This is the featured photo on New West.

This photo is featured on New West. I was driving home April 11 when I spotted about two dozen mountain bluebirds flitting about on the fence and hillside. I managed to get this shot before they all flew . . . → Read More: New West Featured Photo]]>

This photo is featured on New West. I was driving home April 11 when I spotted about two dozen mountain bluebirds flitting about on the fence and hillside. I managed to get this shot before they all flew off.

During a spring snowstorm in Choteau.

“Taxidermy, the three-dimensional representation of animals for permanent display, has been around since the eighteenth century, but it was first brought into popular regard by the Victorians, who thrilled to all tokens of exotic travel and especially to any domesticated representations of wilderness — the glassed-in miniature rain forest on the tea table, . . . → Read More: Domesticating Wilderness And Other Ironies]]>

“Taxidermy, the three-dimensional representation of animals for permanent display, has been around since the eighteenth century, but it was first brought into popular regard by the Victorians, who thrilled to all tokens of exotic travel and especially to any domesticated representations of wilderness — the glassed-in miniature rain forest on the tea table, the mounted antelope by the front door.” — Susan Orlean in “Lifelike”

“I think there are more dead animals in here than there are people,” said my friend Beth as we bellied up to the Antler Bar in Choteau, Montana, last weekend. We’d gone to see the migrating snow geese and tundra swans at Freezeout Lake, then had dinner at the Log Cabin Cafe and took in “The King’s Speech” at the Roxy Theatre before stopping for a beverage. Both the restaurant and bar were heavy on the taxidermy decor, not unusual for Montana or other western states. Saturday night at the Antler Bar was quiet at first, but business picked up after a wine- and beer-tasting fundraiser let out. By then, people may even have outnumbered the mounted heads and horns on the walls. I counted 18 mounts, but there probably were more I couldn’t see from my bar stool.

Famed writer Susan Orlean came to see us in Missoula on Friday. At her noon craft lecture, she talked about a New Yorker article, “Lifelike,” she’d written about the 2003 World Taxidermy Championships. “I like animals,” she said, “and [taxidermy] is a different way of liking animals.” She’s a master of irony. To thank her for lecturing and reading in Missoula, I twittered her a link to a picture of the jackalope I’d photographed at the Antler Bar.

Here’s what I think is ironic: magazine spreads of homes decorated with white, porcelain-looking taxidermy mounts. I’ve blogged before about the similar trend of faux bois — fake wood. Just yesterday I saw a white faux log stool in Country Living magazine — for $390. These expensive, fake deer heads, logs and branches are inevitably decorating some home back east. I’m telling you, I should go into business exporting painted antlers and sticks. I’d make a killing.

I shot this about a month ago. It was strange to see a rainbow on a winter morning. There wasn’t any precipitation that I’m aware of. We speculated that it was created by ice crystals or fog rising from the . . . → Read More: Mystery Rainbow Over The Bitterroots]]>

I shot this about a month ago. It was strange to see a rainbow on a winter morning. There wasn’t any precipitation that I’m aware of. We speculated that it was created by ice crystals or fog rising from the river.