Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cookies Early Fall Run (pics)

She doesn't normally get serious until late October, but minimal travel this summer had her itching to get out for about 2-weeks. Scored a few birds and some mule deer.

Young Great Horned Owl


Redtail hawk


Coopers hawk


Turkey vulture drying out in the AM sun. They should be leaving shortly.


First mule deer for the trip just as we were leaving the house. Saw him again when we came back for more grub, and he's shed his velvet now. Hoping he makes it through our coming season, as it's nice to have a little something around the neighborhood.

Edited at 19:25: He's presently about 40 ft from this keyboard stealing golden delicious apples.

Small forkie near our campsite


A small 3 by clearing a fence


A fair 3By


And once again she found the one in a million black doe on her 11th evening out. Within half a mile of last year's sightings. Don't know if it had an accompanying fawn, but she's looking a little lean with the hip bones showing. Saw her again the next morning, but she was two horizons out. Hoping for some better pics on the next trip.

Canon gear with either a 100-400 mm or a 500 mm prime lens.

Saw a couple other fine bucks, but they were either far out or took off on the run. She'll get with it in late October and for most of November.
Good luck out there and be safe.

Later,

Great pics as usual, never gets old.

Thanks to you both!

Any smoke over there?

Tide_Change:


Yes, but I did not inhale. Rumor has it the Oak Ridge area is the major source. Ranging from about 1 to 3 miles of visibility. We've lucked out and have not had any serious burns locally.

Does air quality have any affect on her photography at longer ranges, or is she close enough to her subjects that it’s not an issue?

Air quality was not an issue on this past outing but had a significant effect last fall leaving a lot of noise in this image. Distance was about 100 yds to the deer with a lot of smoke present. There are pivot tires and drop tubes that are barely visible about 200 yds past the deer. One can clean things a bit with post processing, but it's mostly a case of garbage in = garbage out.


With a big lens, calm conditions, and distance, heat waves can have an effect even in cool/cold weather. When she after pronghorn in level terrain, she's pretty much done by about 08:30 to 09:00. Seems one's spotting scope is worthless then too, with 7X binos being a better option.
Shooting across the hood of one's rig can also introduce some shimmer.

A now deceased competitive shooter in the community had a wide strap running atop the barrel on his Springfield between his front and rear sights to eliminate mirage effects as the barrel warmed.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

Great photos as always. Thank you for sharing.

Head on down to Abert Rim.








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Thanks for the photos. Love 'em, always!