Fall is upon us, the best time of year, hunting season

Tanya and have spend the last two days cutting up deer, which will lead to numerous meals for our family over the next year.  Towards the end of our two day marathon meat cutting adventure, we were both tired  and simply just done. We at times wonder why we do this.  Why don't we just buy meat at the store like every one else?  Well I looked at our photos from our Halloween day deer hunt, and if I didn't already know, I got a quick reminder. I posted just a few of the pics to share. The story is as follows: 

Tanya, Dane, Kimber and I have the pleasure of hunting an exceptional piece of property outside of Cascade, about twenty five miles from Great Falls.  This ranch has incredible habitat, full of deer, pheasants, and a variety of other wildlife.  There is an abundance of water, and we know of no other place like it.  The ranch is about two square miles, and it truly a haven for wildlife.  Tanya, the kids and I have hunted on this property for the past four years.  We have a developed a great relationship with the landowner, and he enjoys having us come out with the kids. We enjoy sharing our adventures with the kids.  Rather than spending the day decorating the house for children dressed in costumes, looking for candy, we spent the day out there, and Dane and Kimber didn't complain once about missing out on the candy. Over the course of the day, we took several deer. The best moment of the day was seeing Tanya belly crawling out into the wheat field and taking a beautiful whitetail buck with a single shot at 270 yards.  The kids were watching and after making sure the deer was down, Dane ran to the deer, he will be quite a little hunter in the future.  

As the sun was setting we heard tundra swans calling, as well Canadian geese flying out to the fields to feed for the night. Rooster pheasants were cackling all around us, and deer were in sight.  It is a pleasure to share this with our family, It is a pleasure to harvest our own meat.  It is an privileged to hunt on such a great ranch.  This is why we live in Montana, this is why we hunt.    

This is a picture of an ermine, a weasel, they are brown in the summer and turn white in the winter.  I spotted him in the field, and squeaked at him.  He ran all the way to the truck looking for an easy meal.  

Dane sitting by a very old willow tree felled by a beaver on one of the ranch ponds.  

 A young whitetail feeding in one of the wheat fields near us

We don't see a lot of fox in Montana but due to the incredible habitat in the area there is a ton of food for the fox.  We watched this one chase pheasants by the road, and hide as the vehicles came by, a smart fox he was.  

Tanya's Deer tag is filled, now the work is upon us.  What a woman, what a killer, and good kids to boot. 

Tundra Swans feeding in the pond, as well as wigeon and coots, there were over twenty swans in the pond.  They are elegant birds, and quite large.  They have a six foot wing span, and probably weigh over twenty five pounds. The grey one on the left is juvenile, and he has his head in the bottom of the pond feeding.  These little ponds are important stop over points for the migrating birds on there journey South for the winter.  

As we were field dressing Tanya's deer, she said, honey, can we wait a minute.  I think we are going to have a great photo of the geese flying into the sunset.  Priceless. The one below was taken a few minutes earlier   Simply put, big sky country.