It rained all day and we were settled in at home tonight when the sun peeked out thru the clouds around 5:30 pm ... I said to my wife " I got to get out for an hour before sunset " She said " If you want to go for a walkabout , I'll drop you at your favorute spot , pick up some groceries and pick you up at Sunset " ..... Sounds good to me ... I never pass up a chance to spend time in " my church "
Well I started out crouched down in the fenceline watching the field .... the wind was perfect out of the west , when a small doe fawn came right by me eating the bean stubble .... she had no idea I was there , and even felt safe enough to stop for a bathroom break ! .... got 2 quick frames before she walked into the bush ... Sorry about the blurr , I was manually focusing thru many branches .... Pentax K100D with 50-200mm lens , 800 ISO setting ...
After the doe fawn left , I decided to walk the bean stubble and search for shed antlers ... I got 1/2 way across the field when I spotted 2 deer come out of the bush edge and cross the corner of the field .... the wind was in my favor again and they never even noticed me ... they were watching another deer in the bushline ...
As I moved closer to the deer in the bush line , it came unglued and took off .... you can see it stomp and flag in the 2nd frame ...
I walk to the West with the wind in my face , I look up and can't believe my eyes ... I herd of deer at the next field ! ... My plan now is to try to get to the post at the RH side of the frame without getting spotted ...
As I sneak to the fenceline , I catch movement to my right and stop in time to watch 3 masked bandits waddle into the field to pick at the wet bean stubble ...
They eventually see me and scurry to the bush line ...
I continue to the post .... if you look at the next frame you will see a small part of the herd ( there were 32 deer total spread out ) ... 3 deer in that frame are bedded ( pictures are so so because I'm shooting towards the sun now )
They start to get spooked and I get 2 frames of a racoon walking across the field as the deer watch it's progress ... ( see the racoon in the foreground ? )
Now the deer are on alert ... but I notice they are looking to my right ... I think they are watching the racoon still ...
Oops ... A shed antlered buck walks into the field about 12 yards from the post that I'm trying to hide behind ... and "I'm busted "
All I see now is white tails everywhere .... into the sun the camera doesn't focus quick enough and they are all gone in about 30 seconds ...
I walk for awhile get a shot of 2 geese that cruise over head ... and I meet my wife back at the road ...
We drive around to the next field and I see where the geese landed ...
I get out and walk by the creek and get a shot of a pair of mallards as they criuse into the weeds ...
The sun is getting low ... I get 1 shot of a merganser as he heads for cover ....
One last shot of the sun going down over the farm and we head home ...
It is amazing what you can see in a 1 hr walk before Sunset ! .... I saw 1 turkey , 2 rabbits , and 1 muskrat that I wasn't quick enough to focus on ! ... well you can't get all the shots !
but don't let it be to well known as it might get overcrowded & this one is to hard to build a larger one.