Along the Timberline: Bighorn Sheep

This is part 2 of the last post "On the Ground". Just a collection of our late winter, spring, and summer water activities. Obviously, most will revolve around fishing.

If anyonce can make icefishing look beautiful, it's this little girl

Our buddy Jared with a slammer perch

Local Splake make for some awesome fish tacos

Springtime macky jigging

jigging splake on lower sunshine

My first Montana cat

We made a trip for paddle fish and cats. While hooking paddles, occasionally you'd run into these sturgeon

Sumemrtime catfishing on the Yellowstone. An awesome experience

Hook up!

The elusive yellowtail crappie

Hoyt caught his biggest smallie this summer. A dandy on a minnow

The baot has been awesome this summer and put to good use!

I promise there was a great big cutt in this picture right before it went back into the big drink, by accident. If you look close you could see it's blurred tail

Hunting for a Cajun boil

A look of confidence

My first fish hooked me big time on Fort Peck Lake, Montana

My first red drum

Yea, I didn't know what it was either when we first brought it in. They're called gold-eyes and their ferocious.

Bob with a Fort Peck walleye

Hunter with his first local walleye

Three generations of fishermen

Yellowstone cut on a #8 hopper pattern

I contemplated the idea of being done writing on this blog, forever. I had a whole bag full of excuses. My biggest excuse was an outdated computer and issues uploading pictures onto the blog, and, of course, time. Emily came to the rescue and fixed the picture issue and well, "He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else" -Benjamin Franklin

It's been 8 months since the last blog post. I'll break out these past eight months into two posts: "On the Ground" and "In the Water"

So, without further adieu...ON THE GROUND.

A day on the slopes at Sleeping Giant. Hunter headed off to his first year of college -Go Pokes!- so he isn't in many of these pictures.

A dying bull elk on the ice of the North Fork after being chased by wolves

Rio after a successful hunt wearing the blood of others

Laynee and friends fall into a pile of fresh elk drops!

Shed hunting season fared well this year for both elk and deer. Here's a few pics from this spring:

Mac stole this antler from a friend. He said he knelt down 10' from shed to snap a pic when Mac flew into the picture and scooped it and brought it to me. Fair's fair...

Found lots of side by sides this year which makes it easy to pair them up!

First antler of the year for me

Biggest deer antler of the year. 92".

Now and then I get envious, especially when a buddy runs into a ram skull. 20 minutes later, I glassed another one and we both came out packing heavy!

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We got to go to the hunt expo in SLC and Laynee met some of the YouTube hunters we watch now and then. "HUSHIN"

Phelps Crew

North Fork Petrified wood

On a ridgeline stretching the legs with Mac

Finally, Hunter got to make a trip out with me this spring on a weekend. Always enjoy my time with this boy.

First elk shed of the season, but not the last

Spring hike with grandma and grandpa

Glassing up velvet

Bighorn Mtn Art

Pickin mtn flowers with this babe

Yellowstone Lake on our annivesary

Killing rocks a long ways out there

Taking Roo to the top of the mountain. One of my all-time favorite places

My momma

I wasn't sure it was entirely possible to climb this peak, until I saw the zig-zagging trail scaling the face. It's been a dream of since I was a kid.

Summer was full of Rodeos

Good food

Wild Flowers

family

exploring

...and dancing

Laynee watched a litter of cottontails grow in our backyard

We're watching 13 grizzly bears from this location. Quite the site

Two Beautys

Roo and I spent a Saturday morning watching Rio work some coyotes. Mornings like this is what I live for.

Made my annual trek into the high country with Mac. I think Mac is feeling his age as well as we are both 40ish.... We scaled the mountain and had a great time finding plenty of deer and adventure. I found some bucks to get excited about!