Camera Critters: The Rut Winds Down

The whitetail mating season, or rut, usually peaks around the middle of November, but in recent years has often continued through Thanksgiving week and into Pennsylvania's rifle deer season, which brings it to a screeching halt.

This November was colder than those in the recent past and in fact temperatures were probably more in line with what they should be for this area. This resulted in the rut seeming to come to an abrupt end at the beginning of the week. Mature bucks were still looking for does on Sunday-at least the one in the photo below was- until he heard the frantic clicking of the 30-Ds' shutter.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4

On Monday morning I photographed a 7-point which was still pursuing does, but since then I have seen only small bucks in Pennsylvania. The yearlings that I see on a regular basis, that have not yet dispersed from the herd, are less aggressive, and are more interested in feeding than chasing does. While it is certainly still possible to see a mature buck chasing does, with each passing day it becomes less and less likely.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4

The same held true for Virginia when we traveled to Shenandoah National Park on Wednesday morning. We did see some large bucks by the roadside before day as we were driving to Big Meadows and saw a large buck with a broken right main beam after daylight.

Canon 40-D: 70-200mm f2.8

These animals were not chasing does, but were concentrating on feeding and regaining weight so they might better face the winter months to come.

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Camaera Critters: Sklyine Whitetails

Being an obsessive-compulsive whitetail deer photographer, and with the whitetail rutting season in full swing, my main photographic subject is of course the whitetail deer. Last week Billie Cromwell and I were in Shenandoah National Park from dawn Monday morning until mid-day on Wednesday. It was a successful trip.

After sunrise on Tuesday morning we found a beautiful ten-point buck in the strip of grass between Skyline Drive and The Byrd Visitor Center.

Canon 40-D: 100-400mmL

"Salty" and his wife were there for a morning photographic shoot and arrived at a point in time when the buck crossed into the meadow after a doe and then followed her back to his original spot. Salty arrived on the scene at this point and I captured the buck crossing the road between us.

Canon 40-D: 100-400mmL

The buck remained in the area for some time before following the doe into the nearby woodlands.

Canon 40-D: 100-400mmL

Here in Pennsylvania, whitetail buck photography will come to a screeching halt on the Monday after Thanksgiving week, which is the first day of a two-week rifle deer season. In our area both antlered and antlerless deer may be hunted with the appropriate tags, but in some parts of the state the season will be for bucks only until the first Saturday in December, at which time antlerless deer will be legal too.

There is no hunting in Shenandoah National Park so these bucks are safe unless they stray from the park, but private property is very close in many areas and it seems likely that many bucks are taken each year when they leave park land. In addition, poaching is a problem within the park, but a dedicated Ranger force keeps close watch.

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Whitetail Buck and Turkey Gobbler

The whitetail rut continues here in Pennsylvania. I expected activity to be very intense this week as a good shot of cold weather usually sends the rut into overdrive, but such has not been the case. I did manage to capture this small four-point on Sunday morning when he challenged a small spike quite near to my photographic outpost. I would have liked to have the entire rack in the photograph, but that was all I could get in with the 500mm F4 so it is obvious that the deer was very close. Notice the intimidating look in his eye and how his hair is fluffed.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4- 1 1/2 year old whitetail buck

We had our first light snowfall of the season on Wednesday night, a minuscule amount actually, but that combined with a heavy frost made a stunning backdrop for this mature Eastern Wild Turkey Gobbler to pose against at sunrise on Tuesday morning.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4- Mature Eastern Wild Turkey Gobbler

It has been in the low 20s in the mornings, but the wind chill factor makes it feel much worse. It seems that one is more likely to see wildlife once the sun hits the meadows in this type of weather.

Camera Critters: The Rut Continues

The whitetail rut is in full swing in Pennsylvania and Virginia. I have been dividing my time between photographing the local whitetail herd and those in Shenandoah National Park. Since "Salty" has been posting a lot of Virginia photos, I will post some of Pennsylvania deer for this week's camera critters.

The does are smaller in our area than most of the Virginia does, which seems to be a hereditary factor as the food sources seem to be of equal quality. in our area fawns are almost never bred in their first autumn and most are two years old before they have their first fawn.

In the photo below a fawn which was born this past June, stands with its' mother and surveys the countryside.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4

I love photographing the does and fawns while waiting for the bucks to appear. While I see yearling bucks each day, the larger ones do not always appear. Sometimes one may go a day or so without seeing one and it may appear too early or late for good photography, but in this case a decent seven point appeared in mid-afternoon.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4

This buck is at least 2 1/2 years old and may even be 3 1/2. Deer in this area are small compared to those in states that produce a large number of trophy bucks. Many hunters from this area travel to the mid-western states such as Iowa where they seem to find some extremely large bucks. As for me, I no longer hunt and I am to content to photograph the local herd and what bucks I can find in the National Parks such as The Smokies and Shenandoah.

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