Wildlife Watching in Western Montana’s
Bitterroot Valley
BY Henry Silverio
Quiet. Hear that rustling through the trees? Look: three elk two cows and a yearling are chewing sage in the clearing through the pines. Its late spring and the snow is all but melted from the ridge tops. There is plenty of snow still up high, on the tops of the peaks, but here, about halfway between the valley and the peaks, the snow has been replaced by bright green shoots of grasses, forbs, bushes, trees and about every other growing plant, and the animals are hungry. This is a great spot from which to watch. Ask any hunter what their favorite aspects of hunting are, and almost all will tell you that watching the animals ranks up toward the top. So it’s a bit surprising more people, hunters and non-hunters alike, aren’t tromping around the mountains looking for animals, especially since there are so many to see in western Montana. Maybe that’s because some people confuse wildlife spotting with wildlife watching, but they are different: spotting can happen at any time, while hiking, paddling, skiing; any activity that puts you in the outdoors. But wildlife watching is the activity; its a deliberate effort to find animals in their natural habitat and watch and observe from a safe distance. You likely wont bag any peaks or make many river miles if you’re just out to find the animals, but you will be rewarded nonetheless. Little beats looking for, and finding, that moose along the willows of Bear Creek at dusk, or finding a rookery of blue herons along the Bitterroot River in the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge. Watching animals can be thrilling. Watch long enough, and you will see them do something you never imagined, from funny to fascinating. But to find them, you have to know a bit about their behavior, and all animals act differently. Many birds, especially once that live along the water, can be 20