2012 In Retrospect-Part 1

Mature Bull Eating Apples

2012 was a challenging and rewarding year.  This marked my 38th year of photographing wildlife,my 21st year of video filming, and the fifth year of publishing the Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer blog

I was especially pleased to win first place in the Wilderness category of the Pennsylvania Magazine 2012 Photo Contest.  One is only notified if they place or win in the competition--they are not told the official reason why. I do have a good idea why this photograph was selected, however, and will pass those ideas along in hopes of helping other photographers.

First some technical information:  The photo was taken along Winslow Hill Road at 6:06 in the morning of July 14, 201. The lens used was a Canon 300mm f2.8 lens mounted on a Gitzo tripod with Wimberley Head.  The Camera was a Canon 7D, with ISO set at 400.  Exposure was 1/125 sec. f2.8, with the camera being set in manual mode. Evaluative metering mode was used with the reading being taken from the brightest part of the grass beside the elk.  I captured numerous poses that morning, some of which were portraits of the animal in the traditional alert pose, but most of my efforts were focused on capturing him getting apples from the tree.  In many cases he used the tips of his antlers to dislodge them and then ate them once they were on the ground. The photo above yielded the most pleasing composition as he attempted to reach an apple by stretching for it.

This reminds me of a piece of advice that PGC photographer/videographer Hal Korber shared many years ago.  He emphasized that one should try to capture wildlife doing something.  A certain amount of photographs of animals grazing, etc. are fine, but it is the ones that capture the animal doing something dramatic or unusual that are most likely to be successful.

In summary, I think this photograph succeeded because it captures an impressive animal in a beautiful natural setting,  the photo is technically acceptable, and most of all it captures the bull doing something unusual in an attractive way.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Merry Christmas & A Short Elk Video

I wish all a Merry Christmas. For an added bonus today, I am posting a short video of the highlights of the 2012 Pennsylvania elk rut.  This is an extremely short (2min.-45 sec.), action packed video of the best action and most dramatic scenes I filmed during the 2012 Pennsylvania elk rut.

The film begins shortly after dawn. Early morning  fog shrouds elk country as the scream of bugling bulls fills the air.  There are several clips of bulls locking antlers in brief fights or sparring matches and three segments of a lengthy dominance fight.  Much of the footage of both elk and scenery is exposed and processed somewhat on the dark side as it was taken extremely early or late and I tried to maintain this type of look.



Cameras used were the Canon 5D MK III and the Panasonic GH2. The Canon 500mm F4 was the lens of choice for the dramatic close-ups and the Canon 24-105mm L was used for the scenic clips.  The lengthy fight that was far away and very late in the evening was filmed with the GH2 and Canon 300mm F2.8 L at ISO 3200.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Deer Wars: Once A Spike--Always A Spike?

At one time it was commonly believed that a spike buck was never going to be anything but a spike, but this is not as widely accepted today.  In my experience it is not ordinarily so and in fact I have not seen one instance of this in a lifetime of watching and photographing whitetail deer.  Neither have I seen an old buck that declined to the point that he only grew a spike rack, although this does seem possible as I have seen this in Pennsylvania elk.

For today's photos, I will post a series of a whitetail buck that was taken from 2007 through September of 2010.  There is absolutely no doubt that this is the same animal.

Buck Whitetail Fawn-Summer 2007

This deer was born in late May or early June and soon came to my attention as it accompanied its' mother to feed in a meadow on most evenings. 

He  grew a modest set of spikes in 2008.  Although I saw him  almost daily, I took few photographs as he was so small.  Most bucks in this area grow antlers ranging from spikes to three or four points during their second summer ( 1 year of age)  with a rare animal growing a six or eight point rack. It seems that most bucks disperse from their home range during the summer or autumn that they have their first substantial rack (many points and decent spread), but many of the spikes and four points, etc. will remain until the following spring or in unusual cases until the rut begins the following fall.

Buck With Modest Spikes In 2008

As it turned out this buck didn't disperse in 2009 and I got to document him as he grew a decent eight-point rack of an estimated 12" in spread. A few years before this had I seen a buck such as this I would have estimated it to be a large  1 1/2 yr old instead of one of 2 1/2 years.

Buck With 8 point rack In 2009

Contrary to all expectations the buck did not disperse that autumn.  He was shot with a rifle in early October, but survived the wound.  Only bow season was in at the time, so this was the result of a failed poaching attempt.

Bullet Wound 2009

It seems likely that this injury prevented him from dispersing that fall as the wound did have a profound effect on him.  He appeared to be very stiff for a long time after this and his neck never became large and swollen for the rut as is normal for whitetail bucks.  He did chase does to a limited extent in November and was in a brief fight, which may be seen in "Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country", but he lost that to a much smaller buck.  Whatever the case, for the first time, I got to see a buck remain in his home territory during his second year.

He did disperse the following May. I had given up all hope of seeing him again, but he returned one evening in early September of 2010.

Buck With 8 Point Rack 2010

He and a buck that was one year younger were traveling together (both had dispersed at the same time). The bucks were still at the meadows at dawn on the following morning, but they left soon after sunup to never be seen again in that area.

I have documented numerous other cases of small bucks eventually growing much larger racks over a period of years, but in the other cases these are bucks that dispersed into my area of operations when they left their home range and I have not been able to photograph another buck from the time he was a fawn until he was over three years old.

Eventually I hope to discuss what I consider to be the major factors in determining antler size and why I think drastic herd reduction is not  the panacea for growing larger bucks that many proclaim it to be.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Deer Wars: Do Antler Restrictions Work?

Dr. Gary Alt was responsible for a lot of changes in Pennsylvania's deer management program during his tenure as chief of the deer management program, but the two features that drew the most attention were his herd reduction program and antler restrictions.  Of the two ideas, antler restrictions was the one that gained the most approval by Pennsylvania's deer hunters, but one still hears some discontent about them at times.

First we must consider if they work.  In my experience they definitely do, as todays' photographs will illustrate, and I can show case after case of similar examples.  This is a buck that I first photographed after rifle deer season of 2011.  This particular photo was taken on the day after Christmas, which was also the first day of the flintlock deer season.

Yearling Spike Buck: Canon 7D-Canon 300mm f2.8- ISO 400 1/400 sec. f 3.5

Before antler restrictions were implemented it is likely this photo would not have been taken as there is a high possibility  he would have been shot during the traditional two week buck season as bucks with spikes 3" or more in length were legal.  As it happened he lived to grow a larger rack as the photo below illustrates.

Same Buck - 2 1/2 yrs. of age: Canon 5DMK II-Canon 500mm f 4- ISO 1000 1/1000 sec. f  4

Some agree that the buck is bigger, but say he is still not a trophy so what is the point?  I for one believe that anything that contributes to keeping a buck alive is a good thing.  While habitat quality and genetics are important to a certain extent--age of the animal is also extremely important.  I have documented one buck that was a small spike in his first year with antlers, a modest 8 point in his second, and an impressive 8 point in his last.

The fallacy of Alt's view of deer management was that he believed these deer should be growing larger racks sooner.  To a certain extent he is right, but only to a certain extent.  Drastically reducing the deer herd in the hopes that those that remain will be larger is absurd, but it is even more absurd to claim that we had better quality bucks before antler restrictions and that antler restrictions will damage the genetics of the herd.  Some are still so hung up on the concept of getting "their buck" each year that they would be perfectly happy to kill a spike and deeply resent having to pass up the little bucks.

Perhaps the poorest argument I ever heard against antler restrictions was penned by a well know outdoor writer who was upset because restrictions eliminated the surprise factor from buck hunting.  In his view one had to look at the deer so much to determine if it was legal that he knew exactly what he had gotten before he walked up to the deer if the shot was successful.  There is of course cases, perhaps many, where determining the legality of the buck does cost the hunter a shot, but in many if not most cases it is a shot that would have been better not taken anyway, and anyway as I see it the important thing is keeping as many bucks as possible alive to be at least one step closer to maturity.

I for one do not intend to ever kill another buck, but I would much rather see a deer herd in which a significant portion of the bucks live to reach maturity, which is the case at places like Shenandoah National Park.  That doesn't seem possible in hunting country, but it is much better to have a significant crop of 2 1/2 year old bucks coming on that is comprised of a large number of decent bucks of six to eight points or more, than for most of the bucks sighted to be spikes and four or six points.

Watch for more on deer management issues as we continue the "Deer Wars" segment from time to time. 

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.