Our Wild Friends
Elk Creek Ranch has the great fortune to be located in the Shoshone National Forest, a large portion of which is designated wilderness, and next to Yellowstone National Park. The buffalo still "roam" and the antelope certainly "play." We are blessed with some wildlife sightings in the summer and many during the fall-winter-spring. Mountain sheep are among the most difficult to locate for large parts of the year as they stay in the highest reaches of the mountains. Cold and snow bring them down in the fall, and they show a surprising nonchalance about being sighted and watched. This group crossed over the road from Cooke City to Mammouth Hot Springs last spring.
The Irresistible Lop
Past readers of the newsletter will remember Lop, our favorite resident mule deer. She first visited two years ago and kindly pruned all of Susan's petunias. She has made herself increasingly unpopular with the ranch dogs; rather than running for the hills when the dogs approach, she turns around and chases them to the cabin door. She has done the same job on the wild turkeys where she kicks at them with her front legs in the battle for the cracked corn. This is the third year she has been a part of our fall life, and this time she brought her son with her. Given he is nibbling her ear, we are guessing he has not yet hit his rebellious stage.
Wiley Coyote
Most summers find a coyote family denned up near the ranch. The early-rising or light- sleeping ranchers are often serenaded in the early morning hours as the coyotes start their days. One day the summer before last, one of our ranch rides went out along Steamboat Mountain harangued by a long, sustained chorus of coyote yelps and barks. The den that year was on Steamboat, and either the parents were warning us away or the youngsters were just having fun. This particular coyote held his pose for a long moment; he was not camera-shy!
reams of a Feline Twofer
Appreciation for the wildlife is not limited to humans. Gabbana is a survivor of a winter outside on her own. Somehow she survived the weather extremes and the attentions of coyotes, bobcats, and other hunters. Now she appreciates the warmth and safety of the great indoors and dreams occasionally of just what she could do to those deer if only that pane of glass were not in the way!
