what the heck is this?

[rattler_mt]

we spent the weekend camping in the Custer National Forest about 60 miles northeast of Yellowstone national park. im from out on the plains and am not familiar with most of the mountain and forest bugs. i was out looking for critters and flowers to photograph and come back to camp to the wife tweaking out over a large nasty bug attacking her, in her defence it was a good sized beetle, it did have good sized jaws and it was interested in her for one reason or another. anyways it only stuck around for these two shots and than it flew off, wish it would have stuck around but it didnt want to

 

[darkness]

i've handle bigger bettles than that ;P ;P ;P

 

[lucanidae]

It's a Cerembycid, possibly a male, as for genus I don't know.

 

[rattler_mt]

lol actually so have i but its not to bad for the frozen north we've got moths and a water beetle thats larger but it was an unexpected find and im not really sure what it is, maybe a "longhorned beetle"?

 

[Lindze]

Up here we call those Spruce bugs... other names? unknown.... but i remember from my childhood if you grab them by the antenna's the make a squeaking noise.... and careful.... they will bite you and it HURTS