Photography is mostly about luck and being at the right place at the right time as far as I can tell.  This summer just wasn't for me.  Everywhere I went something just wasn't working in my favor - bad weather, forest fires, smoky skies, traffic.  That's not to say that I didn't get a few lucky shots, just that I really had to work for what I did get.

One of my best moments of the entire summer was during a trip to Grand Teton National Park in August.  The area had been plagued with smoky haze from wildfires across the west and doing any landscape photography was out of the question.  Most days you couldn't even see the mountains!  I ventured around the park, seeking out my favorite spots to see wildlife.  And I lucked out when I stopped to check one area where I typically find moose.  No sooner than I turned off the ignition in my car, I spotted a nice bull moose.  He was a little ways out so I thought I'd just wander around and see if he would venture any closer.  As I was scanning the areas around him I spotted two more bulls!  I ended up spending close to two hours watching  them and photographing them.  And it paid off.  The second and third bull ventured out of the willows right in front of me and I was able to get a few great shots of them as they walked past.  By this time quite a crowd had gathered - I had been the only one there when I arrived and by the time the two bulls made their appearance there were close to twenty vehicles stopped along the road.

Gros Venture Moose pair

Now I'm fairly certain that these three bulls are the same ones I've been following for a few years now.  Every trip to the Tetons I stop at the same spot and there is usually three bulls and maybe a cow or two grazing through the willows.  I've seen them on several occasions over the last five years or so.  There are two that don't seem to mind the flock of tourists that gather to take their photos and one that tends to hang back, away from the crowds.  On this trip that shy one is one of the bulls that walked right in front of me.  I've never gotten a good picture of him before, usually just a glimpse of his head through the willows 100 yards or more away.  I've dubbed these three bulls my "three moose-keteers".

Later that evening I stopped by to see if they were still out and sure enough I saw one of the bulls in the willows.  There was a cow moose nearby too.  She had to have been hiding earlier that afternoon!  Some folks were wandering by and asked what I saw so I pointed out the bull and cow to them.  Turns out they were visiting from Italy and had never seen a moose before in their lives!  I let them use my binoculars so they could get a closer look, they were so excited.  That was the second highlight of my trip (the first being the encounter with the bulls earlier that day) and I was so glad to share that experience with them.

The next morning I stopped again to see if they happened to still be hanging out in the same area but no luck.  Just a little further down the road I saw something in the shadows so I pulled over to check it out.  Two more bull moose napping in the shade of some trees!  Now at the time I thought that these two were the same ones I had seen the day before but after I got home and was able to review my pictures I figured out that they were two different bulls!  The antlers were just different enough that I was able to ID them.  Elsewhere on the trip I spotted two other bulls so in two days I saw a grand total of five bull moose and one cow.  One of my best "moose hunting" trips I've had in a while.