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| Whitetail Buck Feeding in Oats Field: Panasonic GH 3-Canon 500mm F4 I-ISO 400 1/80 sec. f? |
I have frequently expounded on the subject of bull
elk and whitetail bucks spending most of the year either alone or in
bachelor groups, with mid to late-summer being the time when these
groups seem to be the most visible. Whitetail bucks are especially
difficult to see in summer if they remain in the woodlands, but as
summer gets underway and small grains ripen, the bucks become much more
easily visible as they visit fields in early morning and evening to
feed. Corn attracts them as well, but the deer are not easily visible
in the tall corn. Quality grasses such as alfalfa and clover may provide
sustained whitetail sightings throughout the summer, but it seems the
best opportunity for seeing a lot of bucks is when the animals
concentrate at a grain field.
Barley is the first to
ripen in late June to early July, while wheat comes a bit later, and
oats peak by late July and early August. If these grains are in food
plots devoted to wildlife where they are left stand, then viewing can be
excellent for an extended period, but in the case of grains planted in
commercial farming operations, there is a short window of peak
opportunity. There is little use of the grain while it is still green,
but grazing increases as the grain gets that "golden" look and peaks
about the time it is ready for harvest. Any delay in harvesting means a
monetary loss to the farmer so the grain is cut as soon as possible
after it is ripe. Animals may continue to graze on forbs and grasses,
in the stubble ground unless the farmer immediately plows this down, but
if other grains that mature later are in the area, the animals will
concentrate on each variety as it reaches its' peak period of
attractiveness as a food source.
One farm that I watch provided good whitetail video opportunities at a wheat field,
but the farmer had planted bearded wheat to lessen its' attractiveness
to deer and it worked to a certain extent. I still saw some good bucks,
but they were always at long range. Soon that field was harvested and
activity plummeted, so I shifted my attention to a nearby field that was
divided between grass and a strip of oats. Several whitetails were
using this, but most of the bucks were small and they were quite spooky.
There was one nice eight-point and I watched for a few mornings and
evenings before I got a fairly close shot at him with the 500mm F4 on
the evening of July 24th, but he was still far enough away that I
cropped the image significantly to get the composition I wanted.
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| Eight-Point In Oats: Panasonic GH 3-Canon 500mm F4 I-ISO 400 1/60 sec. f? |
Soon the oats were at their peak, and whitetail
sightings increased dramatically, but this was not to last, as the farmer finished cutting the barley
and wheat in the area and it seemed likely this field was next on the
agenda when I arrived before dawn one morning to find the combine and
baling equipment parked in a staging area convenient to the field. That
morning yielded some good video clips, but no good still opportunities.
I
was certain the oats would be cut on the next morning, but decided to
go there anyway as deer would still likely be found in the stubble at
dawn. I parked my Bronco and walked through the staging area on the way
to my stand at the edge of the oats field. The large tractors and
combine looked like prehistoric monsters as I passed by them in the
faint light of early dawn. To my amazement they had not been moved
since my last trip and it turned out that the field was not yet cut.
This morning was simply amazing. I am not sure how many bucks I saw, as
some moved across the field rapidly and at a distance, but there were
several rack bucks. Counting spikes and four points there had to be
10-12 bucks in the field that morning. Soon most of the deer had left
the field, and the first rays of the sun were touching the highest part
of the field when a nice buck walked into the field almost 400 yards
away, soon to be followed by another. The action broke my way this time
and the bucks came across the grass to the oats strip and began
feeding. The only problem was that they were still 200 yards away.
This is great for video, but is a bit far for good still photos. I
already had the 1.4X extender mounted on the 500mm, so I shifted the GH3
to still mode, and took several
frames of each buck.
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| Wide 7 Point: Panasonic GH 3-Canon 500mm F4 I-ISO 200 1/60 sec. f ? |
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| High-Narrow 7 Point: Panasonic GH 3-Canon 500mm F4 I-ISO 200 1/60 sec. f ? |
As it turned out, the combination of the 500mmf4 and
1.4x extender on the GH3 did a very creditable job of capturing the
bucks, This was the last morning to film and photograph the bucks before
the oats was cut. On the following morning it was a stubble field with
windrows of straw running through it. There were still a lot of deer
for a short time after day break, but the light was flat as the sky was
milky from an approaching front, and none of the bucks got in position
for still photographs, although I did a lot of video filming.
These
bucks were not as large as the best Shenandoah National Park has to
offer but they were 148 miles closer to home and best of all they did
not have the horrible collars that have been inflicted on many of the
Shenandoah deer since last summer.
Originally published at
Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.
