Here is another instance where an hour of research can be more valuable than 5 days of aimlessly driving around looking for wildlife, part of the reason we decided to start this blog.  Nothing would make me happier than having someone thank me for info they found on my blog that helped them enjoy the local wildlife or experience the perfect sunrise.  For yesterday's adventure we must all thank Mike Jackson and his Best of the Tetons blog.  This blog in particular - Bighorns of Miller Butte caught my eye and showed me a road that I was completely unaware of and that is so close to town that I thought impossible to have any real wildlife.  I was wrong.  Look at the map below and see what I mean.

Miller Butte Heading into Jackson from Idaho, just stay on Broadway and instead of turning North towards the Tetons, stay straight past the park and the hospital and veer left when it ends onto the National Elk Refuge road, in less than 2 miles you will see the hills on the left, find a pullout and glass the hills.  Around Thanksgiving each year around 70 Bighorn settle in here for the Winter and provide ample viewing opportunities.  I wish I had known of this road before, I have lived in Eastern Idaho for nearly 20 years and never knew you could drive behind the Elk Refuge!  You are restricted to the road only, turnouts specifically, but this is probably for the best.  If you need to get closer for a better shot you should buy a longer lens rather than stress an animal, especially during the Winter months when unnecessary exertion could kill an animal.

The first bighorn appeared in the morning on top of the butte at the outer edge of my lens' reach so this was enjoyed mostly with binoculars but they exhibited some interesting rut-like behavior even in early January, we even watched some females and young males butting heads in a playful manner, very similar to my own family.

early visitors early visitors early visitors

Once the sun rose higher in the sky and the temperature warmed up to -20, the herd began to move down the hill to graze and the pictures got much better.

The youngsters were really fun to watch and we witnessed the largest ram in the group gently butting heads with this one on numerous occasions.

Home Economics class - Bighorn style

There is always time to hone your skills

They are beautiful animals to be sure

Some even have a sense of humor..

If you find yourself in Jackson during the late Fall / early Winter you simply need to take an hour and head out there.  We spent an hour in the morning watching them run around then 10 minutes later we were in Cafe Genevieve on Broadway having breakfast before heading back for another hour of bighorn fun.  If you are visiting the area and don't have a long lens, maybe just an iPhone or a point and shoot camera, THIS is the place you need to visit.   Not only are you close to town but Bighorn will come fairly close to you when foraging for food, sometimes within 100', well within range of your camera.

PHOTOGRAPHY NOTE:   Cold weather is tough on your gear in many ways.  Batteries HATE cold weather and performance suffers greatly so make sure you have spares and keep the spares warm!  Another tendency when shooting from the road is to sit in your heated vehicle with the lens resting on your half-lowered window.  This is normally my preferred method as I am the prototypical lazy person, but I noticed today that the "heat shimmer" from my truck with the engine running was really playing havoc with autofocus and image quality.  Because of this I was forced out of the warm confines of my vehicle to set up a tripod in the cold.  A small price to pay, to be sure, but this creates another issue that many are not aware of that you need to be careful with.  When your gear is out in the cold for extended periods it tends to get cold.  I know, duh! but stay with me.  When you bring this cold gear back into a warm building or vehicle your gear is at risk of condensation.  The moisture in a warm place has nowhere to go but is attracted to the coldest surface (e.g. glass of ice water inside forms condensation on the glass).  If this moisture accumulates inside your lens and/or your camera body you are in for trouble, oxidation, water spots that can never be reached and even fungus.  To avoid this, place your camera & lens into a large ziplock bag until it gets to room temperature, I keep silica gel packs in my ziplock bag as well to further remove moisture