Catch the Perfect Reflection

One rule of the thumb is that the deeper the water body, the more difficult it will be to get a clear reflection. Seasonal ponds can be great reflective surfaces from where you can compose great photos. One thing, however, that is common with all water bodies is that you need relatively calm bodies to get proper pictures. Ripples in the water can mess up the reflections and that is why it is important to photograph reflections when the wind is not so strong to cause the water to become disturbed. For our Moab Photograhy tours, we visit the "potholes", as seen in this photo where the water is no more than a couple of inches deep. Morning hours are more favored for capturing reflections though evening hours will also be as good. The key here is to photograph when the sun is high or there is enough light to create good reflection - Moab is the perfect location for this. High noon provides enough light but more often the light is too much that photos became over exposed or the reflections became too dark. Reflection Photography is an art, it is very much about experimentation, but once mastered, it certainly does add a great touch to any photograph!

Photograph Montana Wildflowers and Wildlife - The Perfect Combination!

We are nearing the season when Montana blooms with color! Fields and hillsides are layered with an array of colors...yellows - Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Reds - Indian Paintbrush, Blues - Bluebells and many others.

The best time to photograph Wildflowers is a cloudy, overcast day. Direct sunlight will cast harsh shadows and create bright highlights on wildflowers, causing a disaster for exposure.
The clouds act as the perfect light diffuser: giving you the most perfectly balanced light you can get.

When photographing wildflowers, it’s easy to focus all your attention on the beautiful flowers and forget about the background. But, a good background will help your image by drawing more attention to your subject. We organize tours specifically focused around the Wildflowers season. Allowing you to photograph Wildlife in Wildflowers - Picture Perfect!

May and June is a great time for baby animals and the Montana Wildflowers. Photograph Baby Wolf pups howling intently surrounded by a hillside of Arrowleaf Balsamroot. A beautiful sight and a memorable experience!

Join us on our Spring Wildflowers and Babies Tour OR the Nature's Lullaby Wildlife Baby Photo Tour coming up this Spring!

Photographing Wildlife in Moab, Utah

Capturing the beauty of Red Rock Country!
Moab is a paradise for photographers, videographers and outdoor enthusiasts. The rare and profound landscapes provide limitless photo opportunties. As most know, the best time to photograph is during sunrise or sunset. The Red rocks illuminate a glow with intense color. The cloudy days also offer great opportunties for one of a kind photographs...the dramatic cloud formations, along with the shadows that they cast add great depth to a photograph. If the Red Rock Sky is cloudy, any time of day is great for photographing. Stormy weather in Moab almost always results in great photo's too...the vast panoramic views are spectacular when a sunbeam bursts out of a cloud. The color of sandstone can really intensify when it's wet.

Just 20 miles south of Moab are the La Sal Mountains. Reaching an elevation of 13,000 feet, these alpine mountains are the second highest mountain range in Utah. The La Sal's offer numerous hiking and biking trails, along with several campsites. The La Sal's are made up of Whispering Pines, Quaking Aspens, and bubbling brooks, making this hot spot just mintues from Moab, a must see!

It is an annual event for our animal actors to pack up and make the journey to Moab for an unforgettable three day photography tour! On board, Mountain Lions jumping canyons, drinking from shallow potholes, Bobcats posed amongst the colossal sandstone formations, photograph a Grizzly Bear standing tall in the La Sal Mountains amongst large groves of Quaking Aspens and much more! It's an experience that is sure to keep you trigger finger working overtime!
For more information please visit our Website: http://www.animalsofmontana.com/ and read about the Trio of Red Rock Canyon Tours we have coming up and SAVE 10% if booked before March 15.2012!
The Bret B. Hicken Red Rock Memorial Tour OR The Moab Fall Wildlife Photography Expedition OR Discover Moab, Spring Wildlife Photography Tour.

The Creation of the Wolf...

Mating season for the Wolves is well under way. Wolves only breed one time of year and this takes place anywhere from January through April with the alpha female having only 5-7 days of estrus. When this takes place, the alpha pair may move out of their pack temporarily to prevent interruption from other pack members. Almost all of the time, the alpha pair is the only pair to mate, avoiding over population.

When the pair are about to mate, they bond, sleeping close, they greet each other making quiet whining sounds, bump their bodies together and various other bonding gestures. As the courtship progresses the male can smell the readiness of his mate, his tongue will flick in and out, testing the air for traces of her sex hormones. If she happens to not be ready to breed, she will deny the male with snapping of her jaw and growling.

Once the breeding process begins, an actual physical tie occurs caused by the swelling of the males penis and constriction in the females vaginal wall. After about five minutes the male stops, twists around so the two are end to end. This is where the actual exchange of sperm takes place. The two can remain tied together for up to a half hour!

After the mating process, the pair continues to be affectionate. Wolves do often have long lasting bonds with their mates, but if one wolf passes, the widowed mate may breed with another wolf. Also, some wolves bond to different females of the pack in different years, destroying the myth that they "mate for life". It is an interesting process to learn about and we are fortunate enough to witness the entire process with our captive wolves! We get film and photography requests for "breeding interaction between wolves". Our wolves are not shy and will go through the motions with or without an audience present! This makes for great wolf footage that is rarely captured in the wild.

Photographing Mountain Lions in West Yellowstone Montana!

Embark upon the rare occasion of photographing a Mountain Lion in the Wild! For those that seek to tackle this task, you will spend hours upon hours just waiting patiently to see this elusive creature in your viewfinder....Only hoping to get close enough for a great picture. Most often when one does come upon a wild Mountain Lion, it is up a tree. When looking at a photograph in a magazine, calendar or article of Mountain Lions, if the cat is pictured in a tree, it's likely that it's wild. It is speculated that the best time of year to view wild Mountain Lions is during late Fall, when snow first starts sticking to the ground. After the storms they seem to move around and check things out. Also, with the snowy setting, it makes it that much easier to spot the Cougar and see his tracks. During the summer months this cat is extremely rare to see, let alone photograph. During the warm months they travel on deer trails, deep into the Mountains, making it that much more difficult to find them. One of the best ways to locate a wild Cougar is to watch the deer. If there are deer in the vicinity, there are cougars. It is definetly a rare and unique occasion to photograph a Mountain Lion in West Yellowstone or anywhere in the wild for that matter! If you've been one of the few to capture an image in the wild, you should feel very lucky! The possibilities are endless when Photographing a captive Mountain Lion. Our adult Male Cougar will run right at camera, jump across ledges/canyons, climb trees, stalk, and give stares that will curl your toes! Visit Animals of Montana's website and see for yourself just what opportunities are awaiting you! http://www.animalsofmontana.com/.

The Myth of the Prickly Porcupine

The porcupine is the prickliest of the rodent family, it's latin name meaning, "Quill Pig". They carry a full coat of needle-like quills to give predators a sharp warning that it won't be an easy meal! Some quills have measured at nearly a foot long! It is a myth that Porcupines actually "shoot" their quills at predators, that is false and the predator does actually have to come in contact with the quills. Once a victim of being "quilled", the sharp tips and overlapping scales or barbs make them very difficult to remove. A porcupine does grow new quills to replace those that are lost.

Porcupines spend much of their time in trees. Their prehensile or gripping tails aid in their great climbing ability. They have a healthy appetite for wood using their large front teeth, making their meal of natural bark and stems. Fruit, leaves and springtime buds are also a large part of the North American Porcupine's diet.

Female porcupines give birth to one or two young. The babies quills are operational within just hours of being born!

Our prickly Wildlife Model, "Rusty Roo" has been bottle fed and hand raised, from just hours old. He actually had free range of the house UNTIL he reached a couple of months old and then began climbing into my houseplants and eating them down to the roots :)!

"The Eye of the Tiger" - - Animals of Montana Animal Actors at their BEST!

Our NEW Website has been launched!

We're proud and super excited to introduce to you, the New and Improved Animals of Montana website! Lots of changes and improvements have been made and will continue to happen for the next several weeks! So....stay tuned and check back often for new video's and photo's of our Wildlife Models! Our first, "knock your socks off" video teaser for you - - "The Eye of the Tiger".... A MUST SEE!