Field Notes #21 - Oh deer - Some of Colorado's wildlife
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Oh deer, herd of deer....of course you have heard of deer. Okay, okay, putting the corny dad jokes aside.
This time of year is always a good time to get out and try to capture images of some of Colorado's wildlife, the mule deer.
We are now at the tail end of the rut for the bucks but many are still hanging around their collection of does that they have acquired over the last few weeks.
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I remember as a child in the evenings the family would pile into the family vehicle and we would take a drive through the country side in the early evening to see how many deer we could see.
The thrill of seeing a nice buck has never diminished.
In my quest to photograph these interesting creatures I try to capture their story.
In wildlife photography it is easy to go for close ups that isolate the subject from their surroundings, balancing the risk of loosing the subject in taking too wide of a shot while still keeping the environment and story can be challenging sometimes.
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In the above two images we have a mature buck keeping track of his does and then following them through a field. His attention never left the does as we watched him on this morning.
Even though he knew we were there he didn't perceive us as a threat on this morning.
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There are other times, like in these images, that the bucks have begun to leave the does and start back to living more as bachelors.
Becoming harder to sneak up on as they are not distracted by their fascination with their female counterparts.
In the below image this buck was very skittish, which makes sense as it appears he had a pretty rough go of it recently. Not sure if he was on the loosing end of an epic battle over some does or maybe got hit by a vehicle.
His eye was swollen badly and he had a couple of spots where his hide had been peeled to the flesh.
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It would be easy for me to keep posting images in this newsletter but I need to bring it to a close so I will leave you with these last two images.
One of a closer up shot of a buck as he sniffs the air in search of some does, the next is a wider shot of a nice buck and a doe as they travel through an open park with the picturesque red rocks and snow capped mountains in the background of Eastern Utah.
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I hope everybody has a safe and productive December.
If you are looking for some unique gift ideas for the nature and art lovers in your life check out our calendars or head over to my art prints section of the website and pick up one of my nature prints.
If you know somebody that would enjoy what I do here forward a copy of the field notes and ask them to sign up, the more the merrier.
Thanks for hanging out with me today.
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