SNAPSHOT

Photographer MIKE HARING was looking out the window of his apartment near Big Sky when he spotted a bobcat walking across the backyard. “We just had 4 inches of fresh snow, so I grabbed my camera and went outside to see if I could track him,” he says. For the next two hours, Haring followed the bobcat through the forest, stopping occasionally to take photographs. “This was one of the last shots I took. It looks like he doesn’t know I’m there, that I’d snuck up to him that close, but you don’t sneak up on a bobcat. He knew I was there and just happened to look to the side when I took this shot.” For some reason, Haring says, members of the cat and weasel families are less spooked by his presence than canids or bears. “I think they are curious. They’ll check you out for five to ten minutes, and then take off. This cat knew he could ditch me at any time, and eventually that’s what happened.” n