations and the minimum energy solution is to eat the snow!

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How many acres do you have to use? Private or BLM?

No doubt about it. I love that stuff.

We have 60 acres of irrigated ground and it"s all private. no BLM or USFS.