2011_2420 Mule Deer Triptych - Routing A Rival
I would have preferred to be closer; I would have liked to shoot up at them rather than down. When a flurry of action like this breaks out, you just react...
At first I thought the buck on the left was going to simply pass by, but suddenly he turned and the fight was on. They went at it furiously for about 20 seconds before the deer on the right proved to be tougher. You can see the lesser buck pulling back in the middle frame, then running hard with the winner in pursuit, even striking out with front hooves while running. I've seen deer do this before - got a shot about a decade ago of a doe chasing her yearling fawn away with whacks like this. Deer society is not "nice".
The quality isn't as good here as usual, but I thought it was an interesting sequence worth sharing.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2020 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2011_2420 Mule Deer Triptych - Routing A Rival
I would have preferred to be closer; I would have liked to shoot up at them rather than down. When a flurry of action like this breaks out, you just react...
At first I thought the buck on the left was going to simply pass by, but suddenly he turned and the fight was on. They went at it furiously for about 20 seconds before the deer on the right proved to be tougher. You can see the lesser buck pulling back in the middle frame, then running hard with the winner in pursuit, even striking out with front hooves while running. I've seen deer do this before - got a shot about a decade ago of a doe chasing her yearling fawn away with whacks like this. Deer society is not "nice".
The quality isn't as good here as usual, but I thought it was an interesting sequence worth sharing.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2020 James R. Page - all rights reserved.