With the Whitetail Rut in full swing for the past two weeks I have been focusing all of my attention on this year’s crop of bucks. I have been photographing bucks both in Shenandoah National Park and in my home area of South Central Pa.
The natural habits of the whitetail in both locations are alike but their acceptance of humans is completely different. The park deer are generally acclimated to human presence and go about their day with little regard of human intrusion unless someone invades their comfort zone. If one wants to observe and photograph natural whitetail behavior places like SNP are ideal.
Photographing wild buck in areas open to hunting is a different matter entirely. These bucks are forever on guard for humans as any and all humans are seen as a deadly threat.
The buck pictured here is one of those bucks. Willard and I photographed him this afternoon as he pursued a doe. When he was within 100 yards, even with mating on his mind, the clicking of our shutters was enough to cause alarm. His concern for survival was powerful so that he left the hot doe and fled to into the woodland.
Niiice shot!
ReplyDeletehow lucky you are! i can count on one hand the times i've seen a buck. i've seen many does and a few fawns...but those bucks are certainly elusive. great shot!
ReplyDeleteGood shots Salty, the buck from the previous day is a nice size deer, I don't see them that size often around here.
ReplyDeleteWOW! Amazing that a camera shutter could cause such alarm, enough that the buck abandoned his own pursuit! =)
ReplyDeleteYou are just capturing all these amazing "day in the life of a buck" shots! (My husband is starting to think we live in the wrong state - he doesn't understand why we don't see bucks like this!)
ReplyDeleteHe's beautiful. I'm glad he is wary and will live to find a mate another day.
ReplyDeleteSalty: What a neat capture of the buck in stride.
ReplyDelete...the "Hot Doe" ;)
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