Red-Breasted Merganser

As any regular visitor to Country Captures knows, I have been having a great time this spring photo-hunting waterfowl. I have become particularly focused on capturing wildlife action photos. I consider this photograph of a Red-Breasted Merganser to be among my top shots of the spring.

I have carried a keen interest in wildlife since my boyhood days and it has not dimmed one bit as the years pass. Early on my interest centered on hunting and fishing as this was the only way I knew to interact with these interesting creatures. As I matured my interest in wildlife drew me into the field of wildlife conservation where I served as a Pa. Deputy Wildlife Conservation Officer for twenty three years.

Hunting presents a set of challenges that the hunter must overcome to become successful. The challenges begin with locating suitable habitat and locating the query to the end game of firing a well placed shot to bring the hunt to a successful conclusion.

I do continue to hunt for the table a little each year but now the camera has replaced the deadly weapons for the vast majority of my wildlife interaction. I find the challenges of wildlife photography are even more difficult than that of conventional hunting. Photography negates a few of the challenges that face the hunter as there are no set hunting seasons or bag limits to contend with. Also we can photograph where animals are to some degree acclimated to people; areas such as National Parks and nature reserves.

The photographer faces additional challenges such as amount of light, lighting angles, subject positioning, motion, and suitable backgrounds to mention a few.

I find a close encounter with wildlife that results in a successful image capture every bit as exhilarating and satisfying as any encounter in my younger years and much more so than bagging any animal does today.

Visit Misty for more Camera Critters

Jacklighting, Tools of the Trade

For those unfamiliar with the term, Jacklighting is the act of unlawfully shining a light on an animal in an attempt to kill it. While spotlighting (the act of shining a light on wildlife) is legal in Pennsylvania within certain hours; the possession of weapons capable of killing game is not, with few exceptions.

As a young Deputy Conservation Officer I was assigned to work under a District Officer who had came to the conclusion that jacklighting was to be our major focus. He reasoned that jacklighting; while very prevalent at the time was a socially unacceptable violation and one we could do something about. At the time we were a force of nearly a dozen officers with a county of four hundred square miles. By concentrating our efforts in a particular area on any given night we were able to increase our odds of apprehending jacklighters significantly. The following is a short story about one of the more unusual apprehensions from those early years.

Thanksgiving had just passed and our rural county was experiencing its annual population increase as hunters arrived. As some hunters cannot wait until the season; we officers were working patrols all throughout the nights. On this particular night a fellow officer noticed a vehicle spotlighting after hours along a secluded forestry road that follows a mountain top for many miles. As he could watch the vehicle’s progress from his vantage point some ten miles away; we decided that I would attempt to get into position for the stop. I knew it was a long shot as I had many miles to cover so I felt no need to hurry.

Time flew by as I traveled the country roads and some forty five minutes had elapsed by the time he informed me that I was getting near. The suspect’s vehicle had been moving south the entire time and as I had entered the south end of the road a head on encounter was about to ensue. As I needed to observe the spotlight coming from the vehicle prior to the stop, I pulled over and shut down.

In a few moments I could see their vehicle slowly approaching as they shined the spotlight into every nook and cranny in their attempt to locate deer. I can imagine their surprise when their night took a turn for the worse as I activated the red lights.

Soon the incident was under control, they looked on in astonishment as I removed the loaded rifle that had been between the two occupants, along with their spotlight. They had felt secure in this remote area while they went about their deadly task. Little did they realize that what appeared to them to be heavy forest along the road was only a thin screen of trees that allowed an officer, miles away, to follow their every move as they searched for a buck.

Neither could they have imagined that I had traveled twenty two miles, much of it over back country roads, to be in position to apprehend them.

Deer Hunting, a Dark Side

Willard mentioned in his previous comment that I should post about a story that appeared in Pennsylvania Game News, November 2006 entitled Mike’s Backyard Bruiser.

The following is a much abbreviated version of the story. Early on in the article we are introduced to Mike as a “life long Pennsylvania gentleman and a fine role model of what a sportsman should be”. Also it is stated that “he harbors a deep love and respect for both the animals he pursues and the environment they inhabit”. The story takes place in Mike’s backyard in southeastern Pa where he has a tree stand.

About 8:00 a.m. Mike shot an arrow into a large buck’s rib cage. The buck moved away about 50 yards and lay down. During the day Mike attempted a number of times to approach the deer close enough for a finishing shot but the buck would move off a little each time only to lay down again. At one point he did attempt a shot only to miss and the buck walked away into some brush and again lay down. Upon returning the next morning he found the deer dead where he had left it the preceding evening.

To be entirely fair to the hunter, once the deer was injured he had no legal way of finishing the job other than with a bow as archery gear was the only allowable weapon during this season.

The part that really gripes me about this article is the last paragraph.

“The trophy now hangs over Mike’s mantle – a vivid reminder of one awesome day spent interactively immersed in God’s creation and a culmination of many wonderful years spent afield in pursuit of the big one”.

Speaking as a hunter, to be involved in a situation such as described in this article would be a Nightmare to me!

I was not born with the code of ethics that I hunt by nor was I taught it by any one particular person; rather it has developed over four decades of hunting and living closely with wildlife. I have killed deer; I do not know how many as I have not kept count. Not only have I killed while hunting but my work in conservation required mercy killing many times over the years.

To me there is no joy in bringing suffering to any creature. I accept death; for in death there is life. Anyone who enjoys a steak, hamburger, pork chop or even a hotdog must accept that an animal was required to die to provide that meal. I see little difference in harvesting a wild animal for food than killing a domestic animal reared by humans for that purpose. In reality the wild animal in many cases actually lived a better life being free up to the time of being harvested. The duty of the hunter is to accomplish his goal as quickly and painlessly as possible and not take joy in any suffering they happen to inflict when things go wrong.

The above photo is of two young bucks sparring, not of a pitched battle. After a good tussle the two “boys” made up by licking

Ps. Abe, I promise to digress from the hunting issues in my next post and return to unspoiled wildlife and rural photos.

Deer Hunting; Making the Shot

As I review my buck photographs from this autumn this photo stands out.

This capture is typical of the view a deer hunter hopes to see. Very seldom does the hunter get a completely unobstructed view and usually the deer will not stand around for long. To be successful the hunter must stay alert and be ready to react quickly at a moments notice. The ethical hunter will be prepared to do the job safely, legally, and humanely.

A hunter must be efficient in the use of his/her weapon. Nothing will replace practice. Firing a weapon repeatedly from a bench rest; while excellent for sighting in a rifle is not practical practice. Practice must involve shooting from the various positions one can expect in the field. Often overlooked; learning ones limitations cannot be stressed too much. Shooting at living targets is no time to learn that one is not up to the task!

My goal is to deliver one well placed shot that kills the animal either instantly or within a few seconds. Many years ago while visiting with an old friend on deer stand he made a statement that all hunters should consider. Billie said “I shoot deer on my terms, not theirs”. By this he meant that he would not take a shot that he was not totally confident of.

As a conservation officer I witnessed many times “hunters” blasting away at deer they had little hope of ever hitting. Gut shots, blown off legs, blasted jaws, etc were frequently the results of their efforts. More often than not after firing they would not even take the time to search for wounded animals, content that none had dropped on the spot.

These actions by the uncaring have always left me sickened

Lip Curling and the Past Two Weeks

I have had the distinct pleasure of being away from work for the past two weeks. During this time I have spent most mornings and evenings pursuing wildlife. The time was very productive and I will be posting these images for quite some time to come.

Rutting Whitetail Deer have always fascinated me. During the rut bucks that otherwise are primarily nocturnal begin moving freely in daylight checking scrapes and following does in estrus. This in turn gives the Whitetail Photographer the opportunity he has been waiting for. This image depicts a nice young buck exhibiting the lip-curling or flehmen response as he checks for a doe in estrus.

The window of opportunity for photographing rutting bucks in our area was quite short this year with the rut beginning two weeks late. This in turn allowed only a few days action before the rifle hunting season opened, totally disrupting the deer’s normal patterns. With the opening of the hunting season my attention shifted to birds and watching for road-hunters and unwelcome trespassers.


Deer season has been relatively quiet although yesterday we had an incident on our family farm where a hunting guest of a neighbor thought it his “God Given Right” to shoot onto our property and kill a young fawn and then go and retrieve it with out asking permission. Perhaps this individual has a learning disability and cannot comprehend that no trespassing means to stay the “H…” OUT and that includes his unwelcome bullets!

As a footnote we had a problem with the neighbor (his first year living here) last year when he shot an illegal buck on our property, drove his atv in and retrieved it and our District Conservation Officer, allowed it all to pass with only a warning. The Pennsylvania Game and Wildlife Code provides charges for trespass while hunting as long as another game code violation is present. In this case I believe this officer is so opposed to personal property rights that he allowed an illegal deer kill to go uncharged just to avoid pressing trespass charges. He assured me that this individual had “received his message”, now it is quite apparent that was not the case!

Hunting Collage

This is the collage I created of the Pennsylvania buck I harvested this fall. My brother captured the shot of him standing in the field previous to the hunting season. The background is old barn siding.

Deer Season. The End

Although our deer season runs through next Saturday, mine has ended. This morning shortly after first light I bagged this nine-point as he was moving to his bedding area. This buck is considerably larger than average for our area and is possibly the largest I have harvested in my hunting career.

For most of my life Pennsylvania law only required a buck to have three inches of visible antler to be considered a legal buck. Starting in 2002 the law was changed. Since that time bucks in our region are required to have three points on one side and each must be a minimum of an inch in length. The effect of this regulation change has made it possible for more bucks to survive to become true trophy animals. At the same time efforts were made to reduce the doe population. We now have an improved buck-doe ratio and a much better population of large bucks although the total deer population is somewhat lower.. Not all hunters are happy with this change, but how much of a trophy is a yearling buck sporting three inch spikes?

I for one support and appreciate the efforts of our Game Commission in improving our deer herd.

Pennsylvania’s Rural Holiday

Of all the holidays celebrated in rural Pennsylvania, Monday will be the largest. This holiday is always celebrated on the first Monday following Thanksgiving. Schools will close for one to two days. Factories will close for as much as the entire week! Many other businesses will be closed also. The population of our county began to rise Friday and will reach its annual peak by dawn Monday morning.

Hundreds of trucks and SUV’s will be parked by the roadsides. All available camping spots on state forest land will be occupied and blaze orange will be visible in nearly all vehicles moving on our country roads.

What is the cause of all this fervor and celebration? Deer Season!


I now look back at my youth; deer season was a big event for me, it was the time that Dad and Granddad would go out before dawn and oft times return with a mystical, nearly supernatural, mythical creature from the forest, The Buck! The buck would be hung to be admired and later processed into delicious venison.



In this photograph I am posing with one of Dad’s bucks around 1960. I remember his story of how he dropped this buck on what had been my Great Grandfathers farm at very long range. I never knew Dad to take a quick shot, and he very seldom missed. Now with his advancing years he has no interest in taking another deer.

I began deer hunting in 1966. My Grandfather and I set out to hunt the woodlot on our family farm. Shortly after dawn the rain began. Soon it was coming in wind driven sheets. I had no rain gear and was soon thoroughly soaked. I sat at the base of a tree I had picked because of the deer trails running near. In the downpour my youthful patients wore thin very quickly and by 8:00 I was wondering just how long I could hold out! A few minutes later I noticed a deer moving in the brush behind me. In a few moments his head and neck appeared from behind the small pines. A BUCK!!!

I could not believe my luck! My little Winchester 38-40 was already up, the front sight settled in the rear notch, I trained the sights on his white throat patch, as if by magic the little rifle cracked. At a mere fifteen yards, I had taken my first deer, a small eight-point! I felt like a king! I had just accomplished a right of passage into manhood. I was now a Deer Hunter!

Soon Granddad and Dad arrived and helped drag my trophy out. With the rain pouring down, they were glad to call it a day and retreat to the warm dry house. I remember the temperature dropping and by evening the first snow of the year was on the ground.

We never thought to photograph my buck until it was nearly too late

That was forty years ago! I can scarcely believe that time has flown so quickly. I have never missed a deer season, never missed opening day and have never gone a year without harvesting a deer. Many things have changed in all those years, but God willing,

I will be there, In the Woods
Silently
Watching and Waiting For

The Buck

Pennsylvania Bear Season

Today was opening day of Pennsylvania’s state wide three day bear season. When I was young, bears in huntable numbers only existed in the northern most counties of the state. With the habitat changes and reintroduction efforts we now have a growing population of bears in nearly all rural areas.

Of all the game animals in Pennsylvania, only bear and deer must be hunted to control their numbers. Without hunting their population will grow beyond socially acceptable levels. Bears can cause considerable damage and can present a danger to the people who live with them. They will damage crops, orchards, bee hives, livestock, garbage cans and sometimes even homes. The hunting of them tends to remove the more aggressive animals who have less fear of humans thus reducing future conflicts




All bears legally harvested must be transported to a check station. There they are examined by Game Commission personnel. The bear is weighed, a tooth is removed, and hair and tissue samples are collected. The tooth will be examined later at the lab to determine the bears age.

A group of hunters arrived with what appears to be a bear family, a large sow along with two cubs. Although legal, I find the hunting down and killing an entire family of bears appalling.

A Game Commission Biologist interviews a successful hunter. The information he obtains will be entered into a data base. He will record time, date, and location of kill along with the hunter’s identification.

Once the check-in is complete a permanent tag is affixed to the animal identifying it as a legally harvested bruin.

A Successful Turkey Season

I concluded the fall 2006 turkey season successfully with the bagging of this fine gobbler sporting a ten inch beard.

Turkey hunting can be a frustrating sport at times as the birds can be very difficult to locate. Once located the wary birds have a way of frequently making it out unscathed.

This gobbler was the culmination of six full days spent in pursuit of the majestic birds.

Woodland Friends

Let me introduce a few of my woodland friends to you. First we will meet Chip, our friendly chipmunk. Chip is busy gathering acorns for the cold winter ahead. He has been scurrying about busily carrying nuts to his home in the fallen log.

At times Chip stops to rest at the entrance to his home.

Next we meet Pilly, the pileated woodpecker. Pilly can really make a racket! She has been noisily banging away at the trees drilling holes to reach the tunneling insects beneath the bark. As she moves from tree to tree she fills the air with her shrill shrieks.

Last but no least we meet foxy. Foxy the fox squirrel is not happy sharing his woodland with an intruder. He cannot decide what he should do about me, whether he should run and hide or to simply go about his business. As a compromise Foxy decides to sit on the side of a tree and bark to inform all of his forest friends that something is amiss.

A day spent in the woodlands is never a day spent alone.

Hunting

In Pennsylvania the fall hunting seasons are in full swing. Archery deer, small game and turkey are now open, with the muzzleloader doe having closed last Saturday and general deer season only a few weeks away.

The motivation for hunting is as varied as the hunters themselves. Some hunt only for the thrill of the kill and some of those have no concern for the game they hunt or the laws that govern hunting. These are my enemies; I have spent over two decades of my life fighting them. Others are true sportsmen who care deeply about the environment and all of the creatures in it. That hunters were at the forefront of the first conservation laws in this country and with their dollars continue to finance the majority of wildlife protection and habitat improvement projects in our country is a little known fact.

For me, hunting is a time to be spent in our wildlands, in solitude, alone with the beauty of nature, away from the ringing of phones, the hassles of the office, or the traffic snarls. It is a time to slow down, to feel the chilly breeze upon my face, to savor the sweet odor of new fallen leaves, to watch as a single leaf falls to the ground, to watch the first snowflakes of the year, a time to be alone with my thoughts, while at the same time being so attuned to my surroundings that a glint of sunlight or a flicker of movement through the undergrowth is not missed and will reveal the presence of a previously undetected creature.

Hunting is a time to visit old homesteads that have been abandoned for many years. A time to sit and look at the ruins and think what life may have been like in those days. What were these people like, where did they go, what were their hopes and dreams? I can only daydream about it for I will never know. Many lie in now unmarked graves, their names lost to history.

Hunting is a time to pause beside a mountain brook and listen to its music as it makes its way down the hollow, to look at the beauty of the leaves trapped in its flow.

A time to look closely at the bubbles formed for only a moment at the bottom of a miniature waterfall.

Hunting is a time to reach back and reconnect with our early ancestors when their next meal depended upon the success of the hunt. It is a time to again connect with the predator instincts that are genetically encoded within each of us.

This is what hunting means to me.

Bow Hunting

Since the last post concerned the sport of hunting, I thought I would continue with the theme but with a different twist. In the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s I gave bow hunting a serious try. I became quite proficient with shooting the bow as evidenced by this photograph taken somewhere around 1983. This was the culmination of a morning shoot at nearby Raystown Lake. The carp were spawning in the shallows and with a careful stalk I was able to approach within bow range. My oldest daughter is accompanying me in this photo. She is now grown and is the proud mother of our grandson Sage, featured with the pink umbrella in a previous post.

After a few years of shooting I put the bow away as the heavy shooting regimen was beginning to damage my right shoulder causing nearly constant pain. Also I found my recovery rate while deer hunting was unacceptable. As a hunter I believe if one is going to attempt to harvest an animal he should do it in such a way as to inflict the least pain and suffering as possible. I simply can not justify the suffering which accompanies wounding an animal. Thus I quit bow hunting and use only firearms.

Muzzleloader Hunting

Today was the first day of our muzzleloader deer season. I have owned and used muzzleloaders for over three decades. My first muzzleloader was a Navy Arms 58cal. Zouave rifle. The original Zouave rifles were used by some troops in our civil war. I learned the art of muzzleloader shooting with it and spent many an enjoyable hour shooting and hunting before there were any special muzzleloading hunting seasons. The top photo is a close-up of the lock mechanism.

Firing the Zouave
These photos are from my 1970’s archives

The years have sped by and much has changed in the world of muzzleloading; special seasons, new types of muzzleloaders, substitute black powder, and modern projectiles with much improved lethality. Today I find myself using some of the advantages afforded us by these changes. I now hunt with a scope sighted modern in-line rifle with Power-Belt projectiles but I continue to use the real thing when it comes to the black powder. The photo above was taken by my wife while I was sighting in this rifle a couple of weeks ago.

Today the preparations paid off with the harvest of a nice doe.

An Unfair Advantage

Pennsylvania has a long standing tradition of deer hunting. Deer hunting has been passed down through the generations from father to son and so on. Rural Pennsylvania is a land of forested mountains with valleys of farmland interspersed with woodlots. This constitutes ideal habitat for our most sought after game animal, the whitetail deer. The name of our state refers to this woodland, as Pennsylvania’s (Penn’s Sylvania) literal meaning is Penn’s Woods. We have numerous deer seasons based upon what weapon is legal at a given time. Our first season of the fall is archery followed by muzzleloader then modern rifle and concluded by a late flintlock and archery combination season.
The baiting of wildlife for the purpose of hunting is unlawful in our commonwealth and has been so since the very early conservation laws were passed early last century. Many individuals do try to take this shortcut to harvest their deer regardless of the illegality.

The hunters have been preparing for the upcoming deer season for months. The latest bows and arrows have been purchased and many hours have been spent at the range shooting and fine tuning the tackle. The sporting goods stores have been very busy selling the latest of gadgets to improve the hunter’s success. They have braved the crowds in their attempt to get everything just right. They have the latest camouflage clothing complete with carbon scent blocker lining and of course not only their clothing but also their bodies are freshly washed in the latest scent eliminator. Other preparations have taken place also. Since the early days of August a weekly trip has been made to their hunting area to place corn and salt at the hunting stands. This is the one little secret which is kept private among the members. Not a word of it is to be breathed to anyone. As the apples begin to ripen they too are added to the feed piles. Trail cameras are also added to capture images of the deer attending the bait. With all of the technology available our hunter wants to know what to expect before hunting season arrives. Once he has killed his deer he will have something to brag about to his friends and co-workers. He will tell how he scouted the area and located the trophy buck, spent unending hours patterning him to determine his feeding and bedding areas and how he placed his stand at the exact spot in order to intercept him on his way between the two. Our hunter will portray himself as a real modern day Nimrod!

Our hunters are not the only ones busy. The conservation officers have been going about their daily work. Along the way they will on occasion take note of a truck load of corn or apples etc. driving into a lane where they suspicion that no farmer has livestock. Perhaps someone mentions their suspicions of baiting occurring on a neighboring property.

What ever the circumstance it will be investigated. Foot patrols are conducted and evidence is gathered. They too are preparing for the upcoming season.

Opening day our hunters rise from bed early. Perhaps they had a difficult time sleeping while thoughts of large bucks filled their minds. After a quick breakfast our hunters depart for their well prepared ambush spots. They want to arrive early so that the disturbance of their arrival has time to settle before daylight. Perhaps the deer will forget that they are there.

Unknown to them a few hours earlier the officers also left the comfort of their beds, meeting, going over maps and laying out the day’s strategy. One officer will wait a few yards from each hunting stand, well camouflaged. Radios will be turned off to make sure the hunter remains unaware of their presence. Watches are synchronized and the time of the apprehension is decided. The officers arrive at the area and proceed on foot to their appointed spots. A short time after settling in the hunters arrive.

This is the risk many of our less than honorable hunters take each fall in an attempt to beat the system and perhaps get the Whitetail Trophy of a lifetime. Sometimes they do, but sometimes what they get is totally unexpected.