Haybales Archives - Bliss Photographics

Posted on July 5, 2020June 28, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Looking Across the Watershed

The 40 mile landscape across two drainages from this viewpoint this early summer. The Trees are in the Little Powder River Valley. Beyond the far ridge is the Powder River Valley. It’s like Yellowstone over there without the tourists and the exotic wildlife. All of this is grass and cattle county.

All this ground is eroded on top of a network of Tertiary Alluvial Fans. These are large aprons of sediment spreading across the land eastward from the Big Horn Mountain Range. It eroded spreading sediment out many miles in each direction. These sediments actually filing the greater geologic feature, the “Powder River Basin”. It was a sedimentary bathtub/down warp to be filled up before the aluvial fans could spread from the uplift. Those Big Horns were relatively taller in the past with the valley next to them much lower. That by the way is why the coal swamps formed there. They were formed on the low ground next to high mountains.

The sediments exposed in this image are mostly alternating of beds of Sand/Silt and Clay this 120 mile distance to the source. Over time the more recent rivers have cut down across the older beds between here and the distant mountains.

I’m not usually at tree level down in the river valley floor but this was a rare trip to the highway. Those travels cross part of this a little lower is the drainage.

I’m normally 10 miles off the right frame where I live about 400 feet higher in elevation than this “low” country. Across the river valley, the Mountains are in Montana. I am standing in Wyoming by at least a mile looking this direction. Most of my images have both states in them. Sky of one, ground of the other or both lol. I consider 5 miles either side of the border as the mythical land called “Wyotana”. Added together the 10 linear miles over the length of the Montana / Wyoming border would be 3700 square miles or 3 times the size of Rhode Island. I suspect the population of Wyotana is a thousand at the most.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Looking Across the Watershed

Posted on March 7, 2020March 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Wetland Sunset Summer Green

Boy I miss summer. I will say that there were some mosquitos out at this shooting. Some crimson to purple to blue gradients pop up each year but not many. I got a good one here though. The alpenglow ice that gives you summer crimson blends in like an acrylic paint into blue higher in the sky forging purple out of the mix. It’s a natural rare gradient that I see a few times a year. Real purple is much rarer in the world than you would think looking at forums. Beware of the electric blue images you see but this is a real color mix showing purple.

The grass was high, the hay bales in the distance attest to an expenditure of diesel fuel to gather each 1 ton bale. The big tree just across the inlet has a landing below it that I have several game trail cameras. They have taken hundreds of creatures from coyotes to Herons walking right in front of that wonderful cotton wood. This lake is literally miles from the nearest gravel county maintained road. I can’t tell you how many little places of zen like this exist in and around my ranch. I’m pretty sure infinity comes to mind for the time I have to spend here in my short human existence. Cowboys 100 years ago built the dam across this spring. It watered generations of cattle walking the Miles City Montana to Newcastle Wyoming Trail on the way to Texas.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming / Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Wetland Sunset Summer Green

Posted on March 3, 2020March 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Barn Yard M Perspective

For a 30 (ish) Horse Power Tractor, this 1939 International “M” Tractor had 270,000 made by 1954. It only weight 5400 pounds and has a 4.1 liter gasoline engine. This one runs if I put gas in the tank and hit the starter. It needs new rubber. This is out back near our corral system, in our yard but way off the beaten path. (We live in a 10 acre fenced in deer resistant compound ).

We keep a few big bales of hay around in case we actually have to feed our small herd of Corriente Cattle. They generally don’t need extra food but will happily take it lolol. The vistas from our homestead are BIG to the south west with 130 mile view when conditions permit. We have way more snow than the low lands we overlook. It’s a stark difference our front yard versus 300 feet lower topographically down by the rivers. No or little snow down there which is not a good thing. I consider the local snow cover as light this year. (March 3, 2020).

Mostly multigenerationally fixed / patched fences, old ranches have complex Corrals lolol. Those fences take a LOT of cow pressure particularly near the alleys. A 1500 pound bull pushing hard will be defined as “Cow Pressure”. . You might get 30 years of reliability, if a corral is made of treated wood posts. Corrals made of steel, it lasts a century or two. Oil Well pipe and sucker roads, cables, panels, wire panels, you name it are part of the fixes. Repurposed coal mine rubber belts (4 – 6 feet wide) for alleys. I have seen a host of other materials incorporated into many corrals. Free(ish) fencing is very popular. I’m seeing 4 different types of fences just in this photo. There are dozens of fencing generations in this grandfathered 80 year old corral system. Some originally built about the same time as this Antique Tractor.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands *Wyotana”

Title: Barn Yard M Perspective

Posted on February 7, 2020February 1, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Ice Road Coyote

Ice Road Coyote is an unexpected Game Trail Camera Capture. I have 4 good shots of this guy walking by here on 4 different days. (so far).

There are 8 species in the Genus Canis. The Canis we know best is Canus familiaris (common house dog). This Coyote is Canis latrans.

This is a female by the looks of it on other photos.. It’s about 4/5ths the size of a full size male. Males can weigh up to 45 pounds.. I’ve known a human raised Coyote and they are a force to be reckoned with if they focus on you.

Coyotes were “Wiley” I’ve always thought.. Hunting on thin Ice isn’t the brightest things I’ve ever seen.. This particular lake is well frozen at the moment. That ice is about 6 inches thick at the moment. If the warm weather keeps this up, it’s going to mean a cold bath if not me finding a floating clump of fur in the spring thaw. I’ve seen these guys walk on thin ice indeed in the past.

I tend to 29 Game Trail Cameras currently and plan to expand that network considerably over time. They take very little work but a lot of AA batteries over the network lol. I endorse no particular Game camera as they ALL have issues with photo quality. The way they save .jpgs drive me nuts as I have to fix each and every one I publish. The only thing you can really adjust besides 3 levels of exposure/flash/distance, is placement. Set them on a post or tree and wait. I will have cameras working all winter concentrated where wildlings actually go. Natural funnels and water holes are the easy picks.

2×3 aspect up to 36 inches wide.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Title: Ice Road Coyote

Posted on February 3, 2020January 29, 2020 by Frank Bliss

B1B Buzzing Bliss Ranch

Nick named “The Bone” as in “Bad to the Bone” I think…. 550 million dollar machine built by the lowest bidder ? 😜😜📷

Flying over me here at their common operational speed of 450 knots (518 mph). The wings swept back means he’s got some of the throttle forward. This guy came over the ridge behind us at maybe 500 feet. . I’m thinking it took 5 seconds to go from no indication they were there, to the sound to finally catch up and the plane is virtually past you. So the average encounter is hard, really hard to get. I would invite any of you jockeys riding the tip of the speed to fly over that big white roof on the Montana/Wyoming boers any time you want. (Daytime would be nice). You would not believe the sound of that much power.

We live under the Powder River Flight Training Complex. It’s a huge area of South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming used by the U.S. Airforce to work out their rigs. A couple of times a year I have a close encounter like this. Usually it’s without a long lens camera ready to rock in my hands. 🤔 (Rule one of photography is “Have a camera handy”.

They can of course fly that run at 50 feet. Catching these guys incoming is my goal but that is fairly difficult. I usually at best get them right over head or past me from behind. I’ve had a lot of encounters with the monster pieces of technology.

Ellsworth AFB is located just outside of Box Elder, South Dakota but think Rapid City. Without a doubt military is the largest employer in the region. Statistics show it the second largest employer in the state.

“Providing rapid, decisive and sustainable combat air power and expeditionary combat support, the 28th Bomb wing is assigned to 12th Air Force under Air Combat Command. As home to the B-1B, the 28th Bomb Wing provides operational support in many areas.” Hu Raaaa Tip of the Spear. 🤘

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands. (Wyotana)

Title: B1B Buzzing Bliss Ranch

Posted on January 20, 2020January 14, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Pronghorn Pulling Some G’s

The North American Pronghorn:

Pronghorn are the Fasted Land Animal in North America. Nothing else even comes close. They developed these skills/anatomy as a result of learning to avoid predation. It seems there used to be some pretty fast Lions, tigers and other cats living in these hills. Those predators were obviously prolific during the last Ice Ace and before here in the Wyoming/Montana borderlands. The most most recent continental Ice sheet (5 glaciations in the last 500,000 years) stopped it’s advance about 20 miles up into Montana from my perspective here on the Bliss DInosaur Ranch. There were LOTS of critters hanging out below the glaciers.

This was captured back in late August when there was some tussling within the local herd. (see how green in August !)

Currently in Mid-winter, Pronghorn have all migrated 20 miles to the south. The Thunderbasin National Grasslands consists of a huge area of unpopulated ground. Thousands of Pronghorn head there in the winter. I drove through there about a week before this posts. I do have some good Pronghorn BIG herd photos from in the grasslands to finish. . My turn around time from taking a photo, then getting it posted is slightly over a week. That is unless I push one into the “line” ahead of others. It’s all telephoto work down in the grasslands. Nothing is close usually and there is only one road through the area that I’ve ever traveled. Vehicular traffic is limited to the main road. Forbidden on the grasslands, big fines for going off road. . The national reserve has hundreds of square miles incorporated.

Pretty much the only large creatures to winter over up here on the remote borderland ridges, are cattle and mule deer. The WhiteTail move down to more reliable water even though we supply it. They tend to be in the valleys for the season not up here.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Pronghorn Pulling Some G’s

Posted on January 12, 2020January 6, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Coyote About to Pounce

The metadata attached to the image showed 45 degrees F. . The ice was not thick to begin with. You can see the tracks behind the canid as he trots along the shoreline. He’s right on a razors edge here…. I’m thinking that this is not a good habit for a coyote to have. Hard to argue with the image though lol. He’s just a few pounds from breaking right through to the lake below. It’s not really deep where he is but there are deeper spots around the edge of this lake.

It’s got to be easier walking than on the shore but that ice was NOT that thick. I have several captures of this fellow over several days doing this same thing. Each is unique in it’s perspective as I have several cameras covering this area. Each camera has it’s own characteristics of color and exposure based on light conditions. They are after all…automatic cameras.

I’m currently running 29 game trail cameras. It takes several trips to check them all. I usually do it while I’m actually at a location. I’ll be picking some cameras up for the winter. While others I’ll refresh the batteries and let them run all winter. I’ll check them in the spring, swap out SD cards (modern digital image storage chip). Then freshen the batteries is the final task. A good game trail camera will use 16 – 24 AA batteries a year.

18 x 18 inches square aspect.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Title: Coyote About to Pounce

Posted on December 21, 2019December 14, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Pronghorn Rut Training Dojo

These younger bucks got caught working out for the Bliss Dinosaur Ranch Fall Pronghorn Rut. It’s a single elimination tournament with winner take all. These bucks get along most of the year. They may even hang out “down on the corner” together. But this is as close to a full blown organized

So on an overcast Monday afternoon “Down Yonder by the fence line” was a small dojo formed for the purpose of working out and getting “tuned” for the battles to come. These guys were not not yet playing for keeps. The bigger bucks usually take it easy on the smaller males training/ramping up to the rut .It can really be violent when Pronghorn Bucks go at it. This appears more casual for the camera I suspect. This of course is a game trail camera capture from late in the fall (Fall was on a Tuesday this year). From this location in the past, dozens of various wonderful candid captures of both deer and Pronghorn occurred.

All the Pronghorn are off ranch at the moment. They all migrated about 30 miles south to the THunderbasin National Grassland. Pronghorn herds numbering in the hundreds. I had a Old Pronghorn Buck I named “Grunt” that stayed over winter several years but he’s not here this year. He either migrated with the others or in in much higher and greener pastures by his passing. I miss him as I could get very close to him as he was tolerant of me as an antelope can be tolerant.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title Pronghorn Rut Training Dojo

Posted on November 28, 2019November 28, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Coyote on Razors Edge

Coyote on Razors Edge is a Game Trail Camera Capture.

18 x 18 inches square aspect.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Title: Coyote on Razors Edge

Posted on November 27, 2019November 20, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Layered BigHorn Mountain Landscape

Layered BigHorn Mountain Landscape: It’s mid-November and a HUGE hay crop was everywhere in this country. Still picking them up this late in the year. Boy there are still a lot of haybales to move. I caught the a hydraulically equipped hay truck stopped long enough to take this 1 second exposure. They had been at this all day and it was pretty dark and were still hauling. There were hundreds to pick up this year.

This of course is a time exposure as it were. I consider anything longer than 1/4 second a time exposure best done on a tripod or some support. You can take photos like this free handed but your ISO is going to have to be so high that you’ll get grain on your image. A minimum handheld speed is about 1/100th with a telephoto so your going to have to compensate for the lack of light somehow. Turning up camera sensitivity? This will unfortunately give you larger grain to your image and add noise to the color. It will however bring an image in. The first rule of photography is get the shot. The second rule is get it right !.

Longer time exposures give your camera a chance to gather light the easy way. You always want as LOW and ISO as you can get away with. Low light images like this look wonderful if done on a tripod. Not so much hand held. I use a clamp on my car window with my favorite tripod head on it that mates to my cameras.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Title: Layered BigHorn Mountain Landscape

Posted on November 26, 2019November 19, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Coyote On Thin Ice

Coyote On Thin Ice is a Gamer Trail Camera photo. I see a trap set by the Road Runner obviously. Soon he’s going to finally do ol “Wiley Coyote” in. It seems that he was led out on to thin (very) thin ice by the much lighter bird. Of course we do have road runners up here ….. (a local elementary school sports program are the “Roadrunners”. I understand his s pair of ACME Ice Rescue Picks never arrived. Apparently, “Sneaky Pete the Windmill” didn’t take delivery when UPS came that day being out trying to photobomb me. It’s not going to end well for the coyote I bet 😜

This image is of course showing the cafeteria line for a coyote. It’s obviously much easier to walk the ice than the shore of the lake. Tall vegetation and brush cover the shore. I do however have reservations on the brilliance of walking out there. If it was thicker than 1/2 an inch I’d be surprised. It’s amazing to me he wasn’t crashing through the ice.

If you remember the verse below verbatim, you and I could be friends 😀

If you’re on the highway and Road Runner goes “Beep beep”,
Just step aside or you might end up in a heap.
Road Runner, Road Runner runs down the road all day.
Even the coyote can’t make him change his ways.

Road Runner, the coyote’s after you.
Road Runner, if he catches you you’re through.
Road Runner, the coyote’s after you.
Road Runner, if he catches you you’re through.

That coyote is really a crazy clown!
When will he learn that he never can mow him down?
Poor little Road Runner never bothers anyone;
Just runnin’ down the road’s his idea of having fun.

Credit : Warner Bros I believe through who owns it now is anybodies guess. I tried to find out, google was no help…..

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Coyote on Thin Ice

Posted on October 30, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

North America’s “Serengeti”

Here in the borderlands we are part of North America’s “Serengeti” with herds of wild beasties mixed with our domestic stock.

The symmetry of this image totally grabbed my OCD by the short hairs. The jaw hit the floor and I maneuvered around it to ‘get the shot’ lol. There is so much geometry to this composition. Lines, squares arrows, crosses are everywhere. Holy composition Batman…! There so many things lining up in this image. Things don’t normally line up so well for me lolol.

I’d seen the hay bale alignment weeks ago but Imagine my surprise to see three different species in the same photo lined up like soldiers marching across this borderland hay ground (both Montana and Wyoming in this image). Click 🙂 Now if I had elk living here not just passing through lol. Deer to the right, Pronghorn to the left, Angus standing on both sides of the border. Maybe a few eagles on the haybales (I actually photographed a couple of American Eagles fighting high in the sky out in this field a few days ago. Composite in the works for that. Pretty far away though. This is a wonderful area for wildlife.

This field is several miles back away and “over the hill” of the nearest country road. Lots o critters there usually.. There is a 365 days a year running water tank in this pasture which help all the non-migrating critters cope with the winter out there. The next closest water is miles away. I actually have a section of water pipeline running all the way out here from my homestead to provide water to who ever in this pasture. I put in that water line for stock/cattle but available all year for who ever needs it. That was a lot of trenching and a lot of 2 inch PVC pipe over 2 miles at 16 foot a pipe section to assemble (glue) then bury 6 feet down to avoid the freeze… Ranching has a variety of job descriptions lololol.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

North America’s “Serengeti”

Posted on October 26, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Pronghorn Bucks Rutting in the Backcountry

“Pronghorn Bucks Rutting in the Backcountry” is a wonderful capture from a quality Game Trail Camera. I maintain a network of 26 cameras over about 5.5 square miles of both Montana and Wyoming backcountry as our ranch spans the border.

The Pronghorn were rutting in early October and this is just after the Oct 1 snow melted. Freezing nights already many times. Apparently the Pronghorn like it cool :).

Getting this close to fighting pronghorn would be difficult to do even with long telephotos. This particular game trail camera has performed well but each photo has it’s issues and takes me maybe 1/2 an hour every time I finish one just to get rid of the cheap camera problems in the digital darkroom.

2×3 landscape aspect to 3 feet.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 24, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Perspective: Hay Bales on Mitten Butte’s Apron

These one ton round hay bales give a perspective for the 3 miles to this Monadnock center frame named “Mitten Butte” showing a wet years hay production for this pasture. (There are others too). Still have to pick those up and stack em lol. We can’t let cattle loose in those fields until that is done lolol. They would tear the bales to bits just for fun. Some diesel fuel might have to become involved to complete this chore of picking them up and stacking them all 🤔

We are a dry land ranch and as such usually just have one cutting. There are places we might have had a second if we tried. 14 inches of precipitation per year is our normal yearly allotment for water. We got that much this summer lol.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Posted on October 24, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

I Call to Order This Meeting in the Snow

He called to Order This Meeting in the Snow because it’s time to migrate the 20 miles to the south. These antelope will winter down in the Thunder Basin National Grasslands (it’s on the map) between Gillette and our Ranch. It’s a huge area of no vehicular traffic (but for a few gravel roads). Large herds of hundreds of Pronghorn winter down there. But they have to get from here to there and it’s not an easy trip over hill, dale and gulley. There are a lot of places that only four feet can travel.

We are in and out of winter weather up on the high ridges our ranch is located on. It was 70 today as I type this about a week ago but it will be below freezing again very soon. Indian summer is all too short.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 22, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Pronghorn Buck Enjoying a Dusting of Snow

The NICE pronghorn Buck was wet, frosted and generally enjoying this early Dusting of Snow. This game trail camera capture from a very well placed location. I got about 300 quite good images of antelope and deer from this camera last month. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them all but I’ve got them lol.

The problem with game trail camera captures is they all have major problems I have to fix in the digital darkroom. They are so candid that I am happy to put the work into the image. But they are still a pain to deal with.

2×3 aspect (landscape).

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana

Posted on October 4, 2019September 27, 2019 by Bliss

Prairie Dog Hills Across the Wyoming/Montana Border

10 miles out are the “Prairie Dog Hills” and looking across the Wyoming/Montana border are the Red Hills off in the distance. The border is where the line of trees in the center past the haybales. The grassy /hay baled area is part of our place. Past it is as I say, another state. I own land in Montana but not that direction. More over my right shoulder lol.

Most of my photos have both state landscape or sky in them somewhere.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on September 8, 2019September 8, 2019 by Bliss

Looking Through the Rainbow

Looking through the rainbow is a difficult thing to do. At several miles out, this left leg of this rainbow was an effective filter for the landscape beyond. It gave me a whole new appreciation of this process .

I’ll be hit or miss on posting the next few days but I’m starting to figure out the software side of this gallery thing… . We are still having some bugs.

Have a great Sunday Night and I’m just happy to be able to post after my first weekend miss in several years.. :).

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana..