Mule Deer Action

Visiting Badlands National Park to watch the mule deer rut is becoming a yearly event. Most of the behavior is bucks chasing does but occasionally things get real interesting. After watching a small herd for quite awhile I noticed the does had their attention directed to something behind the butte. Eventually I saw what the were watching. The following minute of action took place over about an hour in real time.

Shake that booty!

This was another interesting behavior I saw at Badlands NP. I have no idea why the buck did this and it shows another reason to be outdoors. Photographers see things that never will be on TV (too boring, no blood, etc.) and occasionally we get a chance to record what we see for others to enjoy.

A great day

 

The goal each day when shooting video is a sequence with a beginning, middle, and end. When shooting stills it is a shot with great action, emotion, or light. I'm not sure which one is more elusive. This was a good day for video with the battling bucks being followed later in the morning with this sequence, not your average day.

Battle of the Bucks

By chance I witnessed this duel between four bucks during the  mule deer rut at it's peak last week.  Several other encounters were recorded, this is one of the more dramatic ones. I love the way the dominant buck comes in low as of sneaking up on the other buck. After a couple minutes it was all over and life went on. 

Technical: As with most videos the selection of background music is as time consuming as the video edit. Natural sounds was white noise: wind. 

Look at those ears!

Can you imagine the discussion when the first mule deer was seen by explorers? "It looks like a deer but it can't be with those ears. It must be some kind of mule." 

Technical: WB 2850

Mule Deer Buck

I got coffee on Sunday morning at a Wall convenience store while about a dozen hunters were also tanking up on coffee. The excitement and anticipation was palpable especially from a 10 year old that was going out with dad. Even though I was hunting with a camera I shared their excitement on my last morning to shoot a big muley buck. Thanks to technology it was a success.

Technical: ISO 10,000 at f4.0, shutter speed 1/80. image uncropped. noise reduction in LR. shot from car with bean bag rest