Whitetails Up Close At SNP...

Sometimes at SNP you get the opportunity to photograph whitetail deer at very close range. This can be for a number of reasons, often because you have invaded their space forgetting the fact that they are wild animals. Often times this disrupts their what they were going to do. I for one do not do this nor do I condone this type of activity. Another way to get these photographs is from the open window of your automobile, I have done this many times. These photographs were captured in either of these ways, instead they happened by chance. After arriving at SNP last month Shane and I checked in, grabbed some dinner and decided to head out into the meadows where a herd of deer ere feeding. It was still early enough that the sun was high in the sky but the whitetails were the reason why we were there and e wanted to enjoy there company. We made our way to the rock pile and decided to set up in that spot to shoot the herd. About an hour into photographing the deer this fve by five decided he wanted to eat in the same place we were at. After coming around the rocks I assumed he would move on, instead he came towards us nat caring in the least that we were there. At this point I had to step back from the D7000 with the 200-400 VR f4 on it because he was to close to photograph. Shane on the other hand was shooting the D90 with the 70-200 VR f2.8 on it so he was able to keep on firing. It only took me about five minutes to remember that I had the D300 with the 24-70 2.8 hanging around my shoulder so I was back in business. These photographs go a long way in showing how acclimated the animals are to humans at SNP, even with that said one must still remember that they are wild animals and must be treated as such.