Telegraph...Tell a Woman



Wolf bite marks. This calf was lucky. His mama must've been HOT!



Remember that game we used to play when we were kids. You'd start out in a circle. The person chosen to be first would whisper something in the next kid's ear. That kid would whisper to the next, and so on around the circle. It was always fun to see how the story ended up once it had come full circle.

That was just a game. But oh so true.

Yesterday Ray got a photo, a genuine photo, from a neighbor. It's a shocking photo of a big wolf boldly trotting down the railroad tracks next to the main highway about 3 miles out of our local burg. And he's packing another animal in his mouth. It's upside down, and you can vaguely make out the head and front legs flopping on the camera side. There is a herd of cows in the background. It's an honest, unvarnished photo from a local lady's phone.

The word we got, and accepted without hesitation, was that it was a baby calf. A very plausible conclusion seeing as how there's a whole herd of cows watching him from the background, and given the fact that this area is very well documented for wolf kills. We personally witnessed the results of wolf depredation among calving cows, and I even posted some of those photos on this blog last spring.

In righteous indignation toward those who would burden hard-working ranchers with this onerous predator, I wasted no time in posting that photo on Facebook, along with the caption stating it was a calf. That photo was quickly picked up, and has spread like wildfire.

In the meantime, when Ray went to our little burg this morning, I asked him to see if he could find out more about the photo. And he found out just enough to make me wish I'd posted the photo without a caption.

1. The photo is genuine. It was taken by a local lady with her phone when she spotted the scene from the highway, right near the dump road. 2. It was taken last week. 3. Ray and crew saw the animal damage control flying the next day...we ASSUME it was in connection with this big boy being way too close and comfortable with civilization. However, we don't know that.

Oh! And there's one more thing... it might be a deer.

By the time we got that bit of information, my earlier post had spread like wildfire, and I am embarrassed. I hate it when people do that-- use photos to twist the truth, or make something up. The liberals and animal rights crowd have perfected that technique, and I despise it. We used to come up against that all the time when we were fighting grazing battles.

I am a die-hard “truth in photography” fanatic. It is what it is. Just make sure you get the whole picture, and not just focus in on a little detail that you can tweak the info to prove your point.

Anyway, I apologize to anyone who might have got caught up in the blaze. If it's any consolation, the photo is genuine. Regardless of what the wolf is packing, he's still way too close and comfortable. There are cow herds all over the floor of this valley just getting in to their calving season. There will be calves lost to wolves this season. But chances of catching them with a camera are pretty slim.

The photo blazing it's way across the country. Wolf carrying its dinner.
About 3 miles out of Sheridan, MT, right off the highway.

Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.

Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! James 3:5