Camera Critters: Pennsylvania Calf Elk-A Difficult Photographic Subject

Whitetail Fawn Update

Things have not gone well in my quest to photography the newly arrived fawns in the local whitetail herd and I have not had another opportunity since the encounter described in the post of June 3rd. The most confiding doe has not given birth yet. I have seen several does with large udders and sunken flanks, but they have not brought fawns to the meadow yet and I have not encountered them in the nearby woodlands where they are certainly hiding.

Thoughts On Photographing Calf Elk

I usually receive some inquiries about photographing the calves in the Pennsylvania elk herd. In a nutshell, I have found it to be a difficult task to successfully photograph them. Like whitetails, the young doe not move about a great deal for a few weeks after birth. The mother hides them and returns to nurse them. Whitetail fawns are usually relatively easy to photograph in Shenandoah National Park as there is a large concentration of them around Big Meadows, but the elk are scattered over a wider area. It also seems that the cows are less thrusting of humans at calving time than the does at SNP and are more likely to run to keep the young from human contact. In addition one is not as likely to see them in roadside meadows until somewhat later in the summer. The birthing period is much the same as whitetails, with most being born from late May through mid-June.

I was in the elk range from June 17-20th of 2008 and had very few encounters with calves during that time. I was concentrating on filming as I wished to complete "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd" and so did not always get the opportunity to take stills in my best encounters. A favorite strategy is to watch an area of prime elk habitat and eventually a cow is likely to appear and a calf stand up and begin nursing. In the case pictured below, two cows and a yearling were feeding in the area and left. Suddenly one of the cows returned and a calf stood up and approached her, but even though I was at least 150 yards away the cow was aware I was there and ran with the calf following.

Two Cows With Yearling Calf

If one comes upon the animals unexpectedly they are likely to run. You need to have the right lens for the situation and your basic camera settings such as ISO already made. A point to keep in mind is to not harass the animals and spook them by trying to approach too closely, but in some cases it is unavoidable such as when one is hiking a backwoods road and suddenly elk bolt in the woods beside them.

An Unexpected Encounter

Perhaps the best encounter was when Ronald "Buckwheat" Saffer and I were walking through a patch of woodlands and a calf suddenly stood up and looked at some adult elk that were feeding some distance away. I captured the best poses on videotape, but did manage to get one good shot with the DSLR.

A Hidden Calf Stands Up As It Becomes Aware Of Other Elk Nearby

It seems that one has better luck seeing the calves after they have gotten a bit older and are traveling with the mothers most of the time rather than spending significant periods of time hiding, so I would expect that July, especially from mid-month on, is a better time to see the calves than in June, but the downside is that they are not quite as photogenic as when they are extremely young (It seems there is nothing quite like the wobbly steps and bright eyed innocence of the very young).

Mid-Late July Is An Excellent Time To Photograph Calves

During late July and August, one is more likely to see the calves grazing in the meadows and periodically nursing from the cows. This is perhaps the best chance of encountering elk when touring by car. The spots fade gradually in August. By September, most have a brown coat and no longer make an exceptional subject especially as attention shifts to the rut and the spectacular sights and sounds of the bulls as they bugle and otherwise engage in rutting activity.

Like all wildlife photography, it is often a hit and miss affair. It can be difficult to see an elk one day, while they may everywhere on the next. One thing is certain, the aspiring photographer must be out and about at first photographic light as the elk quickly leave the meadows, either slightly before or soon after sun-up and they often do not re-appear until very late in the evening. Late morning through afternoon is usually not productive. An added challenge is that many mornings are foggy and the animals are bedded for the day by the time the fog lifts, but if it is not too heavy it can lend a mysterious, wild atmosphere to photographs.

More experienced elk photographers may not agree with the above assessment, but that is the situation as I have observed it in the relatively limited amount of time I have spent in the elk range during summer.

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Camera Critters: The Antlers Develop

While I have seen one fawn so far, most of the local whitetail does have either not given birth yet, or are hiding in the woodlands and tall grass. Rainy weather has also made it more difficult to see deer of any type.

June-5th: Still Pregnant

While the does are preparing to give birth, the larger bucks' antlers are growing quite rapidly. The following photographs depict how much one particular buck has increased in size in two weeks.

May 24th


June 7th

This buck is a two year old and should be quite impressive by the first of July. Antler size is determined by genetics, quality of feed, and the age of the deer. Our area of Pennsylvania is not known for exceptionally large bucks so do not expect to see photographs of huge, exceptional whitetails on this blog. These animals are more typical of what Pennsylvania actually produces, than of those that grace the pages of national hunting magazines. In many cases these deer are pen-raised deer that are bred for maximum genetic potential, and fed with food formulated to produce maximum body and rack mass.

Pennsylvania traditionally managed its' whitetail herds so that maximum hunting pressure was focused on the males resulting in very few living to maturity. The state currently has antler restrictions, which enables many bucks to survive somewhat longer, but few survive the season that they reach the legal threshold. In some areas of the state an animal must have three points on one antler to be legal game, while in other areas, four is the magic number.

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They're Here!-The First Fawn Is Sighted

The blossoming of the poplar trees coincides with the birthing period of whitetail deer fawns in our area. I thought the other day as I photographed this poplar that I had never heard this as a part of folklore when I was growing up. Some of the old timers had a saying that "it's time to plant corn when the poplar leaves are as big as squirrels ears", so perhaps I can start a new "old time saying" in reference to the fawns, such as "when the poplars bloom all day-the whitetail fawns are on the way" (Just kidding, I know it sounds ignorant)

Poplar Blossom

At any rate most of the does have very large abdomens now and their movement patterns have changed. In fact they move about very little and are often seen standing in one spot in the meadows for a long period of time. I take this to mean that they will soon give birth, or perhaps they already have, and the young are lying in the grass nearby.

Abdomen is still large so birth has not likely occurred yet

One of the does I see almost every day still had an extremely large abdomen on Monday evening, but last evening her flanks were thin and sunken, so she had given birth. I did not get to see the fawn or fawns, however and this morning I saw very few does in the area I usually frequent, so I went to a different area and drove a narrow pathway that I mowed on Monday.

Where It Happened

When I reached this area, I saw two adult deer in the extreme distance and they walked slowly into the hay field. Suddenly I saw a small deer coming from the brush and heading toward the hay. I opened the door and got in position with the 30-D and the 100-400mm lens. Surprisingly instead of following the adult deer, the fawn spied me and began running toward the vehicle.

I Have To Check This Out!

What Is This Strange Creature That Is Pointing Something At Me?

At first it seemed the fawn would run up to the vehicle, but then it stopped some distance away, turned and ran into the hayfield.

It's Not Mom, So I'm Leaving!

Even though I am a somewhat veteran of photographing Pennsylvania wildlife, and have had many more dramatic encounters with fawns, it was still exciting to photograph the first fawn of the year.

Camera Critters: Wild Turkey Brawl

Turkey mating season is winding down in our area, and it is almost impossible to hear a bird gobbling, but it seems some of the males are still looking for a good brawl. After several less than ideal mornings, today was cool and clear with patchy fog, a beautiful morning to be afield.

Shortly after dawn a few first year bearded gobblers known as "Jakes" arrived and fed in the meadow some distance away. As the rays of the early morning sun touched the meadow, another small group of Jakes arrived on the scene. Soon the two groups had a tremendous falling out and a violent fight began. It was mostly between two birds, but occasionaly some of the others entered the fray.

The Battle Begins

Anything Goes!

It appeared that they would actually ram into each other, leap in the air and kick at their opponent, and sometimes grab him by the neck.

"I'll Show You!"

This continued for several minutes. The photo below is somewhat unusual because it is hard to tell what body parts belong to what bird. As best as I can tell the tails sticking out to left and right below to the two combatants, while the center bird walked between the two and his tail is not easily visible, as it is not fanned out.

Stranglehold

In time the combatants were totally exhausted, laid down in the grass and rested for several minutes.

Taking A Break

Eventually they recovered and resumed the battle for several more minutes before vanishing into the nearby woodland.

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