Another season come and gone for us here in MT...except for those after some late season opps.   It was a year of extremes, new places, fun with friends, and by the end of it all, a freezer full of meat.  

I got to hunt quite a lot, and as usual had a lot of neat encounters with wildlife.  We are blessed in this state to witness such diversity and natural beauty and splendor in our wild places....which many times, are just outside our doors.  A couple neat encounters come to mind this year.  One was second guessing a large mountain lion that was hanging around my deer area, and scaring everything away.  I did'nt mind, as I had a tag, but couldn't seem to run into him!  

I ran into a young bull moose one afternoon just under the stand I was going to hunt...not too many of these guys running around anymore, thanks to wolves.   We use to have bunches of them, now it's quite rare to see one.  Still...I was glad he ran off, as I did'nt want to run into him while going into the stand in the morning dark....

Saw a couple bald eagles lock talons above my head while on stand, and pirouette down to just above treetop where they separated and flew off.  Not breeding season, but it's the first time I've witness they doing that.  Pretty cool.

I stalked into, and missed, the biggest pronghorn buck I'd ever shot at...dang it!  Oh well, found a great new spot to chase these guys.

I killed the muley buck, the second to the last evening of the season...first one I've killed in over 20 years, and the first with a selfbow.  I couldn't put together a good opportunity at any of the bruiser whitetails I'd been chasing, and when this guy "rattled" in and lingered a bit too long in my shooting lane, I figured it would be fun to take him home.  IT WAS!   He is a three year old with a goofy rack, and a HUGE body!  

Kory killed his buck before the rut really kicked in, and afterwards had two great opportunities at the big guys....(for his memories).  Ain't that the way?!

Anyway...here is a photo essay of things this year.  Thanks to those who asked earlier....and sorry for being so late, but things seemed to take awhile this year.  That's okay with me.  

Tim Roberts came by a few times, to chase lopes and deer.  

   

Sounds like it's been a very rewarding year up in montana! Thanks for sharing!

I love this thread each year...thank you

         
Thanks for sharing.

Now I'm having a heckuva time getting photobucket to work...!!!!

I'll add more pics soon....

You sure live in a beautiful place Mark!!
Thanks for sharing some of your photos and fun!
Hopefully, this season has provided you with some material (i.e. written words) that you can submit for the pages of TBH Magazine.

 As always, outstanding........  

Let's try this again....

QuoteOriginally posted by kestimator:
You sure live in a beautiful place Mark!!
Thanks for sharing some of your photos and fun!
Hopefully, this season has provided you with some material (i.e. written words) that you can submit for the pages of TBH Magazine.

Yep yep    
Thanks for the peek through your window!!

Lived in Kalispel for a couple of years and there are times I realy miss it........ like when I look at your pics  

Great pics, thanks for sharring!

This is a friend of Kory's..."Cheese" we call him.  This is his first ever deer with anything.  He's a bowhunter now!

That pretty much sums it up for us so far!  Thanks for looking guys...

Congrats, Mark! Thanks for sharing it with us.  

I'm still struggling with sizing these pics on photobucket, so mods, be patient.  

Anybody else having problems with them?  Seems like the "old" photobucket sure worked better than the "new" one.

Congrats on your freezers full. Great pics, thanks for sharing.