Summer Bucks-It's Not All About The Megapixels

Whitetail Antlers Are Fully Developed By Early August

The antlers on the mature whitetail bucks are  completely grown by early August and  many of the larger ones will lose the velvet by the end of the month.  Pennsylvania Bull elk lose the velvet even earlier with most of them shedding by mid-month.  Because of this, early August is a favorite time to travel to Shenandoah National Park to photograph bucks in velvet at Big Meadows, since it is good to be in Pennsylvania Elk Country a bit later on to document the shedding of the velvet.

I was recently going through my files from 2006 and reworking some of the better photographs.  Doing so brought to mind a statement that Jim Borden made in a recent post about the quality of a photograph not being all about megapixels.  He was talking about noise in that particular instance, but it still made me think about just how good images from the old Canon 10-D could be when the light was right and everything else came together.  It was only 6.3 megapixels and had severe noise problems in low light, but I held on to it for more years than I should have because of the expense of buying video equipment.  Both the 20-D and 30-D were much better at handling nose, but I passed them by and didn't upgrade until the 40-D came out in the fall of 2007.  The following summer the 40-D malfunctioned at the peak of the fawn photography season, and I bought a refurbished 30-D  to fill the gap and I used it and the 40-D about  equally until the 7-D came out.  The bottom line: however, was that I forgot just how good the 10-D actually was until I started through the 2006 photographs and redone some of them in CS5.  I am not quite sure whether it is because earlier versions of Photoshop did not produce as good results as CS5 does or if the main difference is that I understand Photoshop better--it likely is a combination of the two.  One cannot crop the images as severely as the higher megapixel cameras without the image falling apart, and perhaps printing large enlargements would show a significant difference, but it was a good camera for it's day and it did not have the focusing issues that the 7-D can have under certain situations.

Here is another Shenandoah buck from the same day.  This is not the largest buck I have seen in the park, but he was very impressive.  I don't think the photograph is as good as the first one, because of the right side of the face being shadowed. 

An Outstanding Shenandoah Buck

Be sure to visit Jim and Joan Borden's blog JJ Wildlife Photography for excellent photographs and writing.  Jim is a seasoned, experienced outdoorsman and photographer with an excellent understanding of the technical aspects of photography as well as a deep knowledge of wildlife behavior.  A visit to his blog is time well spent.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Capturing The Special Moments

6x8 In Reverting Meadow

In the last Post, I briefly mentioned that Paul Staniszewski, a frequent contributor to this blog,  has a website, "The At of Elk Photography". The site contains information on his Floral Macro Photog and Elk Photography, a map of the Benezette Area, a guide to photographing elk geared toward the new visitor to elk country, and a link to the PA Wilds website.  Paul reminds us that the site is under construction and the finished product is a long way off, but  he is off to a good start so be sure to visit his site.To do so click Here!

During my recent trip to Pennsylvania Elk Country I only saw one fairly impressive rack bull on Winslow Hill, but I saw him every morning at dawn.  He seldom missed stopping by this apple tree before heading into the nearby woodlands to escape the heat of day. There was a good reason why that he stopped by this tree and it is one of those things that the dedicated nature photographer is always looking for.  If you just drive up and snap a photo out the window and then drive away, you usually miss the special moments, but one must often work a situation as long as conditions are good, to capture the special moments. In this instance it was fascinating to watch him use the top of his antlers to knock small apples off of the tree so that he could feed on them.

Bull Uses Antlers To Dislodge Apples

Bull Strains To Reach Apples

This 6x8 is not an exceptional, nor yet a mature bull, but he is a good step above a raghorn.  Like all bulls on Winslow Hill, this one is trusting of humans. Two large but completely acclimated bulls have been killed near this spot in elk season during recent years.  Now the PGC has launched a public relations offensive in Game News with the last two issues, each carrying a story about Pennsylvania Elk hunting, in an attempt to portray this as a challenging, fair chase hunt, which it may be in some cases but especially not in the areas of Zone 2 on or in close proximity to Winslow Hill .  With the license allocation increasing in both Zone 2 and Zone 8 by two bulls each, the chances for this animal reaching an exceptional size are slim.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Sinnemahoning Visitor's Facility To Open: by Paul Staniszewski

Sinnemahoning State Park Visitor Facility: Photo by Paul Staniszewski-all rights reserved

A new jewel has been added to the crown of the Pennsylvania Wilds Elk Scenic Drive.The official name is the Sinnemahoning State Park - Visitor Facility and it is located 5 miles from the boat launch located at the George B. Stevenson Dam on a scenic road that parallels the First Fork Branch of the Sinnemahoning Creek.

According to Lisa Bainey, Park Manager, the Visitor Facility is completed and they are waiting for furniture to
be delivered by the end of the month and that the official dedication and opening will be sometime in mid-August.

The cost of the facility is $3,782,000.00 and will include a large exhibit/interpretive area, classrooms, visitor services and park administration.The building was placed to take full advantage of views of nearby elk herd feeding plots and other wildlife. Also, the 142 acre Stevenson Dam is known to be the home to a pair of year-round nesting eagles and various waterfowl that can be observed from the boat launch area.. The new Visitors Center is approximately 30 miles from Benezette and represents some of Pennsylvania's most pristine wilderness and is well worth the trip.

Story and photo by Paul Staniszewski. For more information about Paul's photography, elk photography tips, and more, visit Paul's website: The Art Of Elk Photography.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill

Mid-Summer Elk Calf Photography in Pennsylvania Elk Country

PGC Food Plots Cloaked In Heat And Haze of Mid-Summer Evening

I spent most of last week photographing and filming wildlife in Pennsylvania Elk Country with a primary focus on calf elk and bulls in velvet.  The PGC had completed most if not all of their summer mowing program on SGL 311 on Winslow Hill by the end of the week.  With sufficient moisture the grass soon grows enough that it provides excellent forage for wildlife and is more pleasing in appearance, but with the region  suffering from a severe drought, many of the food plots that had been mowed had a burned desolate appearance and little wildlife was to be seen in them. Even without rain this should improve to a certain extent in the weeks to come, but a soaking rain would make the meadows explode with life.

There were a lot of cows and calves to be seen, but photographic conditions were extremely difficult as most of the encounters occurred when it was too early or too late for the cameras to work well, or the range was too long or the cover too tall.  Most of the elk were attracted to the grain that is planted in the reclaimed areas of The Saddle and in many areas it was too tall to see the calves.  I finally found several calves in a good situation early Friday morning. 

I had seen them near the ponds on Dewey Road on one other morning and again on Thursday evening, so this seemed like the best chance for success on Friday morning, but first I checked a nearby meadow where I had seen a bull throughout the week and he was there. Paul Staniszewski arrived shortly after I did and we photographed the bull for a short time, but I left for the ponds as soon as possible so as to get there before sunrise.  There was a large herd of cows and calves in the meadow around one of the ponds.   Initially I filmed the elk with a Canon Rebel T3i and the 500mmF4, but then decided to try for still photographs and mounted the 7D and 500mmF4 on the Gitzo tripod with Wimberley Head and the XL-H1 video camera on the video tripod.  It is hard enough to get either good stills or video segments, but just try alternating between the two sometime or even shooting both simultaneously.   It is difficult, but regardless of this,  I did get some acceptable photographs and video clips.

Calf Nursing On Pond Bank: Note light fog on reeds and grasses to left of elk.

Paul soon arrived and got some photographs, but soon the rays of the sun  touched the tree tops, and before long the elk went into the hollow between Dewey Road and the food plot to the south.  We were discussing the results of the morning shoot when Paul said, "look there", and two calves came running onto the  pond bank directly across from us. I quickly framed one of them and took several photographs.

Calf Standing On Pond Bank

Calf  Reverses Direction

At this point I realized the other calf was not in sight and looked to my left, searching for him.  Paul was frantically firing away at another spot and I suddenly realized I was missing the best action of all as the other calf was drinking from the pond!  I tried to compose the shot, but there was too much grass between me and the calf.  Taking a few steps to the side helped somewhat and then the calf lifted its' head and I was able to capture it with a water droplet dripping from its' chin.

Calf  After Drinking

The calf did not return to drinking but rather in a few moments rejoined its' companion on the pond bank and together they went into the woods to escape the searing rays of the sun as the rest of the herd had already done.

Originally Posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.