I did not start wildlife photography with a giant white lens.
I did not have the perfect camera.
I did not know half of what I know now.
I had a Canon 60D and a 100mm macro lens.
A macro lens.
For bighorn sheep.
Probably not the setup anybody would recommend.
But sometimes the wild does not care what is in your camera bag.
Sometimes it just gives you the moment.
Then two rams lined up
I was out near the National Elk Refuge in Jackson when I saw two big bighorn rams.
They were far away.
Probably 150 to 200 yards.
Way farther than I wanted them to be with a 100mm lens.
But I watched them anyway.
Then the two of them lined up almost perfectly.
They backed off.
They came forward.
And then they hit.
CRACK.
It sounded like somebody fired a shotgun across the valley.
I remember feeling that sound as much as hearing it.
Two animals throwing everything they had into one collision, horns meeting horns, and somehow walking away like that was a perfectly reasonable thing to do on a cold Wyoming day.
I hit the shutter.
I did not have the right gear. I had the right second.
When I got home and looked at the photograph, I could not believe it.
The formation was there.
The animals were sharp.
The moment was real.
Considering how far away they were and what I had in my hands, I had no business getting the photograph I got.
Then people started reacting to it.
People liked it.
People shared it.
People started telling me I had something.
And I remember thinking:
Shit.
Maybe I am actually good at this.
That photograph changed something for me.
It did not make me an expert overnight.
It made me want to become one.
Everybody comes here for elk. Do not forget the sheep.
It is called the National Elk Refuge, so naturally everybody thinks elk.
And the elk are incredible.
But one of the great winter wildlife stories in Jackson happens above them.
Bighorn sheep move down from the higher country as the seasons change, and the Refuge becomes one of the places where visitors can watch these animals without hiking miles into the mountains.
In autumn you may begin seeing sheep returning to the lower country.
Then winter comes.
And this place gets really interesting.
Then comes the sound
The bighorn rut builds in late fall.
That is when mature rams begin settling dominance.
They face each other.
Back away.
Charge.
And smash those giant curled horns together.
The first time you hear it, your brain does not immediately understand what made the sound.
It is too loud.
Too sharp.
Too violent.
It can sound like a gunshot rolling off the mountains.
Then you realize both rams are still standing there.
And they may do it again.
This is one of those wildlife experiences that photographs cannot completely explain.
You need the cold air.
You need the mountains.
You need that moment of silence before the impact.
Then the crack.
You do not need to be a professional to have one of these moments
That is the part I keep coming back to.
I did not have the right wildlife lens when I got my photograph.
I did not have thousands of dollars of gear.
I was learning.
What I had was curiosity, enough patience to stay there, and a little bit of luck.
That is how a lot of this starts.
You go looking.
You learn the country.
You come home with a terrible photograph.
Then another.
Then one day two bighorn rams line up perfectly, the valley sounds like a shotgun went off, and you come home carrying something you did not know you were capable of making.
This season is getting close
We are moving into that part of the year again.
As autumn turns toward winter, I start thinking about the Refuge differently.
The moose rut may be getting most of my attention right now, but soon I will start watching for bighorn sheep returning to their winter country.
And I want other people to remember they are here.
Jackson is not only the doorway to Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
Sometimes one of the greatest wildlife moments of your trip is sitting almost right outside town.
Maybe your photograph is waiting too
I built Where The Wild Beasts Roam because most visitors do not have years to learn all of these seasonal changes.
You may have three days.
Maybe one morning.
And you are trying to figure out which animal is around, where you should begin, and whether the road you picked even makes sense for that time of year.
That is what the interactive wildlife map is meant to help with.
Not to guarantee that two bighorn rams will line up and give you the photograph of your life.
I wish I could do that.
It is there to give you a better place to begin, help you understand what wildlife fits the season, and keep you from spending your only good morning driving in the wrong direction.
Then the rest belongs to you.
Your camera.
Your patience.
Your moment.
I still remember mine.
Two bighorn rams.
One completely wrong lens.
And a sound like a shotgun that helped change the direction of my life.
Keep wildlife wild.
