Bright and early all six of us rose to reconvene the Hunt on a sunrise safari.
Unawares, I stole Kevin's warm shower water for my amazing bath then scrambled together for the 6AM departure. Although I was staring at the mountains at 5:48, I didn't see the sun rise over the Tetons. Life is so hard.
5:59, Stepdad walked into the house, ready to go. 6:04, everyone piled in the respective van and SUV then commenced on the Sunrise Safari caravan.
By 6:10, Emily spotted the three elk on the hill. This is one of them:
Before 7 we spotted a group of people along the river. We saw the Sleeping Indian and an alleged moose. I think I saw an antler, but I was directed by a fellow moosehunter: "Look at the mountain, look down between the U in the bush" [note: it was a giant area of sage brush] "and see its antlers." Mind you, there is only so much that one can see against the blinding daybreak light, especially the differences between green-brown and moose antler brown. See my dilemma below with shadow, twigs, and sage as I label the "moose:"
Fanchon took us down a gravel road through a meadow called Antelope Flats (she, Kevin, and the GPS knew where we were -- I trusted it). We saw two herds of bison! Later we saw three lone buffalo roaming where the pika played along the most-photographed farm.
We were unsuccessful in finding wildlife in the Flats after that, so we deep into Grand Teton National Park in hopes of late rising moose and bears. We stopped by a lily pond, a favorite haunt of the moose for its delicious and tasty lily pads, but no avail.
Later, in a field of mule deer, we saw a cow, the female moose:
Although the moose were still quite elusive and too shy to model, we have proven ourselves great Hunters as having seen two of the most evasive animals of the Tetons. We will continue to affirm our worth as we anticipate many more along our Yellowstone adventure.
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