Also sending him some deer collision facts from Ontario ...
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I'm daydreaming thinking about the standard duck , geese and turkey shots I have taken so far this week ..... ( kind a drab normal stuff ) ... when I catch a glimpse of a coyote approx 200 yards out at the North end of a corn stubble field .... I pull over and park my wifes Corolla ( cheaper on gas for those 401 runs ) along the ditch .... grab my Pentax K100D with the 200mm lens on it , and hussle into the field ...
I can't see they coyote now , but I'm picturing his travel path as I wade thru waste deep snow drifts to a fence line .... I find a heavy travel path between the 2 field hammered down with coyote tracks .... I hunker in the fenceline with my back to a huge century old tree and wait ...
I scan the rolling hill corn stuble , but can't see the coyote ? ... I wait approx 5 mins and decide he must have seen or heard me swimming in thru the snow drift !
and took off ....I'm just about to leave when I catch movement just over the rise and he comes in at approx 35 yards ... the wind is hard in my face ...
I end up snapping 95 frames of him as he zig zags and mouses thru the field .... he is at 20 yards now , ans still doesn't see me .... 15 yards when he puts his head down and it looks like he is staring right at me ! .... I'm getting nervous now! .... he is at 10 yards and seems to be looking right at me !! , I'm thinking " this ain't the spooky coyotes I'm use to ! "
I keep snapping pictures and at the 5 yards mark he flares sideways ( must have heard the camera ) .... I get one frame and he is off like his " hair is on fire "
... I don't know if I even took a breath on during the last 15 yards !Man that was exciting !
Here are 5 of the 95 frames I took ... from 35 yards in to 5 yards , before he took off !
I'm thinking " man , I must have got some cool shots in that batch ! " ..... got many blurred shots since I had to go to manual focus as he walked thru the corn stubble .... but those 5 frames turned out " pristeen " I got home and while the pic's were downloading from the camera , I called Wylie and said " wait till you see what I got ! "
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Couldn't sit still with this nice weather ... headed out for a hike along the river ...
On the way , I slowed to watch a farmer plowing the field ...
At first I thought his dog was walking in the field while he was plowing ... got the binoc's out at it turned out to be a coyote ! ... I pulled over and walked into the field to get a picture ... the coyote shyed away , but I did get 1 good frame ... Pentax K100D with Sigma 75-300mm lens .
I waved the tractor down as he made a pass by me ... the young guy driving it said the coyote had been following close to the tractor and he got a few pictures with his cell phone camera .... the coyote was moving away now so I asked him if I could ride along to try to get a close up ( many times animals are not affraid of farm vehicles ) ... sure enough as we plowed a row and turned towards the coyote it stopped to have a look ... got some great close ups , then the cotote moved into the next field and headed towards the bush ...
I got dropped back at my truck on the next plowed pass ... I took down the young guys e-mail address and told him I would send him the pictures .... turns out his dad runs a local butcher shop ! ( guess I know where I will be taking some deer this season ! )
Headed out to hike along the Nith river ... I walked awhile then sat at the base of a tree for a rest ... about 10 mins later I hear what I think is a turkey clucking to my left ... I look slowly around the tree and see this young bird pecking along the river flats ... got 1 quick frame and let him walk behind the cover ... but when I tried to relocate for another picture , he saw me a busted out !
Did a long circle back to the truck ... drove to another spot to look for turkeys , but no luck ... As I walked the small creek , something caught my eye .... it was a small painted turtle , sitting in the stream , trying to catch water spiders as they swam by .... I'm thinking " this could be a cool photo op ! " So I stood on a large rock and watched him ... ( see the water spider to the right side of the frame ? in the middle of the round ripples )
There were lots of water spiders ...
I wait for approx 25 mins , but no action except for the occational head movement !
I get 1 frame of the new foliage coming up along the bank ....
Then 1 frame as the trutle moves on down the stream ....
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A few weeks ago Vern and Keith had scoped out a fox den near an area we hunt Pheasants .... I drove North with my Aunt , niece and nefew today to see if I can get the kids a look at the fox pups ....
We were lucky enough to see a hen pheasant pecking along the forest floor and I got a great close up before ot scurried off ... approx 8 feet away ... Pentax K100D digital SLR with 50-200mm F4-5.6 ED Lens .
Same with the fox den .... only one pup showed for about 30 seconds and I got a couple of beauty close ups ... here is the last frame I got before he headed back down into the den ... I was approx 15 feet away for this shot ... Same set up as above .
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b]I stop by the fox den[/b] to see how they made out with the road kill rabit and racoon I dropped off ? ... Must be 2 litters ? I see 7 pups total ( never got them all in one frame ) ... here are some pic's as they hang out around the den openings ...
