This is the look of a Kodiak Brown Bear deep in concentration. What’s he doing under the water with its paws, you ask? Mom taught him that this little bend in the river up against the rocks is where the salmon like to pool up and rest before rushing further up the river. The salmon are tired here and by simply waiting, they will swim right up into your paws. You simply extend your five-inch claws and you have a meal. Bears have just two things on their mind, getting fat and going back to sleep is at the top of the list. The more calories you take in with little effort, puts fat on. This big old male appears to have learned the lesson well, coming up to eight hundred pounds in five years. He’s real good at lounging in the water and pulling up sushi, it’s just his style.

Kodiak Brown Bear to the right, Bear across the river and another down to the left and Hiram says, ” Cross Fox”. My lens swiveled around to see this gorgeous fox staring at us. It wanted to come up to the river where we were standing to partake in some of the spent salmon. He would ease up, stop, ease up, stop, slowly closing the distance. Why take the lens of Kodiak Brown Bears? Well, we have bears all the time, that’s why I’m here. We have Red Fox quite commonly, but this is the first Cross Fox we’ve had here. I had to photograph him, especially with those big eyes asking, “Can I come now?”

Spring fawns are a great source of entertainment around The Ranch. When they are first dropped, we search and search to find them. Figuring out which doe dropped a single and which dropped twins, a game of seeing whose predictions were right or wrong. Then once the wobbly little guys start to move around, getting to know them and they, getting to know us. And then there is the Maggie factor. Which fawns will take to Maggie and which will move off? This year, one fawn has taken to Maggie. Now, fall is just a click or two off and the fawns are starting to lose their spots. The times we see them with their moms are fewer and fewer. The fawns are on their own and getting into mischief, eating garden plants that are not for them. Just yesterday, they were watched to see the frolicking, now for the damage they cause. They grow so fast.