Sunday, November 30, 2014

Rut Photography Ends in a Bang

 
As daylight creeps across the Pennsylvania landscape the sound of gunshots will be heard in the more rural areas.  Firearms deer season will open with antlered deer being legal statewide and antlerless being legal in a few management areas.  While Monday morning will be the beginning of "deer season" for the firearms hunters it will signal the end of photographing the whitetail rut.

The whitetails two most important defensive tactics are stealth and speed with this racing buck illustrating the latter.
 
Thousands of hunters across the state will fill their tags tomorrow while many will return to home or camp with the story of the deer they missed.  Along with the successful kills and the misses will be a significant number of deer wounded and unrecovered.    
 
 
A casualty from and earlier year, this old buck actively participated in the 2014 rut even though his left front leg was missing.   For any hunters reading this please remember, Safety First!  Be sure of your target, make sure you have a safe backstop, and choose your shot carefully.  Remember once fired a bullet is a lethal missile that cannot be recalled.  
 

4 comments:

Ruth Hiebert said...

Having grown up with my Dad being an avid hunter and later my husband also hunted for a few years,I am very familiar with the hunting stories. It is the wounded animals that end up suffering and that is sad. I am happy to say that for many years Jake hunted only with a camera and got many good shots and no wounded deer this way.

NatureStop said...

Lovely captures! Have a great week ahead.

Shantana

Montanagirl said...

I grew up in a hunting family, and took down my share of Bucks and Buck Antelope. Never left anything wounded, and we always used the meat.

Carol said...

Gave up hunting when I didn't need to put meat on the table...wish I was able to get some beautiful photos of deer as you have.