JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2026
first stumbled upon the photo issue of Montana Outdoors as a college student in the late 1990s. I was instantly spellbound. It captured all my fascinations with Montana—the fish, the wildlife, the landscapes, and the boundless opportunities for adventure.
I began collecting every new edition, each one a fresh opus to the splendor of the Treasure State, filling me with pride for this place and energizing me to get outside and experience more of it in the coming year.
That affinity only grew once I bought a camera and several lenses hoping to capture the quality of images I saw in those magazines. I eventually began submitting photos, and I’ll never forget the elation of learning my shot of a wild turkey had made the cut for the 2011 photo issue. I got to relive that thrill several more times over the next 15 years.
Now that I’m editor, I can fully appreciate just how tough a task it has been for Amanda Reese, Montana Outdoors art director, to narrow down the thousands of incredible images submitted by photographers to just 120 selections she artfully packaged into this issue. We hope you enjoy it.
Last year’s photo edition sold out at newsstands across the state, a testament to the enduring value of authentic photography at a time when artificial intelligence is flooding social media feeds with digital fakery. Montana doesn’t need that charade. The magic and power here is real and right outside our doors.
As you page through and find yourself drawn in by an image, pause for a moment to appreciate that it may have taken years of effort by the photographer to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right lens. Then savor the fact that Montana is still a place where jaw-dropping scenes remain a daily occurrence.
—Paul Queneau, Editor
DILLON JENKINS
Left: Aerial view of western larches along Grant Creek near Missoula
Opposite page:
CLAYTON LUKES
Top left: Swiftcurrent Creek sunrise
KEVIN LEAGUE
Top right: Western larches in fall near Seeley Lake
LANCE GILLILAND
Bottom left: Burned forest in the Bridger Mountains
SEAN HEAVEY
Bottom right: Makoshika State Park, post-wildfire
Opposite top: Crazy Mountains at dawn
ELBIE WOOD
Opposite left: Aerial view of the North Fork of the Sun
the Bob Marshall Wilderness
MARK PETERS
Opposite middle right: Bull elk in the Mission Valley
WILLIAM WOESSNER
Opposite bottom right: Snow geese at sunrise over Freezout Lake
Opposite page:
Top left: Fall colors on the Dearborn River in the Scapegoat Wilderness
Top right: Fritillary butterfly
ROBERT HANSON
Middle: Dew on lupine leaves
Bottom
Deconica mushrooms among field horsetail and aspen leaves
JOSHUA RUTLEDGE
Left: Male sharp-tailed grouse in full mating display on a lek Opposite page:
JOSHUA RUTLEDGE
Top left: Young porcupine eating alfalfa
SHEILA RUBLE
Top right: Tachinid fly in Park County’s West Boulder River valley
DEE LINNELL BLANK
Bottom right: Bitterroot and stonecrop blooms in the Badger-Two Medicine area
ELIZABETH JARVIS
Top left: Red-winged blackbird near Freezout Lake
RAYMOND JUNK JR.
Top right: Sandhill crane mating dance near Kalispell
ALLY BRYK
Bottom: A Drahthaar retriever on a frosty morning in northeastern Montana
Opposite page:
JOSHUA RUTLEDGE
Top: Rooster pheasant at sunset
ERIN BRAATEN
Middle left: Foggy morning hunt
DEA VOGEL
Middle right: Pronghorn on the CSKT Bison Range
STEVE PARKER
Bottom left: Red fox sleeping on hay bales near Melrose
JOHN CARLSON
Bottom right: Horned lark in Valley County
KARL KRIEGER
Left: Canada goose on the Missouri River COLE KIMZEY
Right: American coot toting nesting material
JERRY TAYLOR
Far right: Blue-winged teal in a slough off the Yellowstone River near Fallon
LEA FRYE
Right: Red-necked grebe courtship rituals
DAN ELLISON
Left: Trumpeter swan cygnets at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge COLE KIMZEY
Right: Dabbling duck
TRACY ENTERLINE
Top left: Western tanager near Silesia
DONALD M. JONES
Left: Blue jay
MATT CONDON
Middle left: Painted turtle north of Clinton
BILL KINNEY
Bottom: Beaver in the Big Belt Mountains
Opposite page:
THOMAS ASTLE
Top left: Male jumping spider
LEA FRYE
Top right: Badger near Havre
DEBBIE LEFF
Middle left: Hoary marmots in Glacier National Park
KARL KRIEGER
Middle right: Young raccoon in a cottonwood on the Rocky Mountain Front
PATRICIA BAUCHMAN
Bottom left: Leaping pine marten in southwestern Montana
HEATHER EVELETH
Bottom right: Terrestrial garter snake in Como Lake near Darby
Left: The small but mighty pika
Top left: A trio of ibises in Upper
Bottom left: Spring storm near
JOHN CARUSO
Opposite top and bottom: Great blue heron making a meal of a Columbia spotted frog at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge near Stevensville
Bottom
DIANNE MCDERMAND
BILL KINNEY
Below: Pronghorn buck thrashing vegetation in a dominance display during the rut in the Big Belt Mountains
ROBERT KELLY
Top left: Sandhill cranes at sunset
MICHAEL CARL
Top middle: Westslope cutthroat trout in the South Fork of the Flathead River
THOMAS ASTLE
Middle left: Femur long-horned beetle
STEVEN GNAM
Bottom left: Northern flicker feather
MICHAEL CARL
Bottom right: Water reflections on the Flathead River
Opposite page:
CHARLES RENFRO
Top: Common loon in northwestern Montana
BRYAN FERRITER
Middle left: Piper Creek in the Mission Mountains
BILL KINNEY
Middle right: Mountain bluebirds sharing a meal in the Big Belt Mountains
WILLIAM NEAL
Bottom right: Rufous hummingbird
