Today's nature pic

[Three Foot Johnson]

I stepped out for my morning walk and surprised about 80 elk at one of the stock tanks. I managed one quick pic before they took off. There are a whole bunch more off to the left in the trees and a few behind an outbuilding further to the left.

The snow is about gone, but we're under another winter storm watch through Friday. I'm on the very edge of it, but up to 24" of snow is predicted in some areas just to the east of me.

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

17 minutes ago, J Bar Binks, #47015 said:

I stepped out for my morning walk and surprised about 80 elk at one of the stock tanks. I managed one quick pic before they took off. There are a whole bunch more off to the left in the trees and a few behind an outbuilding further to the left.

The snow is about gone, but we're under another winter storm watch through Friday. I'm on the very edge of it, but up to 24" of snow is predicted in some areas just to the east of me.

 

J Bar:

     That is some pretty country up there for sure.

     The highest level of land around here is the landfill ash pile.

     Thanks for sharing, and be sure to post another picture showing us the same scene with 24" of snow on the ground.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

visited some high country once--could not believe how beautiful

 

then spent the night in Leadville and both Mrs. and I thought we were going to die from lack of O₂

 

Now just happy to see the pictures from that altitude 

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

I think my old 30-06 just got an itch, Mr. Binks. 

Beautiful country. Some great fishing over that way also.

[Three Foot Johnson]

1 hour ago, Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L said:

visited some high country once--could not believe how beautiful

 

then spent the night in Leadville and both Mrs. and I thought we were going to die from lack of O₂

 

Now just happy to see the pictures from that altitude 

According to the altimeter in my flying machine, I'm at 4260 ft. I have a little cabin up on the Great Divide southeast of Helena @ 6300 ft. Leadville is around 10,100 ft  The FAA "highly recommends" the use of supplemental oxygen/pressurization when flying above 10,000 ft, thirty minute limit w/o oxygen when flying between 12,500 and 14,000 ft, and mandated above 14,000 ft.

[Pat Riot]

Nice photo J Bar Binks. Pretty country.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

1 hour ago, J Bar Binks, #47015 said:

According to the altimeter in my flying machine, I'm at 4260 ft. I have a little cabin up on the Great Divide southeast of Helena @ 6300 ft. Leadville is around 10,100 ft  The FAA "highly recommends" the use of supplemental oxygen/pressurization when flying above 10,000 ft, thirty minute limit w/o oxygen when flying between 12,500 and 14,000 ft, and mandated above 14,000 ft.

 

motel didn't offer oxygen, but it would have come in handy

 

we both woke up around 2 a.m. and spent the rest of the night fish-flopping.  Did better once we were back in the car next morning

 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

1 hour ago, J Bar Binks, #47015 said:

According to the altimeter in my flying machine, I'm at 4260 ft. I have a little cabin up on the Great Divide southeast of Helena @ 6300 ft. Leadville is around 10,100 ft  The FAA "highly recommends" the use of supplemental oxygen/pressurization when flying above 10,000 ft, thirty minute limit w/o oxygen when flying between 12,500 and 14,000 ft, and mandated above 14,000 ft.

 

You have a flying machine that will top 10,000 ft MSL?

 

I once flew a Cessna 172 to that level. The last 2,000 ft took forever! This was a mission for the CAP as our plane had a repeater aboard. During the '93 floods I had a racetrack pattern to fly from Marshall, MO to Quincy, IL for the benefit of emergency folks on the ground. Basically, our plane became a 10,000 ft antenna.  The thing I remember was that it was 95 degrees on the ground, but at 10K, it was a pleasant 72 degrees!

[Three Foot Johnson]

Technically, it's a 2 seat experimental - a 2 seat ultralight trainer. I took it up to 8700 one time, and lemme tell ya, that's a bit scary in a tube & fabric airplane. IIRC, this was in July, and it was getting uncomfortably cool at that altitude.

 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

3 minutes ago, J Bar Binks, #47015 said:

Technically, it's a 2 seat experimental - a 2 seat ultralight trainer. I took it up to 8700 one time, and lemme tell ya, that's a bit scary in a tube & fabric airplane. IIRC, this was in July, and it was getting uncomfortably cool at that altitude.

 

Awesome!

 

One of our club members used to fly a Breezy. Do you sit between some fabric panels, or out in the open like this?

 

[Three Foot Johnson]

I did my flight training  in a Cessna 150 and a Piper Cherokee, but this is what I ended up with - can't really justify the cost and upkeep of a certified airplane.

[Three Foot Johnson]

On 4/11/2018 at 10:16 AM, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

 

J Bar:

     That is some pretty country up there for sure.

     The highest level of land around here is the landfill ash pile.

     Thanks for sharing, and be sure to post another picture showing us the same scene with 24" of snow on the ground.

I'm on the edge of this storm, so there sure isn't going to be any 24" right where I'm at. I'll probably see 4-6" before it's done, but it's really coming down heavy right now.

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

6 minutes ago, J Bar Binks, #47015 said:

I'm on the edge of this storm, so there sure isn't going to be any 24" right where I'm at. I'll probably see 4-6" before it's done, but it's really coming down heavy right now.

What happened to the grass? It is GONE!

[Three Foot Johnson]

The winter that keeps on giving.

[Brazos John]

We're pouring concrete today in Houston.

It's about 84 degrees and sunny.

But the other night, it was in the low 40's.

Sunny is nice, but snow is sure a lot prettier!

[Charlie Whiskers]

On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 3:05 PM, Brazos John said:

We're pouring concrete today in Houston.

It's about 84 degrees and sunny.

But the other night, it was in the low 40's.

Sunny is nice, but snow is sure a lot prettier!

 

  Snow is prettier if you're not the one having to shovel it. I live about 100 miles north of J Bar. We've had (112 inches) revise that total to 103.5 inches according to the NWS of snow this year SO FAR....it's trying for more right now...rain/snow mix. We ended up with about 4 or 5 more after last night. We were at 55-60 above for a few days and could actually see the brown grass for a change. So much for that if we get the 5-8 inches the weather guesser's are claiming we're suppose to get. Up to 17 inches in the mountains.

  The sun came out today...almost ALL of that white wet junk went away. FOR NOW.

[Wapaloosie73]

It snowed here a couple of days ago, but has receded..... except for old snow patches in shaded spots.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

6 hours ago, J Bar Binks, #47015 said:

I'm on the edge of this storm, so there sure isn't going to be any 24" right where I'm at. I'll probably see 4-6" before it's done, but it's really coming down heavy right now.

 

Gonna see some of that storm starting tomorrow night and thru Saturday in Grand Island, NE. A few days ago mild temps were forecast for the NE state championship. Now the weather guessers are predicting blizzardy stuff. They might be right, but then they are weather guessers so there credibility is low in my book. Anyways, I'm prepared for whatever happens.

 

Here's hoping we don't get as much "whatever" they're predicting.  

[Charlie Whiskers]

   Slim...weather guessers is the right term. I can't (other than a politician) think of anyone who can be wrong 90% of the time and still have a job.

 

  J Bar...pretty country where you are. We have tree rats and rabbits with an occasional mule deer run through town here. Had a Coyote 2 blocks from my house the other day. It was right in front of Buskadero's house taking it's sweet time touring the neighborhood.

[Three Foot Johnson]

I walked out the daylight basement one time after dark to get a block of wood for the fire, and a mulie doe & a couple fawns ran out of the carport and 'bout ran me down. Skeered the chit  outta me!

 

Had another injured doe living in a big open front machine shed for a few weeks and her fawn would just wander around the shed til he got hungry, then he'd go inside with her for awhile, then back wandering outside again. She had a huge gaping wound on one side of her neck, but it finally grew together enough that she felt safe leaving after about three weeks. There's a hydrant right at the shed, so I put a tub of water inside for her, and a bale of grass hay. Mountain lion or coyotes probably, maybe some of the locals dogs who "never leave the subdivision" (2 miles or so away) that pack up and go hunting livestock & wildlife when they're let out... I know of several that never left this place...

Possibly wolves - there have been confirmed sightings of collared wolves within 7 miles, and two unconfirmed/uncollared within half a mile. I know what a damn wolf looks like, but apparently it's not a wolf unless FWP says it is.

 

The snow has dang near quit, and I can vaguely see the lights of town 'bout 12 miles away. It's going to be a muddy mess for the next few days - I hope I can get out of here to shoot at Logan Saturday. Missed it last month due to being mudded in.

[Charlie Whiskers]

  We're suppose to shoot this weekend here too at Black Horse. The complex is more than likely going to be rubber boots and long johns weather. I may have to skip this one and hope for the one next month. MAYBE it'll top snowing by the middle of May.

  I liked it better when contacts with wolves fell under the unofficial SSS rule.  Shoot....Shovel....and Shut up. These aren't even the same "strain" of wolves that were here before. These are an Eastern Canadian strain...a much larger breed. The strain before were about the same size as a Coyote. The ones here now can weigh up to 200lbs +or - a few pounds.

[Three Foot Johnson]

Ya, these were big critters. Seen another one maybe 10 years ago on the way to shoot at Simms, somewhere along the 20 mile stretch between the Interstate and Bowman's corner.

 

Saturday at Logan is supposed to be pretty decent, considering. I thought I might drive up Sunday to Black Horse, but I'll check the weather before I decide.

[Sedalia Dave]

8 hours ago, J Bar Binks, #47015 said:

I walked out the daylight basement one time after dark to get a block of wood for the fire, and a mulie doe & a couple fawns ran out of the carport and 'bout ran me down. Skeered the chit  outta me!

 

Had another injured doe living in a big open front machine shed for a few weeks and her fawn would just wander around the shed til he got hungry, then he'd go inside with her for awhile, then back wandering outside again. She had a huge gaping wound on one side of her neck, but it finally grew together enough that she felt safe leaving after about three weeks. There's a hydrant right at the shed, so I put a tub of water inside for her, and a bale of grass hay. Mountain lion or coyotes probably, maybe some of the locals dogs who "never leave the subdivision" (2 miles or so away) that pack up and go hunting livestock & wildlife when they're let out... I know of several that never left this place...

Possibly wolves - there have been confirmed sightings of collared wolves within 7 miles, and two unconfirmed/uncollared within half a mile. I know what a damn wolf looks like, but apparently it's not a wolf unless FWP says it is.

 

The snow has dang near quit, and I can vaguely see the lights of town 'bout 12 miles away. It's going to be a muddy mess for the next few days - I hope I can get out of here to shoot at Logan Saturday. Missed it last month due to being mudded in.

 

Coyotes and wolves get the blame 99.99% lot of the crimes committed by Fluffy, Spot, Fido, Princess and others that "never leave the neighborhood.

[Charlie Whiskers]

4 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

Coyotes and wolves get the blame 99.99% lot of the crimes committed by Fluffy, Spot, Fido, Princess and others that "never leave the neighborhood.

 

  Ya think so SD? Is that why a lot of ranchers and farmers have hired help overseeing the calving. The "Fluffy's" you refer to make a German Shepard look like a toy poodle and they will pull a calf out of a cow giving berth. I know several people that are doing that guard job right now....it's calving season. They all have a rifle and a spot light in the pickup with them if a Wolf shows up. Add to those the Bears (Griz and Black) are coming out of hibernation and looking for munchies. Another calving threat.

  Coyotes do get blamed a lot because they're not shy about moving around or in a town or city. They tend to go after smaller critters. Rabbits, tree rats, cats and small dogs. The cats and dogs should be kept inside a fenced in yard or the house according to the leash laws, not out roaming around. We had a Coyote 2 blocks from me a few days ago. The city I live in has about 83,000 +or- a hundred or so. It's not a rural both city limit signs on the same post small town.

 

No offense intended SD if it sounded like it.

[Sedalia Dave]

2 hours ago, Charlie Whiskers said:

 

  Ya think so SD? Is that why a lot of ranchers and farmers have hired help overseeing the calving. The "Fluffy's" you refer to make a German Shepard look like a toy poodle and they will pull a calf out of a cow giving berth. I know several people that are doing that guard job right now....it's calving season. They all have a rifle and a spot light in the pickup with them if a Wolf shows up. Add to those the Bears (Griz and Black) are coming out of hibernation and looking for munchies. Another calving threat.

  Coyotes do get blamed a lot because they're not shy about moving around or in a town or city. They tend to go after smaller critters. Rabbits, tree rats, cats and small dogs. The cats and dogs should be kept inside a fenced in yard or the house according to the leash laws, not out roaming around. We had a Coyote 2 blocks from me a few days ago. The city I live in has about 83,000 +or- a hundred or so. It's not a rural both city limit signs on the same post small town.

 

No offense intended SD if it sounded like it.

 

None taken. 

I was raised on a farm in central Missouri and the single biggest issue we had was with packs of dogs. Every pack I encountered were a mix of feral dogs and house pets that were allowed to roam free. Every farmer I knew would shoot on site any dogs or cats caught chasing or preying on livestock. Most of the time the packs never actually ate what they were chasing, rather they chased it till it died of exhaustion or till they could bring it down. I personally have seen them chase everything from chickens to full grown cattle.

The problem with abandoned and feral cats were that they preyed heavily on quail, songbirds, and baby rabbits. 

 

As a kid, we always had a problem with people driving out to the country and dumping dog and cats. Those that survived the first winter were usually humanely dispatched when they became a nuisance because few people could afford expend the time and effort to catch and haul them back to the city and fewer still could afford to feed that many extra mouths. 

 

The real problems started with the big movement of city folks to the country back in the 70's. These back to nature urbanites did not understand that their cute and tail wagging dog that greeted them everyday when they came home from work more closely resembled Cujo when it was out roaming the countryside. In fact the only thing I was ever afraid of when out in the woods were packs of dogs. I always carried a rifle or shotgun when out traipsing the countryside. I was attacked while out hunting one time by a larger than usual pack that I surprised as they were tormenting a couple of calves. Fortunately I was well armed with a shotgun and two well placed shots changed the packs' mind rather quickly. Sad part of the encounter was that I knew the owners of the dogs I had to dispatch and had I encountered them in their owners yard I would have been greeted with a wagging tail and not bared teeth.

 

[Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663]

J Bar, they look delicious!

 

 

 

 

.

 

[Three Foot Johnson]

I used to try and be nice about the roaming dogs, but as more and more people moved out of town on their little 5 and 10 acre plots and just let their dogs run loose, it was a wasted effort.

"Hi, is this Al Jones?"

"Yes it is"

"Hi Al, this is (J Bar) - I live a couple miles south of you. Say, there was a brown dog with a white spot between his ears and a white tip on his tail here this morning running my calves around, and Johnny Diehl said it was yours"

"Yeah, I've got a dog like that, but he's right here in my back yard."

"Yes sir, that was a couple hours ago. Could you possibly put him on a tether or a fenced kennel or something so he's not chasing stock?"

"Mr. Bar, if you didn't know, this is actually free range out here. If you don't want my dog on your property, it's up to you to fence him out."

"Actually, Mr. Jones, the free range boundary ends south of Diehl Road."

"No, it goes all the way to the lake."

"I've been here for going on 63 years, and no, it doesn't. Mr. Jones, I can't have your dog up here chasing my calves and chewing on them."

"Well, that's a big part of why I built out here, so I don't have to keep my dogs penned up and can let them run."

"So, you're not going to keep them penned or tethered then...?"

"Hell no, like I said, that's part of why I built here."

"Well... OK then... click"

 

Horses are another big peeve - people think they can move out here on a little 10 acre plot, and put 3 or 4 horses on it. Forty acres MIGHT support ONE horse year round, if conditions are right. And it's for nothing more than so they can tell their friends, "Yeah, we've got horses." You see them riding a horse down the side of the highway a couple miles, then back up the other side, and that's about it. Every now and then, they'll go "explore", which means going through gates into the neighboring farms & ranches and riding aimlessly around. I once caught a gal riding through my back range, while we were shooting, and she said, "Oh, Mr. Potter said we could ride up here".

"Yeah, well Potters don't own this - do you even know where you are?"

"Oh yes they do, they own everything on this side of the road."

"Really? Even that house & buildings right through the trees down there?"

"I don't think so, no... they live a few miles up the creek."

"Yes, yes they do. When you get back there, maybe you should tell him someone built up here *on his place* about a hundred years ago. Did you see the big sign on the gate you came through back up the gulch there? The one between the two STOP signs that says, 'DANGER, YOU ARE ENTERING THE BACKRANGE OF AN ACTIVE SHOOTING AREA'?"

"Well, yes, but this is a lot shorter route back to my truck."

 

[Three Foot Johnson]

13 minutes ago, Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 said:

J Bar, they look delicious!

 

 

 

 

.

 

My dad used to say, "The worst beef I ever had was better than the best elk."

[Charlie Whiskers]

22 hours ago, J Bar Binks, #47015 said:

Ya, these were big critters. Seen another one maybe 10 years ago on the way to shoot at Simms, somewhere along the 20 mile stretch between the Interstate and Bowman's corner.

 

Saturday at Logan is supposed to be pretty decent, considering. I thought I might drive up Sunday to Black Horse, but I'll check the weather before I decide.

 

  J Bar, I just got an email from Judy. I guess with the sun we had all day today most of the snow has melted at the range, but it's kind of muddy in spots. I'm hoping by Sunday that'll have dried up so we won't need barn mucking rubber boots. Just stay on the gravel.