Thanks all for the great words....it means a lot that you like the pics.   I know I live in a pretty picturesque place, and am lucky to be able to hunt here.   Like a lot of folks' places, "progress" is gobbling up a lot of great wildlife real-estate, so enjoy it while you can!

A couple backstories on the pics that I didn't have time to type up while posting and fighting with photobucket....

The "shot" photo is taken from a video, and is the actual shot of Kory killing the bear...and is about one hour after the previous pic with him in the stand and the buck below....

The moon was pretty spectacular this year...the first moon pic is from September's "super moon" rising in the Absorkee's, and the latter two including the one with the juniper branch, is of the moon setting in October - which I don't think was a "super" moon, but pretty cool nonetheless.  I have taken many pics of moon rises and sets, and this year I finally got a couple lucky, good ones.

The buck I killed was mid-October....first real mid-October buck I think I ever have taken.   I usually get one early or during the rut.  Kory and Cheese both killed their bucks the last weekend of "general" (gun) season after hunting very hard all year.   That's the way we all like to do it, isn't it???  Hunt hard all season and finally fill a tag at the last opportunity.   Of course their were a few lost and blown opportunities along the way, but "hey" that's hunting!  

Thanks again all.

Awesome, thanks for sharing!!!

Great photos. Thank you for sharing.

Awesome Mark... This is my favorite thread of the year! Thank you for posting.

Absolutely awesome , thanks for sharing !
how is the elk numbers in Montana theese years ?

Statewide, elk numbers are doing fine, perhaps even exceeding capacity levels in certain areas.  This is due to a great increase in large ranches being bought out by out-of-state parties that "harbor" elk herds during the hunting seasons.   Conversely, elk numbers in areas where wolves have been re-introduced took a big hit as a result, but seem to have stabilized some.  While some of these herds could have used some "thinning" IMO, the resulting "crash" from wolf reintroduction is pretty catastrophic to folks that depended on the economic benefits of being able to hunt these large migratory herds.   To be fair, I think wolves were just the straw that broke the camels back...there are lots of predators these days, and the stress on these elk herds has contributed to low calf-recruitment.  Again...my opinion.   While it may be "neat" to see wolves back in the ecosystem...it's also sad to see these great herds - the same ones that repopulated North American herds everywhere - be so greatly reduced.  It's not the same elk hunting I grew up with, around my home anyway.  But still, a lot of elk here.

You did indeed have a good season Mark. Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing and best of luck this year.

Great pictures! Both the landscapes and the animal pics are really nice. Yep, looks like you had a good year. Thanks for sharing.

Mark,

Those feathers are outstanding!  Are they Swift cut or something else's?

Fantastic pictures...

They are full length feathers that we burn to our own shape.  About 5 1/4" long, fletched, and the burn is a bit higher profile than most.  I've been using this same profile for many, many years now.

Very nice pictures and it was a good year.