Summer Whitetails

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.

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.

Wide 7 Point: Panasonic GH 3-Canon 500mm F4 I-ISO 200 1/60 sec. f ?

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.

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.

Deer Sightings Increase With Dry Weather

Whitetail Deer Feeding In Early Morning

 Early morning, a light fog blankets the lower areas, as the faint glow of the yet to appear sun, tinges the atmosphere.  In the cool of the morning, the grasses are wet with the morning dew, but in a few short hours, the relentless rays of the summer sun will absorb the moisture and most deer will leave the open areas shortly before the rays of the sun hit them.  Only a bit over a week ago deer, especially the bucks, were more difficult to see. But then one day it stopped raining incessantly and the sun shone with a brutal power.  Within a short time there was a different feel in the air and the grasses in the more exposed areas withered.  To an experienced summer whitetail person, this meant that deer sightings were likely to increase.

Bucks are more likely to appear--either solitary animals or bachelor groups of two or more.  Earlier small streams provided a plentiful water supply in the  mountains, while lush green  foliage  and plant growth offered excellent forage during the wet weather, but with the onset of dry conditions, secluded meadows that are near  near to streams now provide better living conditions and this makes the animals more visible.  Only some of the yearling bucks actually travel with the extended family groups of does and fawns. Older bucks such as this one have gone out on their own. They may feed near a herd of does, but if one watches closely they will see they that the bucks usually arrive and leave by themselves.

Solitary Buck Leaves Meadow Before Sunrise

While fawns have been seen from time to time since mid-May, this also marks the period that they begin traveling with the does more frequently, or ranging about on their own and browsing on vegetation, and as a result fawn sightings skyrocket. Earlier they spent most of their time hiding in the tall grasses or the forest and nursing from the does.  For awhile they will derive nourishment both from feeding from the mother and grazing, but by autumn they will be weaned in most cases.

Whitetail Fawn In Late Evening

At this time of year more than any other, most whitetail photo opportunities occur either extremely early in the morning or late in the evening.  In the photo above a fawn did appear while the rays of the evening sun were still hitting the meadow, but often the deer appear after the best photographic light is gone.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.