TOOLEY BLUE SKUNK

It was an early morning in late May when I set out for Tooley Lake, Montana. The lake is located in a region referred to as the West Kootenai. In this area the Kootenai National Forest is divided east and west by Lake Koocanusa. Tooley Lake is on the western side.

I had heard that there was a moose that liked to hang out around Tooley. Moose are water-loving creatures and this swampy little lake seemed like the ideal moose habitat.
I arrived before sun up, parked the car and headed off on a little trail that bordered the lake. I found a place I thought looked promising and scrambled up a hill to get what I thought might be a better position from which to observe the moose if it came. I set myself up and waited. Whilst I waited I could just make out duck pairs paddling along enjoying the morning as they glided in and out of dark shadows. It was splendidly quiet and peaceful.

After about an hour and a half the rising sun began to wash away the exquisite texture of the early morning. The chances of sighting a moose dimming as the day brightened. Hunting often involves much waiting with little to show for it. But, when one can start their day so close to Nature it’s hard to complain.

Much of what I see and experience I will never be able to show, because the thing came and went in the flash of an eye. Many visions I have seen will simply live and die in my heart alone. But I am obsessed with trying to capture some of the amazing things nature creates that would otherwise never be seen had I not photographed it. So when Mr. Moose failed to appear I went hunting for less well-known game.

I think perhaps no one will ever accuse me of being lacking in imagination and I engage it fully when I am on the hunt in nature. As I walked back along the shoreline gazing into the water I noticed these very lovely reflections of trees. I can’t really tell you what attracted me. I often don’t know myself until I download the images. But I instantly wanted to shoot what I was seeing and so fire away I did. The images shifted and shaped before me, I was enthralled. So much was happening my naked eye could not begin to assimilate all that they saw. Only through the magic of lens and shutter can some creatures ever to be captured.

As it turned out I had captured a very rare creature indeed, the Tooley Blue Skunk. I’ll bet it’s the first one you have ever seen.