Failed hiking and the Bighorn Sheep jackpot

in OCD4 years ago

Good day Hive!

As I keep going back in time from my Kananaskis trip, This is the day the truck broke down. We were meeting a friend in Calgary at the other end of the park to do some hiking and decided to go for a bite to eat first. As soon as we left all the bells and whistles started going off, luckily we weren't in the mountains yet and neither was our friend. We slowly made it back to Turner Valley and reached our friend by phone just at the right time at the turn off to go either to our anticipated location, Upper Lake in Peter Lougheed Provincial park or Turner Valley and it's about the same distance either way so he just came to meet us in town instead. Because of that we decided to stay closer to town to explore the near-by parks in the foothills. Apparently there was mean looking clouds over our desired destination anyway, we didn't miss anything there, it did indeed storm.

bighorn.jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 185 mm, ISO 400

kananaskis.jpg

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 22 mm, ISO 110.

We ended up in Blue Rock Wildland Provincial Park, hoping to get a hike to a waterfall. We started on the trail and followed along the river than it just disappeared. We found an other... Lets go with...Less traveled trail. We climbed and climbed and suddenly the trail disappeared again in tall grass and we just kept going until we got to a field. After a quick inspection, we determined there definitely was some recent bear and elk activity and a large patch of flattened grass like something large had been laying there recently. We kept going across the field to the tree line to see if the trail picked back up but got halted by a canyon and what appeared to be a bear den in the distance. None of us wanted to become a bear snack, we decided it was best to make our way back to the trail. The air was thick, we could tell the rain was getting closer and getting caught in the rain bushwhacking would really suck when it's already cool, no more than 10 degrees C. I was still hurting from a long hike bushwhacking just a few days before plus I have a bad knee that only gives me trouble when there is a lot of humidity in the air, not quite interested in anything too hard.

bighorn sheep.jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 300 mm, ISO 400

bighorn sheep (1).jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 300 mm, ISO 360

This year brought on a late spring and with higher than average snowfall, there was still knee deep snow banks in June in higher altitudes and the rivers are flowing heavy from the late melt washing out all the trails near river and making un-bridged river crossing impossible to cross on foot. Given the trail/non-trail was just pissing us off more than anything, we were happy to get back to the river bank. On our way down is when we noticed the trail wash-out, not so good for hiking that day and a lot of bitter disappointments for all of us, seems like the day just kept poo-pooing our plans. We felt the rain for the last part of the trail and settled with, maybe it's just not our day for hiking, we got in the car and just drove in deeper into the mountains on another less traveled logging road into Sheep Valley Provincial Park just to explore.

bighorn sheep (2).jpg

Shot 1/400 sec. f/5.6 300 mm, ISO 400

ram (1).jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 280 mm, ISO 360

Bam! There it was, the highlight of our day...Finally! The universe kept blocking us because it was trying to bump us into something incredible. We came across a herd of Big Horn Sheep aka Ram with almost 20 heads counted of all sizes, babes, mommas, yearlings and some of the biggest horns we have seen yet...All just chillin on the hill about 20 to 30 feet from us. Of course we stopped and enjoyed the show, with my 300 mm lens, all I had to do is roll down the window and I had clear shots, this was nature gold. They didn't mind our presence and carried on their charades, given once again, the late spring and the fact that it was the second day the road was open, the sheep were still in the valley because there isn't any food yet higher up in the mountains.


Taken by @silvergingerman with iphone8.

The dominant male started to harass other males and trying to invite them to a challenge in a headbutting contest. They generally pick another male with similar sized horns. In the fall, it's a process that can take up to 20 hours and can get quite aggressive where they run at each other at up to 20 miles per hour and lock horns. We didn't quite get that show, it seemed on much more friendlier terms and they waited for the other's approval before going, maybe they also play that way because they were all doing it to each other with just one headbutt then moving on. We watched for at least an hour, maybe more, as the others were battling it out, an opportunist stepped in and went strait for the prize. @silvergingerman was trying to get a video of them butting heads but ended up with sheep male on male porn instead, I debated posting it but I'm kind of juvenile and though I have to post it because it's funny, someone else might find it funny too. If that stuff bothers you, then don't watch.


Video taken by @silvergingerman.

Bighorn sheep are the wild relatives to farm sheep and much bigger in size with the males weighting as much as 300 lbs. Each section of horns equals to 1 year of growth and can weight up to 30 lbs, that's the general method of age identification. They are born being able to climb sharp cliffs from the first day to get away from predators like bears or badgers and will stay with their mothers until they are 4 to 6 months old and the male lambs will join the male herd (the males and females generally stay in separate herds for most of the year). The lambs born early spring are more likely to survive into adulthood compared to their later born counterparts.

bighorn sheep (3).jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 195 mm, ISO 400

bighorn sheep (4).jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 180 mm, ISO 360

For a day that started off bad, it turned out really well, we were dedicated to just watching the amazing show nature just gave us for the rest of the afternoon or until they left. After some time, the moved into the road and blocked it completely, there wasn't much traffic anyway being on a logging road. Of course one douchebag came along in a rush and got real close with a small car and wouldn't stop honking at them. The sheep were having none of it, 3 of them got on their hind legs and started a mock charge at the vehicle , guy got the message and backed away a little, they they did another mock charge. What a show! @silvergingerman was ready to film the action if they were going to charge the car if he didn't top harassing them but it didn't escalate that far, they moved back up on the hill and let him pass. We were pretty excited of our late afternoon bonanza and all the behaviors we were able to observe.

bighorn sheep (5).jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 155 mm, ISO 280

bighorn sheep (6).jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 150 mm, ISO 320

To top it all off, we saw a dear and her little bambi on the way out of the park, the little one was like a small dog on stilts, just a few days old... Too cute. We may not have seen nice trails or scenery but the wildlife was a great payoff in the end but no it was time to get back to reality and asses the broken truck and how much will it cost? Good thing it turned out to be something stupid and easily fixable but it's still an old girl and problems will start adding up from here on out, this may have been her last trip to the Rockies with us.

deer (1).jpg

Shot 1/400 sec. f/5.6 280 mm, ISO 400

bambi.jpg

Shot 1/320 sec. f/5.6 280 mm, ISO 400

bambi (1).jpg

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 280 mm, ISO 4000

All images shot with Nikon D7000 and Nikor 70-300 mm lens.

Cheers my friends! X🐞X

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Such majestic creatures. Do you know who tags them and why?

They are just amazing, it was a lucky find off the beaten path.

The tags are installed by provincial conservation officers, a way to keep track of population since they seem to decline in other areas like the US(not there tho, healthy growing population), there were concern that they may become at risk after many were lost to a disease outbreak. They issue special lotteries for hunting tags in very limited numbers every year, it is a delicacy here but they have to wait until a certain age and the horns are a certain length. Inventory control and to help track their travel patterns. They tend to travel in herds so in National Park, some are outfitted with a tracking device.

I like that cute little deer at the end...Great photos all around though. Sent this one to @curangel. Nice post!

Ah thanks for the reference! The mini bambi was the cutest, they were close to the side of the road. Surprised they stuck around.

Great shots! so cute sheeps and deer 😊

Thank you! I felt blessed for the experience so close to them.

Great shots,great films and great text, as always.

Thank you Ronaldo! I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for stopping by! :)

How entertaining to watch during rutting season, big horns come into play attracting females.

Little bambi is so cute what a gorgeous sighting, sorry to hear your old faithful is getting long in the tooth and starting to give problems, hopefully one more trip!

!tip

She might have one more trip in her but not in the mountains! Time for a newer baby, with the winters we get and the remote places we go with it, it would be real inconvenient for it to let go in the middle on nowhere on a logging road.

It is pretty interesting to watch, it's loud when they smash horns like that, I know their heads are built for it but it makes my head hurt anyway the violence that they can get into. Nature is so precious! I agree bambi was the most precious, the youngest I have ever seen to date. Thanks for stopping by and your support :)

We always become reluctant to let go of older vehicles, definitely don't want to get stuck somewhere untoward! Eventually we see reason to giving into buying a new one for new adventures.

Seeing animals around the world always interesting learning from crazy to cuteness, have a great weekend.

I'm sure we will love the new one just as much and have an other decade of memories to make, as you say, hard to let go of one we had so much fun with for so many years. We have to travel quite a bit for work as well, reliability is a must for us all around.

Yes seeing and learning about animals all around the world is interesting indeed! Maybe one day we'll have them all recorded on Hive! Hope you had a great week-end!

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So, what kind of truck was it. It wasn't a Dodge Ram, was it? Lol Too bad about the guy in his car. There's always "that guy," isn't there? A nice double-horn imprint in his hood might have been a good lesson, though it's probably best he backed up. It certainly would have made a great video!

Aren't those 300mm lenses nice? I haven't had one for awhile, since i replaced it with a 70-200, but that longer range really helps a lot. Judging by the nice photos you got, it looks like you're putting it to good use.

Dodge!! What gives, I thought I was your friend. hehe. It's a 2008 Chevy Avalanche that went on a few cross country trips and many mountain trips along with other questionable areas we probably shouldn't have gone with it. Has over 300k km's on it so she's been around and a little beat up, still runs but not quite mountain reliable anymore. There is always that guy! We were ready but we didn't get the full show, would have been funny. I was cheering for the rams, we could have turned that into a betting sport. I wonder how he would have explained that to the insurance company.

I love that 300mm and hardly leave without it although 70-200 is nice too. I have my 18-200 that's my work horse but it's nice to have that extra range for wildlife. I still want to get a bigger one someday like a 500 or 600 mm, easier for birds and bears but I'm going to focus on getting my mirror-less camera first since the one I want has a lofty price. I could get it but I want to wait until the covid stuff settles because it disrupted my work unless I get a job soon and work until winter, then I will get it in the fall. I still have my income tax $$ I haven't cashed in yet ready for that.

The Dodge Ram's logo is literally one of those sheep... lol

I had a similiar situation to your buddy in the car awhile back. Some complete idiot got out of his car in the bison range and was sneaking up behind the herd with his celll phone, trying to be "cool" for his girlfriend. He was within 6 feet of them. Alas, I didn't get to film his demise.

Mirrorless is nice. I just (finally!) got an upgrade last month. After the 7D I used for nearly a decade, it's an incredible upgrade. I plan on getting the high-res stills-centric body that's in the works, when it comes out next year, and use the RP as aback-up and for low-light situations.

Which one are you planning on getting? Are you going to change up your lenses at the same time or use an adapter? It's a bit expensive, switching over!

The sheeps are cool but I prefer the logo in the field not on the truck! Some people really push their boundries on wildlife. I like to track bison but 6 feet is a bit close,I like to have time to hide if it goes wrong! That could have been quite a show because they gore and then pick up with the horns and swing the person around a bit, we had an attack at Elk Island a few years back. The guy lived but I bet he didn't sit right for quite some time after. When we were in Jasper last year there was a grizzly on the side of the road and an asian family with their little children got out of the car to take pictures with it, I was ready to film. I wish people were more respectful of wildlife when they come to the parks.

I bet after using the same camera for a decade is nice to get a new one. I hope you are liking it anyway, I bet it's much lighter to carry around, they look a little more compact then what I have. Mine is pretty much up there in the decade old range too. I want to get the Nikon Z7. It comes with a free adapter because they only have one lens for that mount. I will probably get the one lens available. I was hoping more would come out in the near future but it doesn't seem to be progressing very fast. It would be expensive for me to switch all my gear at once. The body and the one lens is $4700 Cad (our money is weak at the moment) but that would be my baby for the next decade or so and use my current one as the back-up instead of trading it in.

I've heard there are replacements coming out for the Z6 and Z7 soon-ish. They both look like nice cameras and the new models look even better. Why can't photography be less expensive, though? Lol

I will have to look into the new models, I did see the started z50 but I want something a bit more than that.

I know right! I wish it was cheaper. I noticed they have a few lenses coming out soon too but wow, after reviewing the prices on the lenses, I might hold off a bit. The 70-200mm is over 3k CAD, it's nuts and price gouging. Maybe I'll look at what canon has to offer before I make a decision or see if prices drop over time, I like Nikon tho just not their prices.

Canon is definitely not cheaper, in terms of the bodies. Except the RP, anyway, but the newer ones are very expensive. I seriously considered switching to Fujifilm, but needed full-frame. If Canon gets much more expensive, the Fuji medium-ish format will be cheaper.

Hello! I have been super inactive on Hive, but am getting a bit more involved as days go by. Hope your year is going ok. 2020 is crazy.

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