Portrait of Stinky

Gallery: WildlifePosted November 27, 2011196 views3 comments

A Friday morning visit to the nature area found lots of bucks in various courtship activities. This buck (a dominant male) let me reasonably close to him and I had one of those ah ha moments when I realized that certain pungent odors I'd detected at times this fall did indeed come from rutting bucks. They get into a crouched position that enables them to urinate on their legs and then they rub the legs together. Guess the does must think it's sexy. But after experiencing it up close, I can say that it ain't pretty. Old Stinky showed up when a spike horn was checking out a doe. He came across the field and the spike got the message and wandered off. Stinky paid closer attention to his female and very little to me. One of the few reasonably clear shots I've had with no vegetation between me and the deer. Of course, lots in the background. I thought about cropping this to get it off being centered but decided it would make it too tight, so I left it as shot. Very little postprocessing other than to adjust color balance and sharpen for the web. Comments and critiques wlecomed and appreciated.

Tech info

Canon 60D with 70-200mm f/4L at 131mm
1/500th at f/6.3 and ISO 800
aperature priority mode
tripod

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on November 27, 2011 at 7:09 AM

I do wish there was more seperation between the BG and the deer. His antlers blend in with the shrubs behind him abit too much for me. He does seem to have atypical antlers. Still, nice photo. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on November 27, 2011 at 8:26 AM

Hello Peter

With his colour and antlers, he is very well camoflagued , maybe too well, maybe a little more bottom leg room,
A fine specimen.

Peter...is this a recent image? are they still rutting?

Those antlers , really blend in to the bg.

Thanks for sharing

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on November 27, 2011 at 12:54 PM

Thanks for the comments John and Bill. These bucks really like to keep near to or within vegetation. I have very few shots that don't have at least some distracting branches, etc. that interfere with the image and like this one way too much to deal with by cloning out. Bill - yes they are still in rut. This photo was taken on Friday. This is my first year really following this small group closely so I'm not fully aware of timing. And my guess is it may vary from year to year as well.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments