Of Bucks and Birds

Here in Pennsylvania, the mating season for whitetail deer is well under way and it is at this time that the bucks are most easily seen as they often throw caution to the winds in their search for receptive does. The rut has not yet peaked as many of the does are not yet receptive, but still few days go by without a decent sized buck being spotted.

Canon 30-D: 500mm F4

Even though I am primarily a big game photographer, I do enjoy photographing most anything nature related. I generally view birds as a subject that I should devote more time to, but I seldom succeed in doing so, as I am mostly in spots that are less than ideal bird habitat. That being said, for the last few years I have established a bird feeding station in a rock break at my favorite deer observation post. It seems that only a few species of birds are frequent visitors. At present the Tufted Titmouse, and Nuthatch are most commonly seen. It is especially hard to photograph the Nuthatches as they are really hyperactive, but last Saturday evening I succeed in getting what I regard as my best Nuthatch shot to date.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4

Stay tuned for more Pennsylvania and Virginia Whitetail photographs, and more writing and photographs about Pennsylvania's Elk Herd.

Yellowstone National Park-The Lamar Valley

Located in Yellowstone National Park between Cooke City and Silver Gate,Montana at the eastern entrance, and Tower Junction, The Lamar Valley is often called "The American Serengeti", because of its' abundance of wildlife. It is also a place of stunning scenic beauty.

Canon 30-D 17-40mmL at 20mm

It is common to see large herds of buffalo grazing in the meadows by the roadside. Once they roamed the west in great numbers, but fell victim to exploitation and were almost eliminated. Today, they exist in only a few places and are still the center of controversy as they are often shot or harassed when they leave park lands.

Herd of buffalo near The Lamar River
Canon 30-D 17-40mmL at 40mm

A Solitary Bull Buffalo: Canon 40-D: 300mmF4-2x extender

While I usually do not use the 2x extender it did give passable results in the above photo. I find that in most cases it is best to use the 1.4X or the lens without an extender and then crop the photo as needed.

For more camera critters, click here.

Camer Critters-Two Fawns and A Story

If I am not traveling to more exotic locales in search of photographs, I spend most mornings and evenings with the local herd of whitetail deer. As I do, my mind often wanders back over my years as a Deputy Conservation Officer and Game Lands Maintenance Worker and Supervisor for The Pennsylvania Game Commission. Salty and I have lived through enough experiences that we could each write a book about them and yesterday as the early black powder , and Junior/Senior citizen season antlerless season wound down,(today was the last day) I couldn't help but think of an incident from several years ago. This memory was brought on by hearing nearby rifle shots which could have been on the property that I protect, or it could be on a neighboring hunting club. I drove to the area and hunters were searching for a blood trail on their property.

Years ago, Pennsylvania had a two week bucks only season, which was followed by a three day doe season on the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. In those days, most local factories gave the workers the first day of buck season and the first day of antlerless season off, and schools were closed. To be quite frank the day was usually a blood bath. We ordinarily made more arrests on that day than at any other time and sometimes more than we had during the entire autumn before that point.

In this case Salty was to meet me in a spot where he had a clear view of the hunting club. He arrived there about dawn. I was only a short distance away and heard a terrific barrage of rifle fire from the area so I hurried in that direction and asked him what was going on. He said," this is unreal and I don't know what to make of it, but someone came out of the club house and started blowing on a whistle and firing a rifle at deer in the field. He killed at least one, and we need to go and check it out." At that time a club member came driving past us, paused and said that they had a member who was not too bright. A doe and two fawns had been seen in the field in front of the club on numerous occasions during buck season and they were not afraid of people at the club house. The person in question wore a whistle around his neck on a string in case he got lost. Some of the other members decided to play a practical joke and told him that if he saw a deer, he should blow a whistle to get their attention, and then begin firing.

This is what he did. All in all he fired eight shots. As Salty and I stood watching, he grabbed the deer and began dragging it to the club house and we ran toward him. It was illegal to move a deer without first filling out a harvest tag and attaching it to the head. When we got close to him, he asked if we knew how to gut a deer as he didn't know how, and he kept saying loudly,and repeatedly, "I killed my first deer"! The deer was literally shot to pieces as the rifle was a 30/06 and he had hit the deer several times, but most were not in immediately fatal areas. Several legs were broken, a shot or so in the intestines, etc.

It became obvious that there was no attempt to circumvent the system. When most fail to tag, they intending to keep hunting and do not use their tag so that if an officer checks them they appear to be legal--their moment of exposure to arrest is when they are in possession of the dead deer that is not tagged. If they can get that deer in without being caught they are basically home free. In this case it was obvious that he was so excited that he had not even thought about tagging the animal, so we gave him a written warning.

I have thought a lot about the incident over the years, and it is one of many reasons that I no longer hunt.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4 1/125 f8.0 ISO 500

The fawn above is not the animal in the story. It was photographed on Wednesday morning of this past week, and was still alive as of Saturday morning, but it is exactly the type of animal that this "practical joke" was inflicted on. I look at this picture and then I think of the other fawn shot to rags by a "sportsman" who was incited to do it by other "sportsmen".

This is not an attack on conscientious, ethical hunters, who are out to harvest meat for the table, but this type of attitude and behavior is all too common!

For more animal photos click here!

Sky Watch Friday-A Cold Front Brings Dramatic Skies

The passing of a cold front brought dramatic skies to our area one afternoon during the past week. There were brief sunny spells, interspersed with periods of dark clouds, strong winds and rain showers.

At one point there was a stunning rainbow appeared. During it all, the deer grazed peacefully, oblivious to the beautiful surroundings. Their only concerns are feeding, mating, and escaping any danger which may present itself.


For more sky photos click here.