Before Thanksgiving, I spent a week photographing mule deer and whitetails in the west. Along the way, a few prairie dogs, bald eagles and geese got into the mix. Below are a few of the 5000 thousand images from the trip.
When you click on a photo, it will open in a larger, sharper format. Just click on the right edge of the shot to get the next image to appear in the slide show.
Mule Deer giant pauses during his early morning pursuit of a doe.
Mule deer monster just getting up from an afternoon nap.
Well insulated for cold weather, buck and doe mule deer resting near a thicket of scrub trees.
The big bucks were constantly on the move in a breeding frenzy.
Big buck trailing a doe.
These big guys were locked in battle for about 3 minutes.
In spite of the clashing antlers, both bucks kept their eyes open during combat.
A third large buck coming to the fight. He hopes to steal a doe while the dueling bucks are preoccupied.
Big mule deer bounding over the grasslands to chase another buck before it can make advances toward his doe.
Snow and cold temperatures seem to intensify the breeding urges of Rocky Mountain mule deer.
Many large bucks move out into the grasslands to find bedding cover.
As daylight fades on the Rockies, a big buck leaves his bedding area.
My last look at this monster: antlers against a pink sky.
Way out west the prairie dogs are feeding on weeds peeking through fresh snow.
It was so cold in November that the Canada geese had to slide in for a landing.
Several bald eagles gather on the ice to pick at the remains of a coot who went skating on the wrong lake.
Whitetail buck following a doe on fresh snow.
My little Nissan Rogue got great gas mileage but was less at home on the range than this frisky white-tailed deer.
Doe and fawn white-tailed deer soaking up the warming afternoon sun.
Except for a quick glance my way, this old buck was totally focused on following a love interest.
Note what seems to be a third antler in this buck’s forehead. His right antler forked at the hairline and grew laterally before shooting up as a misplaced brow tine.
Palmated antlers on a remarkable old buck whitetail.
Prairie whitetails after early winter snow.
There must be a doe out here somewhere…
A great piece of luck was my encountering this bald eagle in a lonely tree at the end of a prairie road.
There are some monarchs in those mountains!
These images were captured with Canon 7D and 1D Mark IV cameras with a 500 mm and 70-200 mm lens with 1.4X teleconverter. Most of the time, I was hand-holding the camera for greater versatility of movement during some fast action.
Next week, I will share some mid-November work from southern Oklahoma.
