I’m been away from my blog for far to long. November is typically a very busy month for me photographically and this year hasn’t been an exception. I’m just back from trips to South Texas, Colorado and South Dakota to photograph mule and whitetail deer. Most of the locations I travelled to didn’t have internet access.
Texas Trophy Whitetail Buck
This buck was photographed on an 8000 acre private ranch in South Texas that I visited with my long time friend Bill Draker. The annual fall rut (or mating season) was a bit late this year and unfortunately I was leaving just as the rut was kicking in. The bucks were just beginning to show themselves and I managed a few good opportunities.
Later Afternoon Whitetail Buck
I flew back to Colorado from Texas to spend a week photographing the mule deer rut and I caught it just right and managed to capture some great images of some magnificent mule deer bucks. I cut my teeth photographing mule deer in the early to mid 80’s and to this day they remain one of my favorite subjects.
"Big Sky"
Over the years I’ve photographed some of the largest mule deer bucks ever photographed and when I find deer of that caliber I usually come up with a name for them. This fantastic buck has earned the name “Big Sky”. Hope to photograph him for years to come. In this situation I had too much lens and had to keep backing up. For some reason the doe he was courting kept approaching me?? I was using my 800mm F5.6L which made that a bit of a problem. As usual I was carrying another body with a EF70-200mm lens over my shoulder and used it when “Big Sky” got to close for the 800mm.
Rutting Mule Deer Buck
This is another fine buck I found. Here he’s exhibiting the flehem response which is the way ungulates determine if the females are in heat. In this rugged brushy habitat I was handholding my 300mm F2.8L IS which really delivered the goods and allowed me to work quickly when the opportunity arose.
"Deep Fork"
Here’s another buck that’s earned a name. I photographed him in the same location two years ago and I was very happy to see him again. I’m not done with mule deer yet! I leave tomorrow for another week of mule deer photography here in Wyoming. I’ll be working on migratory deer coming down out of the high country. I hope to have more images of great bucks upon my return.
