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Tag Archives: elk

Elk on the Smylie

Golden December–
elk grazing hillsides laid bare
by drought, ground thirsting.

 
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Posted by on December 7, 2021 in Animals, Nature and Wildlife, Poetry

 

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Summer’s Almost Gone

horses crossing the road

 

It’s not quite time for winter to be coming on, but we’re starting to see yellow leaves and cool mornings. Here’s some photos from the last of our summer days.

bringing up the heifers

buck lambs

Eamon opening the gate

McCoy ready to ride

lambs and ewes near Little Red Park

 

Siobhan’s elk. She had a “depredation” tag for elk eating our alfalfa. That’s alfalfa all around!

 
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Posted by on September 1, 2021 in Animals, Cattle, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Horses

 

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Winter

Tres amigas

guard dog puppies in waiting

peewee lambs with guard dog

elk wintering near Battle Mountain

Pat and Eamon in the Routt Forest

Hampshire ewes at Powder Flat

 
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Posted by on January 10, 2021 in Cattle, Dogs, Family, Nature and Wildlife, Sheep

 

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Winter from the air

Almost sunset over Battle Mountain

Almost sunset over Battle Mountain

 

Today, we set out by air to look for missing heifers. The runway at the Dixon Airport hadn’t been plowed, but the pilot, Justin, did an amazing job of taking off and landing in quite a bit of snow in what looked to me like the Volkswagon Beetle of small airplanes. Unfortunately, in spite of several hours and lots of miles of searching, we did not find said heifers. We did see a lot of amazing country, elk, deer, antelope, wild horses, sheep (ours) and cattle belonging to our neighbors. If you see heifers with a JO brand, a red eartag and a white eartag, please let us know.

 

 

 

 

Elk hanging out on the Little Snake River, below the River Bridge

Elk hanging out on the Little Snake River, below the River Bridge

Wild horse at four o'clock (not in a Horse Management Area)

Wild horses at four o’clock (not in a Horse Management Area)

the Headquarters at Powder Flat

the Headquarters at Powder Flat

Here's the Chivington Place being "reclaimed" after O&G

Here’s the Chivington Place being “reclaimed” after O&G

Eamon, as we come into the snow-covered runway

Eamon, as we come into the snow-covered runway

Meanwhile, back on the Red Desert, Meghan and Pepe were digging out the corn pile!

Meanwhile, back on the Red Desert, Meghan and Pepe were digging out the corn pile!

 
 

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Critters on the Move

Winter sheep on the trail

Winter sheep on the trail

 

The bitter cold and deep snowfall during the past week has seen critters, wild and domestic, on the move. We decided to trail our yearling ewes and old ewes from the Chivington Place to Powder Flat , where they are closer to the haystack. Likewise, the deer, elk and antelope are all on the move. Here’s some of the migrations we saw today.

Yemy heading up the county road

Yemy heading up the county road

Yearling ewes and old ewes heading to Powder Flat

Yearling ewes and old ewes en route to Powder Flat

The guard dogs have their back

The guard dogs have their back

Yemy is keeping his adopted wild horse warm!

Yemy is keeping his adopted wild horse warm!

McCoy, Sadie and Cora moving the sheep

McCoy, Sadie and Cora moving the sheep

almost there

almost there

Feral (unadopted) wild horses on the feed line with our cows

Feral (unadopted) wild horses on the feed line with our cows

Wild horses with the cows

Wild horses with the cows

Elk near Sandman Mountain

Elk near Sandman Mountain

Buck deer west of Baggs

Buck deer west of Baggs

Does IN Baggs

Does IN Baggs

Some of several thousand antelope on the move

Some of several thousand antelope on the move

 

 

 
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Posted by on January 8, 2017 in Events

 

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Winter at Powder Wash

Powder Mountain

Powder Mountain

Not all of the sheep trail north to the Red Desert for the winter. The yearlings and the old ewes trail west to the Powder Wash country. All of Wyoming was buried in snow and chilled by sub-zero temperatures. I read that of the world’s ten lowest recorded temperatures, last week, five of them were in Wyoming. Our winter country in Powder Wash lies in both Colorado and Wyoming, but it was equally cold and snowy on both sides of the state line. The elk are on the move, and we are feeding extra hay to the sheep. Winter is well and truly here!

Elk on the move

Elk on the move

Eamon and Eamon and Edgar unrolling a bale

Eamon and
Eamon and Edgar unrolling a bale

Winter sustenance

Winter sustenance

 

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On the move–must be Almost Spring

 

 

The elk are checking out the high country.

The elk are checking out the high country.

 

 

The elk are starting to check out the feed which is opening up as the snow melts. These elk crossed the road just as we were heading home. They have wintered well, partly due to raiding our haystacks!

One bull appeared to be white, although not albino. Go figure.

Elk hanging out near the Little Cemetary.

Elk hanging out near the Little Cemetery.

The white elk

The white elk

 

 

 
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Posted by on March 24, 2016 in Animals, Nature and Wildlife

 

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more of Still Winter

Icicle and Battle Mountain

Icicle and Battle Mountain

I spoke too soon when I said the winter was just about right, and that we wouldn’t need more additional feed on the Red Desert. We have since had lots of snow and wind. In the mountains, where we live, we have had LOTS of snow. On the Red Desert, where most of the sheep are wintering, we’ve had snow and wind. This is usually a good combination, since the wind  opens up the underlying grasses, but this year we’ve had enough snow to cover up the feed.  At the Home Ranch, we’ve had enough snow that the tractors have been getting stuck, making it hard to feed the cows. Today, Eamon hauled extra feed to the ewes, and we’ve had folks in to unstick the tractors. All the animals have been fed, thanks to lots of time of effort on the part of family and valued employees.

Sheep Mountain

Sheep Mountain

Guard dog looking out for elk

Guard dog looking out for elk

feeding the Central Boiler

feeding the Central Boiler

You can see where the elk have been lovin' our haystack!

You can see where the elk have been lovin’ our haystack!

summer wagons under snow

summer wagons under snow

 

 

 
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Posted by on February 6, 2016 in Dogs, Events, Nature and Wildlife

 

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Ungulates Gathering

Today, Pat spotted deer, antelope, elk and cows all hanging out together near the River Bridge

Today, Pat spotted deer, antelope, elk and cows all hanging out together near the River Bridge

 
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Posted by on November 29, 2015 in Animals, Cattle, Nature and Wildlife

 

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Elk crossing, Siobhan running

Elk migrating

Elk migrating

Pat was on his way back from Siobhan’s track meet when he saw these migrating elk near Meeker, Colorado, on the White River.

Crossing the White River

Crossing the White River

Why do the elk cross the river?

Why do the elk cross the river?

Siobhan on the run

Siobhan on the run

Siobhan:  long jump

Siobhan: long jump

 

 

 
 

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