These may not be the prettiest of photos but they are part of the cycle of life. These turkey vulture's were feasting on a dead mule deer near the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. When you spend enough time following and photographing wildlife sooner or later you find animals eating other animals and occasionally you even get to witness the kill. It is not a pleasant sight but it is part of nature and occurs many times every day.
I was going to skip today but changed my mind at the last minute. After uploading the photo and looking at it maybe I should have stayed with my first thought. This was one of the few wildlife we seen on our recent vacation. This mule deer buck was photographed as he relaxed in the mid afternoon heat at Bryce National Park. I really need to get out and photograph some whitetails and Elk, if for no other reason just to make me feel better and relax.
This is not the same mule deer from yesterday but I figured since I showed you one from the rear I would post one today from the front. This mule deer was also photographed last fall in Yellowstone, but no place close to yesterday's photo. Next week I hope to bring you some non wildlife photographs, so for those of you that are not big wildlife fans stick with me.
Looking through the photographs from Yellowstone to post it just seemed fitting that I use this shot. Like most people that like to photograph wildlife I have a large collection of butt shots. No it is not that I want to photograph their butts it is just that it is what you see most often. Like all I normally delete most of them but occasionally I keep a few. I kept this one from last fall because of the size of the mule deers rack. He really is a trophy buck and if he stays in Yellowstone and does not fall pray to any of the predators he will continue to grow and bring enjoyment to many others for years to come.
It is the time of year to be in Yellowstone, but with to many things going on and the money put out to go to Hawaii and upgrades to the house it is not happening this year. With fall here wildlife is what I think about the most, after hockey, and since I dug out the Alaska photos I thought I would dip into last years Yellowstone photos. For those that don't know this is a mule deer doe that was nice enough to pose for photographs.
As you can see I have been trying to slip in some other photographs over the last three weeks to give everyone a break from the bird photos. In keeping with that here is one from last fall in Yellowstone. These Mule deer were grooming each other, for the amount of shots I took I didn't get many keepers, they were just the right height with the brush to keep most from being good. That's all for this week, have a great weekend.
This is the same mule deer, but not one that I had previously posted. Unlike the others this buck really wasn't effected by our presence. He allowed us to photograph him all we wanted while he just kept eating berries. I don't recall exactly where we photographed him but I think it was just south of Tower Falls. In years past you would be looking at many Elk photographs from my trip but this year the Elk were scarce and the mule deer were plentiful. That being said expect more mule deer in the future.
With the Pennsylvania whitetail deer rut here, I thought it would be appropriate to post photos of Pa. whitetails. But since I have not been out to get any new ones lately, I am going to substitute a Wyoming mule deer, just don't tell anyone. This nice six by six was shot last month on my trip out west, he was one of the bucks in the herd of five along Lava Creek in Yellowstone. I feel like I should be typing more, but my tank is running on empty and that is all I can come up with. 
This nice mule deer buck was photographed in Yellowstone along Lava Creek between Mammoth and Roosevelt. If the Bison, Elk and Pronghorns were in short supply this trip the one thing that wasn't was the mule deer. I seen more mule deer on this trip than all the others combined. And some were very nice bucks. This buck was with four other deer, three of witch were bucks also, I didn't get much of a look at the other one. 
This young four point mule deer was shot in Yellowstone between Mammoth and Roosevelt one morning last week. I did get the chance to shoot some larger mule deer that will be posted at a later date, but this was the first one I got and I like the photograph so I chose this one for today. I bet these are not the type of photos you were expecting to see from Yellowstone. When I get the chance to see what is usable I will work up some of the elk and wolves. No bear shots yet so don't hold your breath.
This is another one of those older photographs shot as a jpeg that had a green color cast to it. I tried forever to remove it with no luck, but after running it through raw on CS3 I thought I got it right. Of course this morning while putting it up it looks like it came back to me. I don't know if it did or not, my eyes are worse in the mornings and of course I don't have my glasses on and my monitor has not been calibrated. The lighting on the room is much different now then when I worked on the photos. I guess I should calibrate this thing since Linda purchased one for me at Christmas.
Did you get your Pennsylvania antlered deer in the first two days of the season. As you can see I got mine, a beautiful 10 point. He was running full speed from ridge to ridge and I shot him with open sites from the hip. Pay no attention to the velvet on his antlers he was just a late bloomer. Okay you got me, this photograph was taken July 2005 in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone. I really can't wait to get back out there and enjoy the beauty.
They may not be bucks but with buck season right around the corner and well, nothing else ready to post I thought I would put a couple of Montana deer up today. These two were shot just on the edge of Chateau, Montana one afternoon last October. It was a day we set out on the road with nothing particular in mind to photograph, what we seen was what we got. Good luck next week hunters, I still think it would be allot more fun if we could arm the deer also. Just image the the idiots we could eliminate.
Some where in the middle of Wyoming we watched this young spike and a few does just before dusk while on vacation in July 2005. I am sure by now he has grown up a little bit (even though I have not) and I feel it is my duty to get back out there as soon as possible and check on him.
You can't tell by the photograph but it was raining very hard when I took this. We were leaving Jackson and just entering the southern most portion of the Tetons on the morning of July 29, 2005 when we spotted these two does up on a ridge.
October 6, 2006 north of Choteau, Montana. Brian his mother and myself set out on a road trip north of town one day. I had listened to Brian for years about how great the wildlife was in the area, so I had great expectations. We spent hours driving to only find these two doe and a couple on the other side of the road at the same time. I am still not sure just how much wildlife is really in the area, or if it has been a story all along, LOL. Regardless, the area is still beautiful and it beat being in Pennsylvania.
Today's photograph was taken July 22, 2005 in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone.
