Pennsylvania Elk Calves In Late June

Elk Calf  In The Rays of The Early Morning Sun

Most elk calves are born in the period from mid-May through mid-June with a few being born later. I seldom go to Pennsylvania Elk Country during the peak of the birthing period because I concentrate on whitetail fawn photography at this time, and go to elk country only after most of the fawns are born.

This year was no exception, and I didn't get there until June 19th through the 23rd.. I saw plenty of calves, but they were mostly too far for good still photography or they were in situations where it was difficult or impossible to get the camera in action.
 

Cow and Calf Cross Road At Woodring Viewing Area

This is mostly because the elk are very protective of the newborn calves when they are most vulnerable within the first weeks of life. Also the annual calf capture and tagging program to gather biological data is  still underway or just finished recently so the elk  may be expecting to be pursued when they see humans, which contributes to their skittishness.

Alert Cow Looks For Danger

It didn't help the calf photography either that I mostly concentrated on taking video and  spent a lot of the time in areas where one was more likely to see bachelor groups of bulls. Nonetheless,I did spend most mornings looking for  calves and it paid off on Thursday morning  when I found a nursery group and they gradually drifted my way and came close enough for good still photography.

Cow Nurses Calf

Cow And Calf Nuzzle

Cow And Calf In Early Morning Sun

As regular readers are well aware, I have not posted since October 23, 2016. When I made that post I expected to continue full-bore, but then days turned into weeks and weeks into months and it was very difficult to begin posting again.

I am not sure if I will continue to post regularly, but I do hope to make another post in the near future about the bulls I filmed and photographed during the trip and perhaps make a short video. This post is dedicated to Ron and Gail Thoma for encouraging me to continue.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Video Highlights From Mid-August Trip To PA Elk Country

I realize that most elk enthusiasts are mainly interested in the elk rut that is now underway, but for today I wish to post a short film featuring highlights of  the mid-August trip to Pennsylvania Elk Country.

It opens with a Beaver and Cedar Waxwings feeding one evening in a remote wilderness area,  then shifts to a large bachelor group of whitetail bucks and a bull elk that has not  yet shed the velvet. Next, you get to see clips of a calf elk that show how the spots are fading, and bulls in various stages of shedding the velvet.

It then returns to the wilderness area. As noted before, the evening began with filming the Cedar Waxwing's and the Beaver. As it grew late a few whitetail deer appeared but at this point  it didn't seem likely that elk would be seen, but then I noticed a deer  feeding in an area of bushes and tall grass  beyond the meadow. While looking at it through the lens, I was startled when a set of shining, bare elk antlers came into the finder as a bull came walking through the brush toward the meadow.  I pressed the record button and began filming.  Soon a larger bull and a cow came into view and then in a few moments a herd of elk came pouring into the meadow.

To show how rapidly it was growing dark,  I began filming at ISO 1600 at 8:21 p.m.and I was using ISO 5000 when they came into the meadow at 8:27 p.m.and a short time later I was at ISO 6400, which is the maximum for the Panasonic GH4. I like to keep the ISO as low as possible and when I get on 1600 I will drop to 1/30 sec. shutter speed if necessary before changing to a higher setting.  1/60 is the recommended shutter speed for shooting video  at 30 frames per second, but I have found that if action is not too rapid that it is possible to get reasonably good footage at 1/30.

For those who are interested in such things all of the footage shown today except for the still of the shed velvet and the non-typical bull horning bushes were taken with the GH4 with the old model Canon 100-400mm L lens and either the Metabones Speedbooster or Smart Adapter.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Mid-June In Pennsylvania Elk Country

5x7 On Winslow Hill

I spent most of last week in Pennsylvania Elk Country, meeting with some of the members of The Support PA Elk Facebook Page and photographing and filming the wildlife of Pennsylvania Elk Country. This was my first trip there since late March and I wish to thank members Charlie Cropp and Paul Staniszewski for doing most of the work on the Support Elk page since that time.

Most of the calves have been born by now.  Each year a number of calves are captured to gather biological data, and the animals may be fitted with ear tags and in some cases radio collars.  This program was still underway  while we were there and we got to observe the team at a distance as they finished processing a calf at the Woodring Farm on Wednesday morning.

Team Processes Calf While Cow Looks On At Woodring Farm

 The team was composed of both professional conservation agency employees and volunteers, with the PGC Elk Biologist, and the KECA Biologist included on the team along with  Widlife Conservation Officer, Jason Wagner and Land Management Officer, Colleen Shannon.. According to WCO Wagner this was the last day they were capturing calves this year.

I saw a lot of calves at times. As is my usual experience at this time of year, they were a bit on the shy side and it was hard to get good photos or video, but nonetheless I did get a few usable still photos.  Both of the photos below were taken while I was standing watch from a parking lot beside a marshy area with ponds on Dewey Road, but they were taken on different mornings.  In the first case elk were feeding near the site of the old Gilbert House and for whatever reason suddenly came running down the hill and across Rucki Road.

Running For The Woods

I was in the same area briefly on Friday morning when a cow and her calf quickly crossed the wetlands.  In both cases the elk were far away and the photos are cropped substantially even with using the 600mm F4 lens. The second encounter was an especially challenging situation as the animals were in the shade, but the sun was shining in the top portion which made the highlights difficult to deal with.

Crossing The Wetlands

 Friday morning was the best period of  trip for seeing calves  but this encounter was the only one in which I successfully photographed one with the still camera that day . Shortly after dawn I filmed a large group of cows with several calves, with the Panasonic GH4..   I hope to complete a short video of some of the better footage from this trip in the near future  and it will hopefully include footage from this encounter.

The last photo of the day is of the 5x7, taken while he browsed on a multi-flora rose bush along Winslow Hill Road.

Browsing On Multi-Flora Rose

I hope to post a few more photos from the trip in the near future as well as the video.  By this time next month the antlers will be almost completely grown and the velvet will be shed in August. The calves are usually easier to photograph as they are no longer as fearful of predators as they can escape them easier, and the capturing and tagging period is now a faint memory..

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Late March Wildlife-PA Bull Elk Shed Antlers

Herd Crosses Wetlands Area-Dewey Road

After my early March trip to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area to film and photograph the Snow Goose Migration, I concentrated on filming whitetail deer and eastern wild turkey gobblers until March 21st, when I traveled to Pennsylvania Elk Country for several days of filming Pennsylvania Elk.

Today's post features a 2 minute 47 second video of the best clips recorded during this period.  It begins with a herd of whitetail deer crossing a stream and then features two clips of birds and one of turkey gobblers, gobbling and skirmishing.  The action then shifts to elk country where you get to see a large herd of elk crossing a wetlands.  This was filmed on Dewey Road at the Gilbert Farm Viewing Area.  A  herd was grazing at the main viewing spot, while another  herd was feeding near the ponds to the south of Dewey Road.  I was filming the herd at the ponds, when suddenly the air was filled with squealing  and screaming as the first herd came down the hill and joined the elk at the ponds.



Within a short time the entire herd moved on and spent part of the evening feeding near the log cabin on the hill and then later moved on to The Saddle.

Some bull elk shed their antlers as early as late February, but many still have them during the time I was there and I filmed bulls in all of the stages, including bulls that had already shed and were growing new antlers, a bull with one antler shed and one remaining, and bulls that still had both antlers.

This 6x6 still had antlers on March 23rd

 Most bulls that have not yet shed their antlers will do so soon. It will not be long until the new racks will be of substantial size and the new calves will be arriving.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Bull Elk At Long Range-The Panasonic GH4 and Canon 500mm f 4.5

It doesn't seem possible, but it has been over a month since the last activity on this blog.  There were so many things I wanted to write about, but what with being preoccupied with photographing the whitetail rut and other things I have let things slide. I intended to write an article or a review long before this about how the new parking and viewing areas worked out on Dewey Road in Pennsylvania Elk Country  but that has not happened as of yet. Hopefully I will get to this soon.

To prepare for the article, I spent two weekend evenings there during the peak of the rut, documenting how humans and elk adapted to the new situation. While doing this on Friday evening, September 25th, I noticed a large 7x7 or 7x8 bull come into the food plot near the log cabin on the hill.  ( I  give these details as many if not most blog readers will know exactly where I mean) At that point I was behind the stone wall at the upper end of the upper Gilbert Farm meadow and took a photo with the full frame Canon 5D MK III and the 24-105mm F4 lens at 105mm. I have never been certain how far this is as my Bushnell range finder will not read that far.  I can usually get accurate readings with it in ideal conditions to somewhere between 300 to 400 yards so I would assume it is further than this and perhaps quite a bit further.  We can safely say as the old mountain men did that the bull was, "a right fur piece away".

Elk are barely visible on hillside in front of campers and cabin with 105mm on full frame camera

Since this was the most impressive bull I had yet seen here this year I broke out my tool of choice for extreme long range filming, which is a Panasonic GH4 fitted with an old Canon 500mm f4.5 FD lens and I walked to the edge of the new parking lot near the entrance from Dewey Road and set the rig up and filmed several clips of the action.



For me the main attractions of the GH4 are that it films in 4K mode and also features an ETC mode, which basically reads a 1080P or Full HD frame from the center of the sensor so that it has a crop factor of 5.2. This gives the 500mm a 35mm full frame equivalent of  2,600mm. There is some controversy about this figure and it varies with the source, but suffice it to say that it is powerful enough to be an extremely effective long range tool.  Many ask why one wants to shoot in 4K when 4K displays are not yet the standard or even commonly available.  The long and short is that it enables one to crop extensively in post-production and still have a high resolution image.  Is it better to use the ETC mode or is it better to crop to an equivalent size? I don't know for sure, but I often prefer to shoot in ETC as it gives a dramatic up and close image in the finder.
 I only use this rig in certain specialized situations as in many cases it is too powerful to easily find the subject.  While it is very good for filming small birds, it is difficult to locate them in the finder  unless they are perched conspicuously on a branch in the open..  The same is true of flying birds such as waterfowl, eagles, etc., so for general purpose, medium to long range use, I much prefer to use the old model Canon 100-400mm L lens.  With it one can quickly zoom wide to locate the subject and then slam the zoom back to the composition that you want to film.  Since I use an external monitor and manual focus with these lenses, I can begin focusing as soon as I stop zooming, while with the new model 100-400 you must shift your grip from the zoom ring to the focus ring.

Cheap adapters are available to mount the Canon EOS lenses to Micro 4/3 cameras, but they do not control the aperture so they are of very limited use for video. I use either a Metabones Smart Adapter or Metabones Speed Booster to attach the EOS lenses to the camera These adapters allow the Panasonic cameras to control the aperture, utilize  the image stabilization of the Canon lenses ,and permit auto-focus. I do not use the auto-focus: however, as it does not perform  acceptably well--at least with my rig.

With the Smart Adapter the focal length retains the full crop factor of the Micro 4/3 sensor of the GH4, and f stop value remains the same as the lens on a Canon body which is f4.5--f5.6 with a 100-400mm.  With the Speed Booster the crop factor is reduced, but one gains low light performance with the lens becoming a f3.2--f4.0 and it has the same equivalent focal length as when it is mounted on a Canon APS-C crop sensor camera such as the 7D MKII.

The Canon FD lenses were made back in manual focus and manual exposure days and they have aperture rings to select the f stop.  This makes them naturals for adapting to a wide variety of modern cameras for special purpose use, without having to invest in a complicated electronic controlled adapter.  In the case of the GH4 and the 500mm I use a Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter, which is available from Amazon.com for a bit over $20.00. While the Canon FD lenses have not been manufactured for many years, most of the reputable internet dealers such as Adorama, B&H, and Keh usually have a good selection of these lenses in their used department. Although these are usually the smaller fixed power and zoom lenses, 500mm and 600mm lenses are available from time to time.

If you already have an EOS telephoto, it may be best to  buy the Metabones adapters as the current 500mm and 600mm lenses are f 4.0 vs the f 4.5 of the FD, and you are able to gain this long range ability with only the cost of the adapter,  but if you are solely a Panasonic user and own no EOS lenses, the FD lenses may be worth considering as both the adapter and the FD lenses will be much cheaper than buying the new EOS lenses and Metabones adapters.  I bought my 500mm FD because the Metabones adapters were not yet on the market and the adapter I was using with my EOS lenses left a lot to be desired. Would I buy it today if I had it to do over again?  Probably not since I already have the EOS lenses and the Metabones  adapters, but I have never been sorry that I got the lens and I continue to use it regularly for long range filming.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

2014 Photo Accomplishments

Today I would like to share two images with you that were published in 2014. Both were somewhat unusual images.  The first is of "Limpy" the great Pennsylvania bull elk that thrilled numerous wildlife watchers and photographers for years before being killed in this year's elk season.  He was most likely the most photographed bull in the state in recent years and his images graced  several publications. This year I submitted a photograph of him to Pennsylvania Magazine for consideration in their 2014 Photo Contest.

Limpy-2013: Canon 70D-Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II @ 200mm-ISO 400-1/800 sec. f 5.0

The photo was taken in The Saddle at 6:47 on Wednesday September 25, 2013 as the sun was about to set.  Many will recall this evening as a lot of elk enthusiasts were there to witness the dramatic events and stunning scenery.  At the time I recalled how the  crew from Wild Horizons, who filmed in The Saddle a few years ago, preferred to film in dramatic light and I worked to exploit the situation to the best of my ability as this was definitely dramatic light.  I have never been sure that I made the best choices in the situation.  Perhaps I should have exposed for more detail on the elk, but the way it is shown above is the outcome I had in mind when I pressed the shutter.

Whatever the case, it captured second place  in the Wildlife Diorama category, while Ronald Kauffman of York won first place with a dramatic photo of an eagle flying from a nest and Donald Biresch of Ottsville captured third place with a dramatic photo of wolves photographed at The Wolf Sanctuary of Pennsylvania in Lancaster County.    Winning photos and those earning an honorable mention in the Wildlife Diorama category were published in the September/October issue of Pennsylvania Magazine.

I was also pleased when Bugle Magazine chose the Overlook Bull photograph that was feature in the September 29, 2014 post, "Elk Activity Is Now Spotty" to accompany a short article about the co-operative effort between The Pennsylvania Game Commission and The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to acquire the Woodring Property.

Overlook Bull:  Canon 70D- Canon 17-40@ 39mm ISO 100-1/60 sec. f 5.0

This is an unusual image and I have mixed feelings about it, but as one photographer pointed out it is a different type image than what one usually sees from Pennsylvania Elk County.  When I saw the situation I had no chance to change anything, I had to go with the camera and lens that was on my chest ready to go.  I have seen a lot of elk around this overlook, but never on it with the mountains visible behind.  The light was very contrasty and it would have been impossible to get acceptable quality with film or with a straight-out -of- camera jpeg image with a digital camera.  As it was, the original RAW file is washed out over the mountains and the side of the elk and tree trunks are deeply shadowed. Even though the mountains and sky were too bright the detail was not washed out and it was easy to bring it to the correct exposure in Adobe CC Camera Raw.  The shadows slider was used to bring out detail in the dark areas, and other tweaks were used as well such as dodging and burning, etc. The end result has somewhat of an HDR look to it. At any rate it is a photo that will always stand out in my mind because of the unusual circumstances under which it was taken and because it was published by Bugle Magazine.

I wish to thank the faithful readers of this blog  that have supported me on the issues through the years and to the many who have purchased "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd" and "Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country".  Also a special thanks to those who helped me in the making of the films.  Your assistance is deeply appreciated.  A Happy and Prosperous New Year to all.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Summer Bulls In PA Elk Country

Bulls ordinarily travel in bachelor groups during the summer months and I spent a lot of time in early morning and late evenings trying to locate them during the past weeks trip. A lot of the bulls I saw have great potential, but they needed to grow several more years to be impressive bulls.  The animal in front in the photo below is a great example.  He certainly has a lot of points, but the rack is lacking in overall mass and the bull behind him is smaller.  They were part of a bachelor group of 7-8 bulls.  One had a bit wider spread, but the points were not as well developed.

Young Bulls

Most of the other bulls that I saw were traveling in bachelor groups also.  The composition of these groups is not static and it is possible to see a bull with several others on one day and then see him on the next day with another group of bulls.  I would expect that at times the entire group combines in one large bachelor group.

The photos below are portraits of single bulls, but they were traveling with a bachelor group in both cases with no cows or calves in the meadow with them. These were the largest bulls in the herd that day and most of the bulls with them were larger than those posted in the first picture. The first has a beautiful typical rack.

Typical 6x7

The most impressive bull photographed was one that I believe to be the famous "U Bull"  He was named this a few years ago, by some of the dedicated elk photographers.  I have not had a reasonably close encounter with him until this instance and am not an authority on his characteristics. Whatever the case he appears to be of the same genetic line as the "Crazy Legs" bulls.

"The U Bull"- An Impressive Non-typical Bull

There seems to be quite a few bulls that have this genetic trait.  One was featured in the last post and I saw at least two more small bulls that show the same type of antler configuration.

All in all things seem promising for great photo opportunities during the coming rut.  Most of the bulls will be of small to medium class, but at least a few should have impressive racks. As of yet I have seen no 400 class bulls and will not be surprised if none are seen on the hill this fall.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Mid-July Wildlife In PA Elk Country

Today's post features wildlife from this week's trip to Pennsylvania Elk Country.  As usual I am doing most of my shooting with video and have gotten some good footage of a variety of subjects.  I will hopefully post some of the video clips in the near future

Waiting In The Wilderness For Wildlife To Appear-Panasonic GH4 In Standby Mode

While video usually comes first with me I have gotten a few still photos.  The first is of a bachelor group of young bulls that frequents the meadows along the upper end of Winslow Hill.

Bachelor Group Along Winslow Hill Road

I photographed two respectable whitetail bucks while checking out a remote, wilderness area.   This was a bit far for good stills from the GH4 and the 100-300mm and I had to crop tightly for good composition.

Wilderness Whitetails

Unfortunately I did not see any large bulls in the wilderness areas, but I did photograph a few decent bulls in the area immediately surrounding Benezette.  Bulls are usually seen either very early or very late and the one immediately below was taken at 5:56 a.m.  It was a heavy overcast morning with scattered areas of fog, which made the 300mm f 2.8 the lens of choice.  The shot was taken from a tripod at ISO 1600-1/100 sec. f2.8.

Early Morning Bull

A bit later I found the largest bull of the trip so far.  This bull appears to share the genetic characteristics of the famous bull "Crazy Legs" and "Crazy Legs, Jr".

Bull May Be Descendant Of "Crazy Legs" Line

So far I have taken no good stills of calves, but have I gotten a lot of video of them. It seems it is too easy for me to get sidetracked concentrating on bulls.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Bulls, Birds, And Calves

The primary focus of my annual mid-June trip to Pennsylvania Elk Country is to photograph the elk calves, but they were extremely skittish as I noted in the last post.  I got the only decent calf photo of the trip on Friday morning.  As is so often the case it was extremely foggy and I was cruising the hill waiting for it to lift a bit when I saw a small group of cows with one calf  about 25 yards from the road.  I parked well off of the roadway.  Since the grass was tall I made no effort to set the tripod up, but instead stood on the door sill of the SUV, rested the 5D MKIII with 300mm f2.8 lens over the top of the vehicle and fired several frames.  It is good that I did not try to get the tripod as the elk stood there less than a minute before running away.

Foggy Morning Calf

When one is looking for calves it is also common to see different species of grassland birds.  I have seen Bobolinks for years, but always took video before and never got an acceptable still photograph of one until Wednesday morning when I photographed one with the Canon 70D and the 600mm F 4.0 lens.

Bobolink

It was a bit more difficult to see bulls, but a young bull was seen most mornings and evenings feeding or resting along the edge of the food plot near the log cabin on the hill at the Porcupine Run/Winslow Hill Viewing Area.  In this case I took video for some time with the Panasonic GH4 and 100-300mm Lumix lens before switching it to still mode and firing a few still frames.

Young Bull With Cows

I actually found quite a few bulls and some were of respectable size for young animals, but none were had the potential to grow truly exceptional racks this year.  The 5x5 shown below was one of the largest seen on this trip. He was traveling with a bachelor group of three bulls and was the largest of that particular group.

5x5 Bull Peers At Camera

Some would call this a large 5x5 while other veteran elk photographers would chuckle and comment that large and 5x5 are not compatible words.  Whatever the case there seems to be quite a few bulls of this size class out there this year and I plan to post some more photos of them in the near future.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Looking Back-Elk Photos From 2000

Friday September 29th was the last day of my 2000 trip to photograph the elk rut.  I like to get an early start for home so I decided to drive up Winslow Hill to check the viewing areas and the roadside meadows for a few hours before leaving.  Billie Cromwell, who shot a lot of the rut footage for the Game Commission's elk video, "Pennsylvania Elk: Reclaiming The Alleghenies"  rode along that morning.  I can't recall everything we saw, but the highlight  was when we found two bulls chasing cows in an overgrown meadow  near the Devil's Elbow area.

This was before the days of digital and meta-data files that records camera settings so one had to rely on memory or notes to recall what equipment was used. I was a poor record keeper, but if my memory serves me right the above photo was taken with a Canon Rebel X with Kodak ISO 800 print film.  The lens would have been either a 75-300 EF IS, or a Canon 35-350 L lens.

I began photographing in 1974 with a Minolta SRT 101 and 50mm 1.7 lens and eventually bought several low to mid-range telephoto lenses.  I used these lenses with a variety of Minolta bodies until late 1990 when I switched almost exclusively to video.  I got the Canon L2 camcorder in 1997, which accepted Canon mount 35mm lenses by use of an adapter and bought a Canon 75-300mm EF IS lens for long range work.  This move eventually led me back into still photography.  The Minolta equipment was old, battered, and outdated.  Shooting stills with it meant that one had to carry lenses and cameras for two different mounts, so it was a no brainer to get a Canon body for use on the 75-300mm.  Since my primary focus was video I bought an entry level Rebel X with kit lens for $180.00 at Walmart.  This was $70.00 less than I paid for the SRT 101 and kit lens back in 1974. The Rebel felt chintzy compared to the Minolta SRT cameras, but it was much more reliable as a lot of the moving parts had been replaced with electronics as technology advanced.  As is so often the case with me, I soon decided that I needed another camera body so that I could shoot both slow and fast color film, so in August of 200 I bought a Canon Elan II body, which I carried loaded with Kodak ISO 200 print film, while the Rebel was loaded with Kodak ISO 800 print film.

Light levels were low when this encounter began so I photographed the larger bull with ISO 800 film and then switched to the Elan II and ISO 200 to photograph the smaller bull.

 Both bulls were 7x8s if I am counting the points correctly.  The photos were scanned to digital files with a Canoscan 2710 several years ago and were reworked in Adobe camera raw with final tweaking in Photoshop CC before posting. I was searching through my files for photos of bull 36, better known as "Fred" or "Dogrope", when I came upon these photos and felt moved to share them.  One must realize that film ruled at the time. I was dreaming of better lenses and camera bodies, but the though never crossed my mind that film  would be  replaced with digital in a few short years.

Those that are relatively new to Pennsylvania elk photography may be amazed to find that high end professional lenses were rarely seen on Winslow Hill until after digital replaced film.  Ronald "Buckwheat" Saffer had his Canon 300mm f2.8 L lens, a gentleman was there each year with a Nikon 500mm and I saw well known outdoor writer Bob Steiner on a few occasions with his 500mm Nikon, but mostly one saw point and shoot cameras and entry level 35mm SLR cameras with low to mid-range lenses.  Back in those days you could draw attention shooting a 100-400mm L lens with people walking up and saying, "that's some lens you have there".  Now all of the big primes such as 300mm, 500mm, and 600mm are commonly seen and I think it is because of digital.

In the days of film a serious shooter spent a lot of their funds available for photography on film and processing. The ability to shoot massive numbers of shots and delete unwanted ones in the digital age made it possible for many more people to become better photographers and to afford to buy better equipment.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.


  

As Elk Expo Nears, Bulls Shed The Velvet

While humans prepare for the Elk Expo to be held at Elk Country Visitor Center on Saturday and Sunday...

Elk Country Visitor Center

Benezett Store Workers Prepare Booth

...the elk continue with their daily lives--unaware of all the attention that is being directed their way by the outdoor community.

Bulls Are Now Shedding The Velvet

Be sure to stop by the Benezett Store Booth at the Expo  and check out their selection of merchandise including books and videos about the elk herd and Pennsylvania Elk Country.

New Elk Photo Book To Be Available At Elk Expo

Please stop by Benezett Store's booth at the Elk Expo  to see "Pennsylvania Elk", a 56 page photo book edited by Marci Geise and featuring work by nine photographers.  Marci Geise and other artisans will be on hand to discuss their work although  it is not certain at what times individual artisans will be there .  The expo will be held on August 17th and 18th at Elk Country Visitor Center located on Winslow Hill near Benezett.

You may read detailed profiles of the photographers at paelkartists.blogspot.com.

Also be sure to check out other merchandise offered by the store.  The store is not able to process credit cards at the Expo, but they are accepted at the store.  The book will be available for sale at the store after the  Expo is over.

Late June in Pennsylvania Elk Country-Part 1

Foggy Morning Sunrise: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II @ 182 mm-ISO 100 1/1000 sec. f 11

I spent most of last week in Pennsylvania elk country with the primary purpose of the trip being to photograph and film elk calves. As it turned out, I saw a lot of calves, but they were usually at a long distance and were moving.  On a few occasions I did see a cow walk up to where its' calf was hidden and the calf stood up and nursed, but in two instances the range was too long for dramatic still photography and the light was harsh with a lot of mirage in the atmosphere so that there was simply too much atmospheric distortion for the big telephotos to deliver acceptable results on the video camera.  Had I been concentrating on still photography and using the 500mm lens, I would have had a few photos of calves to post, but as it worked out I took not one still image of them. As a result I went through the video clips and captured some still frames of calves to post today.

As one would expect, most of the elk were seen either very early or very late.  I caught these elk as they crossed a meadow along Winslow Hill Road on their way to the woods to spend the hot part of the day.

Cows and Calves on Winslow Hill: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 100-300 f 4-5.6-Video Still Capture

I saw calves on several occasions in the tall grass where the old Gilbert farm house once stood, but they were always at a distance and following their mothers as they left the meadows at sunrise.

Calf Follows Mother at Gilbert -Winslow Hill: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 100-300 f 4-5.6-Video Still Capture

While there was some fog on most mornings, it was not so thick that it made photography impossible, but in cases such as the first photo shown today--contributed to creating dramatic film and video.

Cow and Calf at Gilbert-Winslow Hill: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 100-300 f 4-5.6-Video Still Capture

In one instance I saw a calf nursing near Winslow Hill Road and it was so early that I used the 5D MK III with the 500mm F4 to film them, so that I could take advantage of the superb low light capability of the MK III.  Again this is a still capture from a video clip.

Calf Nurses- Winslow Hill: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 500mm F4-Video Still Capture

 The calf is barely visible in the still capture, but shows up quite well in the video clip.  I will try to make a short film of the best clips of the trip and post it in the near future.

There were other interesting subjects to photograph as well and I hope to post more photos of the trip in the near future.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

2012 In Retrospect Part 2

By far the most extensive project that I was involved with was the post production and release of a new film about Pennsylvania's elk herd, "Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country"  While my first film, "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd", did show other species of wildlife besides elk, they were shown only in passing and I decided to make the new film more inclusive.  While it still focused primarily on elk, Whitetail Deer came in a close second, with Eastern Wild Turkey not too far behind.  

Originally I had planned on calling the film "Pennsylvania Elk Country", but as it dealt with the other wildlife that could be found in elk country also, my brother Coy suggested that the "Running Wild" be added to the title and after some thought on the matter I decided to do so.  Coy also provided the cover photograph for the film.  This is a dramatic photographic of the character bull "Limpy" taken at sunset on top of "The Saddle".

Cover Photo by Coy D. Hill

Since Whitetail Deer were featured almost as much as elk, several  buck fights were included.  In my experience, it is not too difficult to film sparring matches between bucks during the pre-rut and rut, but it is very seldom that one sees an actual  serious whitetail fight and I have only filmed a few in my life.  The most dramatic I have seen was between two mature bucks in November of 2002.  In this case a large eight-point was standing guard over a doe in heat. At times smaller bucks would appear, but none would challenge him and they would move on, until a slightly smaller, but aggressive eight-point arrived and pitched into him.  This was back in standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio days and the fight was filmed with a Canon XL-1s and stock lens. Since it was so dramatic, I decided to include it in the film, even thought it was not shot in HD.  It was cropped to 16:9 Widescreen aspect ratio to better fit the format of the film.

Below is a brief segment of the first part of the fight.  




Also while I am on the subject of Whitetail Deer I would recommend that you read Coy's series on Whitetail Deer management in Pennsylvania.  He has written two posts about this on Country Captures, which provide a good balanced look at this situation.

 Whitetail Deer Management: My View Part 1
 Whitetail Deer Management: My View Part 2

He plans to write at least one more segment and possibly two more to cover the subject in the depth which it deserves.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

2012 In Retrospect-Part 1

Mature Bull Eating Apples

2012 was a challenging and rewarding year.  This marked my 38th year of photographing wildlife,my 21st year of video filming, and the fifth year of publishing the Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer blog

I was especially pleased to win first place in the Wilderness category of the Pennsylvania Magazine 2012 Photo Contest.  One is only notified if they place or win in the competition--they are not told the official reason why. I do have a good idea why this photograph was selected, however, and will pass those ideas along in hopes of helping other photographers.

First some technical information:  The photo was taken along Winslow Hill Road at 6:06 in the morning of July 14, 201. The lens used was a Canon 300mm f2.8 lens mounted on a Gitzo tripod with Wimberley Head.  The Camera was a Canon 7D, with ISO set at 400.  Exposure was 1/125 sec. f2.8, with the camera being set in manual mode. Evaluative metering mode was used with the reading being taken from the brightest part of the grass beside the elk.  I captured numerous poses that morning, some of which were portraits of the animal in the traditional alert pose, but most of my efforts were focused on capturing him getting apples from the tree.  In many cases he used the tips of his antlers to dislodge them and then ate them once they were on the ground. The photo above yielded the most pleasing composition as he attempted to reach an apple by stretching for it.

This reminds me of a piece of advice that PGC photographer/videographer Hal Korber shared many years ago.  He emphasized that one should try to capture wildlife doing something.  A certain amount of photographs of animals grazing, etc. are fine, but it is the ones that capture the animal doing something dramatic or unusual that are most likely to be successful.

In summary, I think this photograph succeeded because it captures an impressive animal in a beautiful natural setting,  the photo is technically acceptable, and most of all it captures the bull doing something unusual in an attractive way.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Remembering The 2012 Elk Rut

With the whitetail rut effectively over because of the onset of rifle deer season in Pennsylvania, I find my thoughts turning once again to the Pennsylvania elk rut.  I was photographing one of the larger bulls on Winslow Hill on a rainy mid-September morning when I heard a bugle behind me and turned to find an impressive 6x6 staring at the other bull.  I had the 500mm lens mounted and could not get the entire elk in the composition so I decided to try for a dramatic close-up of the head.

Rainy Day 6x6: Canon 5D MKIII-500mm F4 ISO 640 1/200 f4

Rainy weather can yield some dramatic photo opportunities, and cameras such as the 5D MK III have sufficient weather sealing to make this type of photography possible without one having to be overly concerned about protecting the camera.  I do keep a garbage bag over the camera and lens when transporting it, but have no qualms at all about shooting with this camera and lenses such as the 500mm in moderate rainfall.

Excellent opportunities my also be found when the sky begins to clear, especially in late evening.  In this case a rainbow formed as the sun emerged after a shower and the late evening sun bathed a herd of elk in warm, dramatic light.

Rainbow Forms As Late Evening Sun Breaks Through:Canon 5D MKIII-24-105mm L @28nn   ISO 400 1/25 f 13

Bull and Harem In Late Evening Sun: Canon 5D MKIII-24-105mm@88nn L  ISO 400 1/80 f 4

With the the fall rut over for both species, it will soon be time to focus on other species as winter approaches and in about three months it will be time to photograph the spring waterfowl migration.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Pennsylvania Elk Country: Bachelor Groups of Summer

Fulton County Bachelor Group 2012: Panasonic GH2-Canon 500mm F4

 In my early years of deer watching and hunting I was not aware that mature bucks spent most of the year except the rut in bachelor groups. This was long before antler restrictions,  nearly all of the land in our area was open to public hunting, and there was little respect for the game law. One did not see many bachelor groups for the simple reason that few bucks survived to the age where they formed bachelor groups.  It also seemed that in that period, the outdoor newspapers and magazines did not deal as much with wildlife biology, but mostly with hunting stories and  firearms articles so there was not the awareness of  this concept that there is today and if one did see several bucks together they were likely to assume it was just a happenstance occurrence and not in fact normal behavior.

In time there was a lot more posted ground in my area and larger bucks were seen, but bachelor groups of large bucks did not become commonly seen in my area until antler restrictions were implemented in 2002.  I still don't think they are seen that often by the casual observer, because these animals are more shy than the yearlings and are usually seen in remote, quiet areas and are usually seen extremely early in the morning and very late in the evening.

The point of this ramble about bachelor groups  is that Wednesday morning, July 11th was an exceptional morning for seeing bachelor groups of both bull elk and whitetail bucks.  I traveled some distance from Winslow Hill to check out an agricultural area at dawn.  Shortly after dawn, I saw two outstanding whitetail bucks, but had no opportunity to photograph them.  Moving on, I came to a pull-off overlook a large reclaimed area.  There I saw three bucks.  One was small, but the other two were very nice indeed.  It was too far for good still photography so I took only video, using the Canon 500mm F4 with the Panasonic GH2 hybrid camera.  This camera has a micro-4/3 sensor, which has a 2x crop factor.  It also has an extended telephoto mode when shooting video, which is also about 2x, so in effect this gives the 500mm on this camera the effective focal length of a 2,000mm lens.  It can do this in video mode without enlarging pixels (digital zoom) because HD video is only 2 MP resolution, so it reads its information from only a certain part of the central portion of the sensor.  One can capture a still from the video in either the camera or in an editing program, but the resulting picture is only 2 MP.

Elk County Bachelor Group: Panasonic GH2 Canon 500mm F4- still from video

To this point I had not yet seen one elk, but after filming the bucks I drove on a short distance and came to a field beside the road and it seemed to be filled with bulls.  Parking in a safe place, I  got out and mounted the Canon 5D with 24-105mm lens on the video tripod and took some stills and video of the entire bachelor group.

Bachelor Group of Young Bulls: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 24-105mm F4 L ISO 400 1/60 sec. f8

One's first reaction on seeing this was that the field was full of large bulls, but closer inspection revealed there was not one truly impressive mature bull.  These were all either raghorns or young bulls that still need to live a few years before they can grow impressive racks.

Young 5x5 Has Potential: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 500mm F4 L ISO 400 1/320 sec. f4.5

Even though the bulls were not as large as hoped, it was still an impressive sight and a morning to remember. To emphasize how important being out early is--the elk left the field shortly after 7:00 a.m. and I saw no more elk or deer until that evening.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Winslow Bulls And The 5D MK III

To be honest, Winslow Hill is not the best place to see mature bulls during the summer months--especially with the loss of three of the largest bulls that used this area as summer home range, in the past few years.  With that being said, I did encounter two rack bulls and two raghorns on the hill during last weeks trip.

The first that I successfully photographed was a  6x6 or 6x7 if one counts a small sticker point near the right ear. This was most likely a raghorn last year and is now in his first year as a rack bull.  While very nice indeed, this is still a small bull for Pennsylvania.    I encountered him in a meadow by the side of Winslow Hill Road on Thursday evening at 8:33 p.m. and stayed with him until nearly dark, taking a lot of still photos and video footage of him--all with the 5D MK III and 70-200mm f 2.8 IS L lens.

6x6 Winslow Hill: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 70-200mm f2.8 ISO 1250 1/200 sec. f4

I was back at the same area at the crack of dawn on Friday morning, and again I had the 70-200mm attached.  At first I saw two rag horns quite close to the road, but I never did get good stills of them because as I was trying to set up a good shot, I noticed a large 6x6 coming out of the tree line some distance away.  I took two frames of him, but it was obvious that I needed more power, so I quickly mounted the 500mm F4 and soon was in action with it.  This bull was a bit shy and stayed close the tree line for most of the encounter.  This was very early and the light was somewhat murky.  I used ISO 3200 so as to have a bit of a safety margin against motion blur.

Large 6x6 Winslow Hill: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 500mm F4-  ISO 3200 1/160ec. f4

Both of these encounters are prime examples of how improved noise handling at high ISO settings and larger aperture lenses are a great aid in wildlife photography.  Again I stress that the statements I make are based on limited experience with this camera and are not based on tightly controlled tests, but rather on impressions gained under actual shooting conditions in the field.  The first photo today was of course taken at ISO 1250 and the full resolution file on a desktop monitor seems as sharp and noise free as one taken at ISO 400 or less with the 7D.  It is acceptable for the most critical usage.

ISO 3200 on the other hand is starting to push the limit for something that you would want to enlarge to great sizes, enter in a photo contest, submit for publication etc.  Digital noise is visible, although I feel there is no more than is present in the 7D at ISO 800.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.