Sunday, November 4

the distaff side of the Family

This group of Bighorn sheep were right on the west edge of town, 6 ewes and the big ram above. Two of the ewes are ear tagged and collared, I assume they are part of a Game, Fish and Parks study of some sort. This particular group moves down from slightly higher elevations in the fall, sometimes putting on a head butting performance in the middle of State Hwy 44.
A number of years ago my sister helped capture and ready a group of bighorns from the Georgetown herd in Colorado to bring diversity to the population in the Hills. This bunch may be descendants of those that she helped wrestle into a trailer for transplanting here. They come from the direction of where those were released and she tells me that they show very similar coat color and pattern to that Colorado group.
I am used to having white-tailed, mule deer and turkeys in the yard all the time, but seeing these guys was a treat, especially when I had the camera with the good telephoto lens with me!

1 comment:

Red said...

I always stop for sheep. There is one spot on the David Thompson highway (Alberta) where you can always see sheep.
Great that you had the camera.