There are lots of large animals that are easily found in the Rocky Mountains (and the foothills). One of the most beautiful, and one of my personal favorites, is the Bighorn Sheep. These animals are usually very easy to find in the same places over and over again, and so I’ve been able to observe them many times.
I recently took a drive west of Calgary along a route that I had never taken before. In two different places along the highway (near Exshaw) I saw large herds of sheep shortly after passing warning signs for sheep in the area. It’s funny how often you can see warning signs for animals but then never actually see any of animals. That is definitely not the case with Bighorn Sheep!
Although there was one memorable time when I was gently reminded by a rather large sheep that they really are wild animals, they are generally very passive and aren’t very concerned by human interaction. These two herds almost completely ignored me and they barely bothered to glance up while continuing to eat their morning meal.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been seeing huge herds of deer lately. Not only are the herds large, but there are also lots of them. Deer are generally pretty skittish; they often take off running as soon as you even start to slow your vehicle down, and if you actually stop the car they are gone! Not lately though. I guess its a bit of herd mentality kicking in because it seems that as long as there are more than about 10 deer together, they don’t seem to mind posing for a few pictures before slowly wandering away.
Yesterday I was able to stop my truck and enjoy a few quiet minutes with two different large herds of at least 30 animals.
This large buck watched me for a little while, but he never bothered to walk away, even when the rest of his family left.
I’ve seen hundreds of deer in the fields every day around sunrise and sunset over the last couple of weeks. I often see deer on my daily commute but I’ve never seen such a high concentration before. I’m really not sure why there are so many around all of a sudden, but it’s been pretty exciting to watch!
These three checked me out very carefully before deciding they should leave.
This is a sampling of my recent animal images. The majority of these pictures are wild animals commonly found in Western Canada in the Rocky Mountains or the Prairies, while a few are from more exotic places.
