Pennsylvania Elk--Photographing The Calves

Distant Cows and Calves In Early Morning: Canon 5D MKIII-500mm F4

 It is always a special treat to photograph the young of any species and I have spent a lot of time lately documenting the arrival of the whitetail fawns.  This past week I temporarily shifted my attention to elk and traveled to Pennsylvania Elk Country with my primary goal being to photograph  the calves and bulls in velvet.  Most calves have been born by now although it is still possible for a few late ones to arrive.

The family groups are extremely shy--in fact the cows are much wilder now than during hunting season, even after other animals in the herd have been killed.  Part of this may be an instinctual thing, with the cows reflexively trying the protect the calves from any perceived threat, or it may be because the PGC captures several calves each year and fits them with collars and ear tags, which would tend to make any animals that have been around this activity somewhat spooky, or it may be a combination of the two.

Alert Cow and Calves on Winslow Hill: 5D MKIII-500mm F4

 Cows usually only have one calf unlike whitetails, which often have twins.  I am almost certain that the above case is not an exception as another cow was standing just out of the photo frame to the left side and one of the calves likely belonged to her.


On Tuesday morning I filmed a herd at a distance with the 5D MK III and 500mm lens and as usual they quickly worked away from me.  I parked in a nearby parking area and walked into the back country taking both the 5D MK III and the T3i.  I worked in the direction the herd had gone and saw two cows standing about 150 yards away.  One of these was definitely an acclimated cow as it had a numbered collar.  This cow is usually not shy, but the cow that was with her immediately picked me out even though I was partially obscured by brush and was as cautious as though I were after the wildest whitetail deer.  I put the T3i in position with the 100-400mm lens and filmed these elk.  The cow that was not collared started walking in my direction, until it was only 50-75 yards away and then barked at me.  After a time it left to rejoin the collared cow.  I remained in the woods and after awhile these elk started to leave and several other cows and calves came out of a nearby strip of woods and ran across the meadow with these two following.  There is a scenic overlook in that direction so I decided to go there and take some scenic photographs.  At this point I was striding through the meadow quite rapidly as it seemed the elk encounter was over.  Suddenly I noticed a large brown shape to my left out of the corner of my eye, and was surprised to see that it was a calf lying in the grass.  This was only a few yards past where I first sighted the two cows standing together. 

Elk Calf Hiding In Grass: Canon 5D MK III 24-105mm

The young animal was not fearful at all and I photographed and filmed it for nearly an hour.  In time I saw fellow photographer, Paul Staniszewski walking along the edge of the meadow and motioned for him to join me, and he too was able to enjoy this special encounter.

Elk Calf Up Close: 5D MK III- Canon 100-400mm @ 320mm

I have  spent only a limited amount of time in the elk range during calving season, and this is the first close encounter I have had where the light was excellent and there was not too much grass in the road.

Calves will become easier to photograph in the weeks to come, as the herd settles down somewhat and the cows become less protective of the calves.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

More Whitetail Fawn Photos and Video

I have been photographing very little else than whitetail fawns for the past few weeks and so I will share some of the photos and video with you today. We begin with a short video clip of the newborn fawn featured in the last post. It was resting on the forest floor and I was filming it with the T3i with 24-105 lens attached. It stood up and started moving toward me and at that point I dropped from kneeling position into sitting and removed the camera from the tripod as I did so. It is hard to follow focus with a DSLR in video mode, but I kicked the IS in to get maximum stability. The Zacuto finder was mounted in the traditional position. I simply pressed it to my eye, looking directly through the Zacuto as one ordinarily would the eye level finder. This helped to stabilize the camera and the combination of the Zacuto and the sharp LCD of the T3i, made it possible to hit acceptable focus much of the time, which is not too bad, as a traditional camcorder is bad at hunting for focus under such a situation. This is the instance in which the fawn actually nuzzled my clothing.




The three photographs below were taken on the evening of June 7th, when a doe brought one of her fawns into the food plot for a good photo session. All of the photos were taken with the 5D MKIII and the 500mm F4 at ISO 400mm.

Young Fawn Pauses From Exploring The Meadow

Fawn Nursing 

Fawn Pauses From Nursing

Documenting the young wildlife as it explores the bright new world around it, is one of the most rewarding activities the outdoor photographer can engage in.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

A Tale of a Newborn Fawn and The Canon 5D MK III

This morning after the deer left the meadow, I decided to take a walk through the nearby woods.  The Canon T3i with 100-400mm lens was on the video tripod as it  is one of the most versatile lenses for this type of work. I had gone a short distance when I noticed a doe lying flat on the ground about 75 yards away.

This  happened much quicker than I can write it, but I put the tripod into shooting position while looking at the deer.  She was in a brushy area, which made it hard to be sure exactly what I was seeing, but she tried to get up at least twice before succeeding and I am almost certain that I saw a fawn fall out of her.  Whatever the case--once she left there was no doubt that I could see a  fawn still wet from the birthing fluids and it was so unsteady that it staggered about  as it tried to keep its' footing.  I took quite a bit of Video, utilizing the 3x crop factor ,which is available in video mode and then I slowly worked closer.    I found the fawn resting in the understory.  I did not approach it close enough to frighten it,  but I was close enough to use the 24-105 so I mounted it on the T3i. To my surprise, as I was doing this, the fawn  got up and walked to me with shaky steps. I was not able to get sharp still photos of this, as the shutter speed was too low to stop the motion, but I mostly took video and it turned out well. The fawn walked about mewing and at one point actually nuzzled my pants legs before it walked off a short distance and laid down again.

Newborn Fawn: Canon T3i--24-105mmLat 65mm ISO 320

After taking several stills and a lot of video, I left the T3i in position on the tripod and carefully retreated to the nearby meadow where my vehicle was parked and got my Canon 5D MKIII and 70-200mm F2.8 L lens with Gitzo tripod and Wimberley head, as an encounter like this is so rare that I wanted to try for the best quality possible and this camera is supposed to excel in less than ideal lighting conditions.  (I had originally not carried it as it seemed likely that any opportunity would be at long range and I wanted the added range of the 3x crop, which is available in the Rebel body--why didn't they put this feature in the 5D MKIII?--had they done so it definitely would be my favorite camera.)

At any rate, the fawn was still there, but not in quite the same position and I took a few shots before retreating.

Newborn Fawn: Canon 5DMKIII-Canon 70-20mm F2.8 at 73mm ISO 200

Newborn Fawn: Canon 5DMKIII-Canon 70-20mm F2.8 at 200mm ISO 200

 It is an exciting time as the young animals are born.  Soon it will be time to look for the bachelor groups of mature whitetail bucks as they roam the remote backcountry meadows in early morning and late evening, but for now the arrival of the young is the focus of attention.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

The Fawns Arrive

First Fawn of 2011-May 18th Canon 7D-500mm

 Last year I saw the first fawn of the season on May 18th, but I had not seen one this year as of Monday evening. Most of the does in the herd that I see almost daily give birth in early to mid-June with the majority being born within a few days of June 10th.  I noticed  sometime last week that one of the does that did have a distended abdomen, now had sunken flanks so I was expecting to see a fawn soon.  As it was growing late on Monday evening, I saw a tiny fawn walking with shaky steps from an area of tall grasses across a mowed area to the edge of the woods where it vanished.

In a few minutes a young doe approached and circled around looking at the edge of the woods with interest.  When she moved on, I cautiously approached with the T3i and video tripod.  There was the fawn--hidden in the weeds and grass at the edge of the woods.  After filming it, I took several still photos with that camera and the 100-400mm lens, before going back to my stand and getting the 7D and 500mm lens. 

First Fawn 2012: May 28th: Canon 7D 500mm

I saw a fawn in the meadow again last evening, but it was dark and spitting rain, so I only took video.  I will post a clip or so of this in the future as it was amazing to watch the interaction between the fawn and some of the yearling bucks.

This morning found me at the meadow again at dawn, I soon  saw a fawn nursing from a doe at the edge of the woods, but the grass was tall and I didn't get any photographs.  In about an hour I saw a fawn crossing the food plot, but it was too far for good photographs.

At 8:00 I saw a fawn emerge from the tall grass in another sector of the meadow.  This was close enough for good video and I filmed it for awhile and then began to work a bit closer with the 500mm and the 7D.  Just as I got to an acceptable range, the fawn dropped down at the border between a strip of grass and a food plot of oats, Essex dwarf rape, and clover. It was now to close for the 500mm so I carefully worked into position with the T3i and 100-400mm lens and filmed it from several angles, before getting into a head on position.  After I had enough footage, I switched to shooting stills and alternated between the 7D and T3i bodies. 

Young Fawn: Canon T3i 100-400mm at 135mm ISO 160

Many claim the 60D, 7D, and T3i have the same sensor, but this is not the case.  They all have the same mega-pixel rating, but there are differences and this has been confirmed by Chris Hurd who runs the premiere video discussion community on the internet today-- DV Info Net.  I have found the T3i to actually be a better video camera than the 7D, but the 7D beats  the T3i hands down for still photography.  This is mostly because it handles digital noise better, but even it is not that great at ISOs above 640. I recently installed a firmware hack called  Magic Lantern on the T3i in an attempt to improve its' video capabilities, and in my opinion it has improved the video functions of the camera immensley, but it also seems to have the added benefit of giving a smoother, more pleasing still picture as well.

What is "Magic Lantern", many will ask.  That is definitely a subject for another time, but suffice it to say it is not for the casual user nor the faint of heart.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill