It’s the prime time of year for the bighorn sheep rut season. The weather was forecast to be obliging, so we loaded up the bikes and traveled to Waterton Canyon for another bighorn sheep adventure.
Unlike our previous ride up the canyon, the sheep weren’t hanging around near the entrance. We had to ride almost four miles before encountering our first animals. We spotted this big fellow high on the ridge to the north, and we had to act fast to capture an image, because he appeared to be on a mission.
Fortunately however, he stopped right in front of a picturesque cliff and looked back to see if we were going to join him on a treacherous climb high above the Platte River. He soon disappeared behind the mountain and we decided to begin a leisurely ride back downstream.
About a mile downstream we spotted a crowd of people gazing intently at the cliffs on the opposite side of the river. We had missed a visit by the main herd to the riverside, and by the time we arrived, they were already climbing the steep canyon wall.
Although we were a bit disappointed at having missed the closeup encounter, we did have the opportunity to watch the ewes and their lambs making their way up a the rugged rocks.
As luck would have it, some of the majestic beasts stopped on a rocky outcropping to pose for us.
Eventually all the animals including a ram or two, vanished behind the mountain and we continued our mountain bike ride back downstream. Here are a few more of my favorite pictures of the day, several of which can be found for sale as prints and gift items on my website!
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Wildlife Photography in the Colorado Rockies will help both novice and experienced photographers to shoot Rocky Mountain wildlife like a pro with these practical and easy to learn techniques. Amateurs and pros alike will appreciate this straight forward approach to finding and photographing wildlife in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Enjoy dozens of beautiful images of the large mammals, including bear, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, and mountain goats, and the steps taken to capture the images. Find and photograph raptors including bald eagles, hawks and falcons; water birds including great blue heron, pelicans, cormorants, egrets and fascinating avocets.
Steven W. Krull is a renowned photographer and author who has been photographing and writing of the beauty and wildlife of the Colorado Rocky Mountains for over two decades. Please visit his website at S.W. Krull Imaging to view his work, including thousands of prints for sale, stock images for commercial use, and his library of published books.
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Colorado Photographer / Author / Wildlife Advocate | Steven W. Krull 