The 2013 elk rut continues on Winslow Hill with
some periods being very dead and a good level of activity at other
times. So far no 400 class bulls have been spotted at the Winslow Hill
viewing areas, but it has been reported that the holder of the
Governors Conservation Tag took a 430 class bull in the Karthus area
yesterday. This is a special license that is auctioned off to the
highest bidder. This year the successful bidder could hunt from September 2-November 9th.
I hope that some larger bulls will
show up on Winslow Hill if the rut intensifies next week as it usually
does. As it is most of the bulls are either small or young bulls that
have not reached their prime. Although some of these are very nice,
they are not top tier bulls.
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| Young 6x6 Winslow Hill: Canon 5D MK III-70-200mm f2.8 L IS- ISO 1600-1/320 sec. f4.0 |
At the other end of the spectrum is a bull that is
quite popular with the community of elk photographers. This is "Limpy"
so called because he frequently limps as a result of injuries he
received in 2010. He is now an old bull and his rack is smaller than
last year. I hadn't had a particularly good encounter with him until
last evening.
There was a lot of rain on Saturday
afternoon, but it tapered off into light sprinkles in the evening and
elk activity was good. Odie Swartz and I found Limpy and a small group
of cows at the Porcupine Run-Winslow Hill viewing area and photographed
him until he left the food plot just before dark. He spent most of the
evening on the grain that was planted, which is not the best setting for
photographs. As it was growing late he got in the more natural looking
grass at the edge of the plot, which gave a better composition. It was
twilight by this time, which made a perfect opportunity to see how the
70D performed in low light conditions, but I only took a few frames of
him bugling before he wheeled an ran down over the hill toward the
Gilbert Meadows where several bulls were chasing cows. . My lens of
choice was the 300mm f2.8 and I used ISO 1600. After working with this
photograph I would say the 70D, as one would
expect, does not equal the 5D MK III at 1600 ,but this is offset by
the better long range ability of its' 1.6 crop sensor and its' much
lower cost. This is an excellent DSLR for wildlife.
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| Limpy: Canon 70D-300mm f2.8 L IS-ISO 1600-1/50 sec. f 2.8 |
Another bull that was seen in the saddle earlier last
week was also being seen in the meadows at the Gilbert at the end of
the week. Many have commented that this is one of the wildest bulls they
have
seen in the area. He barks at people who at times are 100-200 yards
away. He doesn't do this when among the herd at the Gilbert, but he
still has that "wild" alert look in his eye.
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| "Wild Bull": Canon 70D-300mm f2.8 L IS-1.4x extender-ISO 400-1/1000 sec. f 4.0 |
Another bull has an impressive spread, but I was
surprised that he is only a 5x6. This bull is also a bit on the shy
side, but not as much so as the one above.
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| 5x6 Chasing Cows: Canon 5D MK III-300mm f2.8 L IS- ISO 400-1/400 sec. f4.5 |
He is shown in hot pursuit of a cow in the photograph
above and bugling in the one below. It was hard to get a good portrait
pose as he was with a large herd of cows and there was usually one or
more out of focus cows in the frame.
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| 5x6 Bugles: Canon 70D-300mm f2.8 L IS+1.4 extender-ISO 160-1/0 sec. f 5.6 |
I used ISO 160 and 1/60 for the above photo as I was
taking video (1/60 sec. is the ideal shutter speed for video in many
cases) and fired a still while it was paused in video mode, without
changing to settings better suited for stills.
Originally published at
Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.
