Hunting for the picture-perfect shot
I was walking through the woods, moving very slowly, making sure not to step on a stick or twig that might snap and make a loud noise. Each footstep was carefully placed after visually checking the ground. Thankfully, it had rained a little bit the day before, making the leaves nice and wet, which dampened the sounds of my footsteps. I was traveling in near silence. Almost all the leaves have already fallen from the trees making it easy to see long distances within the woodland. In my hands I carried a large 500 mm lens and camera body. I was on the hunt for White-tailed Deer.
This year, the rut seemed to start right on time, and I was eager to get out and see what I could find, and perhaps capture some images of an elusive big buck. Moving through the woodland, I came across several female deer, but this wasn’t why I was there. I was searching for the big-antlered male deer, often referred to as bucks.
Moving along, I must have covered two miles before I found my first small buck. But, based on my years of experience, I know that the small bucks often follow the large ones. The big boys follow their nose through the woods searching for does that are ready to breed. The big bucks are constantly on the move until they find a “hot” female that is nearing her peak of reproduction. The buck will follow her around waiting for her to accept him. He will often spend time feeding when she is feeding or laying down, and resting when she is laying down and resting.
White-tailed Deer are mostly found in the eastern half of the country. However, they range as far southwest as Arizona and up into the Pacific Northwest and the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Depending upon who you talk to, there are many varieties or subspecies of White-tailed Deer. Subspecies are usually determined by general morphological differences within a species. For example, a subspecies can be determined by the size or shape of the body, tail, or ears. A good example of this is the Key Deer, a subspecies of the White-tail that lives only on Florida’s key islands. This subspecies looks just like all other White-tails except it’s one-quarter of the size of a regular White-tailed Deer. An adult male Key Deer weighs only 50 pounds. This is a clear and obvious difference, but not all subspecies are this clear cut.
White-tailed Deer follow the Bergmann’s Rule, which is a biological rule that states within a species, the further north latitude you live, the larger you are and the easier for you to stay warm. The further south you live, the smaller you are, and it’s easier to shed heat and stay cool. White-tail deer in northern states and Canada are much larger than those in southern states. The Key Deer is a perfect example of this biological rule.
After several miles of hiking, I was able to locate a large buck. At first, I saw the flash of his bright white antlers in the thick brush. If his antlers weren’t so bright, I might have missed him. As I approached, I caught a whiff of this rutting buck. The smell is a sweet pungent smell that is unmistakable. When the bucks are looking for females, scent glands located on the male’s hind legs produce a sweet, yet pungent smell. If you get close enough and the wind is in your direction, it’s easy to pick up this scent. As soon as I caught the scent of the buck, I saw him standing in a tangle of branches and vines. His thick winter coat and tall multi-branched antlers made him blend in so well it was hard to see him.
I waited a while to give this buck a chance to move out of the tangled vegetation and into a spot where I could capture a few images. Over the next 30 minutes, I could see the female he was attending and watched her move from one thicket of vegetation to another. She was clearly keeping to the heavy cover of the forest to avoid the large buck. I could hear from behind me some rustling of leaves. I turned my head to see another large buck approaching. No doubt having another buck around will make things interesting. The big buck saw the approaching smaller buck and immediately headed straight for him. When he got close enough the big buck lowered his head and started running towards the smaller buck. The smaller one quickly turned and ran away. The chase lasted less than 75 feet, but it was enough to send the message. I wasn’t able to capture any of the chase, but I did capture some decent images of the big boy buck. I was thrilled. I turned and started the long hike back to my truck. Until next time…
Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer. He travels the U.S. to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
