[Colorado CJ]

I went on another hike this morning in the mountains, no real trail, just back country hiking. Pretty early in the hike I saw a small herd of mule deer. I already had my camera out and my tele lens on, so I started to slowly climb the side of the mountain towards the deer. I worked my way around a small knoll so that I could come up on them from a different direction than they expected (I made a little noise climbing through the snow, so didn't want to go straight at them, around the edge of the rocks, the deer were right there, maybe 30 feet in front of me.




Well, that did it, they all became alert and were ready to run, so I squatted down to wait a while for them to settle.




One smaller doe was pretty brave early on (or just curious) and started to make her way towards me, a step at a time.




I stood up and started to come around the rock, there was a huge buck right there and he wasn't all too happy. His head was lowered, staring at me through his antlers. I stood still for a long time while we both stared at each other.




After about 10 minutes, I guess the buck figured I wasn't a threat, and started to move away.




I followed along being careful to stay quiet and not spook the herd further. After a long time, the mule deer became somewhat used to me and started laying down.




So, I slowly made my way a little closer to them and sat down under a large pine. I was about 60 feet from the large buck and 40 feet from one of the does.







About 20 minutes later a squirrel came down the pine chirping at me, mad that I'm sitting under his home.




This is one massive buck.




I've been with the deer for about 2 hours now, so they are getting pretty used to me, allowing me to move around and photo them without them becoming upset. I'm having a great time and am able to get very close to many of the deer.










This guy must have lost at a pretty good fight. Sad to see him this way, but he'll grow another pair of antlers next fall. He didn't seem as proud as the other large buck, kind of sad looking.







All in all, I spent over 2 hours with these mule deer. It was a lot of fun and I'll always remember my time with them. This was one of my better days of hiking and photography.

[Fries]

It must be absolutely magical to have such a long encounter with those deer. And you have the photo's (and they are wonderful) to prove it. Thanks for showing!

[jmschrei]

Lovely series, CJ. Thanks for sharing. When my daughter was young she was absolutely obsessed with deer. Her room was decorated with posters, photos and some really tacky ornamental deer!

[paulh]

Another great set & story, CJ! Really enjoyed these.

[krp]

Nice pictures CJ. I've never seen such a huge buck. I'm wondering what the holes in his ears are?

[Colorado CJ]

Thanks every one.

At first I didn't know how accommodating that buck was going to be. He stared at me a good 10 minutes with his head lowered, looking ready to charge. I was about to back away, but I'm glad I didn't, or I wouldn't have these great photos and memory.

krp, they are some sort of tag system. The buck must have been tagged for study when he was younger. I did't see any other tags on the other deer, no transponders either. Sometimes you'll see a transponder on an elks neck so who ever is studying them can track them.

[VisualDarkness]

Truly amazing shots of stunning animals!
I got roe deers and a fox sneaking around the house here at night and I know where they spend the day so maybe I'll try some nature photography myself. Still getting as close as you where would be extremely difficult. Good job!

[Colorado CJ]

You should try it, it is definitely a great experience. All it really takes is patience and knowing when to squat down and wait for the deer to get used to you.

It really depends on the area too I think. There isn't a huge amount of hunting pressure here, just not enough people to hunt the huge amount of wildlife we have here. Most people hunting deer would rather hunt a little bit east of here in the plains as the deer are much better eating since they are mostly grain fed. The mountain deer live off of sage and other tough/hardy plants, so they don't taste near as good as the plains deer.

Once you try it and get a good photo, you'll be hooked and looking for the next opportunity. All I really shoot are landscapes and wildlife. I guess I should expand more, but those are what I really enjoy. I'd much rather be by myself out in the wilds than be in cities or groups of people and I guess that's reflected in my photography.