Cookie's passion. She spent the last 21 days out chasing deer with her cameras. Mostly I got to drive, tend camp, and at times cautiously submit constructive comments. A bit of excitement was I ran over one of her cameras with our 350 Crew Cab Ford. The truck is OK, but my face is somewhat flattened on one side. Doc says the face should be back to normal is a week or two.

Picked out a few images and will add more from a bundle of thousands in the coming days. Have to get the truck unloaded and gear put away today.

Cookie is not always aware of her surroundings. She was after another buck left of frame and did not notice a form rising up to her immediate right. From a couple hundred yards away, my frantic and well established international gestures for "turn around and look behind you" were met with nothing but a blank stare.


A pre-sunrise resting 3By


Same buck another day


A 3By4


A fair 4By possibly the same as the first image above. Would not bet a check on it, but the ivory and broken tip suggest it's the same.


and another 4By


Have a good one, and good luck to those of you still out there.

Beautiful pics.

Thanks, keep'em comin'.

Awesome photography.

VERY Nice ! Thnx

Jerry

Wonderful photos.

Those are real good pics

Awesome quality in those photos , thanks for posting .

Adding a few more images and will generate some more tomorrow.

If one counts the small cheater it's a 5by5. A regular encounter, as he was usually somewhere within a half mile of camp.


This one was a bit of stretch, as he was about 200+ yds out. A 7by4'


Again, if one counts some small projections a 7by5.
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Same buck, but different angle.


One that Cookie sought for over 19 days and he was only found once. Named Bandit due to the mask about the eyes and stripe down the nose. Last year he was about the same size but a 4by4. A 3by4 this year. A very dry summer and fall here, so groceries might have been short and of poor quality. Still no precip here to date, so no fall green up to boost condition.


Another seen on only one occasion about day 7. Not a lot of mass, but a good 4by4. I'd take him if given a chance on the last day of the season.


Have a great Thanksgiving,

As always, great pics! Thanks for sharing

Next four are of the same recognizable buck (Big Eddy) due to a small black spot just over his left eye lid. This is at least his third season in the area, and he was a fine 4by when first seen in 2016. Did not show up until our 16th day in the field this year. Peeking out of a teasel patch, a thistle like plant they are especially fond of. Eat the leaves but don't consume the stems or seed heads. Also being about 6 ft high, a patch is a great place to hide.


Note small black spot atop left eyelid.


And a slightly less obscured image.

Found him later on a frosty morning with a broken left rear tine. He has been a kick ass buck, and I'd like to find whoever took him on and did the damage this season.


If it walks, crawls, flies, swims, or digs in the earth, Cookie will take it's picture. All except people that is. A California quail on a single digit morning. All he wanted to do was absorb sunlight. First time I've actually seen a bird shiver.


A buck called Curly due to the upturned tines.


Eat hardy,

Just awesome.. I love looking at deer, especially mule deer..

Tell Cookie I really appreciate looking at her pics !

Thanks for posting beautiful buck pics.

Fantastic pictures.

I don't expect you to give up the location. But are these bucks available to public land hunters? Just curious

-Jake

Outstanding as always, thanks for sharing.

Bocajnala:



For the most part, yes, but lately it's becoming tough. In November the does have descended from upper elevations (Steens Mtn and Juniper Units), and the bucks follow. Our general season is about the first 9 days of Oct, and deer generally begin moving toward winter quarters around Oct 10. I made a couple runs up to still snow free summer range mid-November, and only saw one group of 5 animals in about 120 miles of dirt road travel.

Prior to and post rut, however, they are who knows where. With 10,000+ square miles in the county and 75% of it being public and very remote lands, we have lots of space. In previous years we've pounded the same grounds in December and rarely find deer at all.

Populations are declining throughout the west and here as well, with many previously productive areas quite lacking. Some blame predators, and others blame poor groceries with 4 of the last 5 years having lower than average precip. We typically have about 20 animals around our house, but are down to 3 or 4 this fall.

This guy was taken in our local muzzleloader hunt in 2017 (Juniper unit) about 1 mile away and two weeks after Cookie nailed this image.


Several recognizable bucks from previous years were not seen this season, with 7 or 8 photographers thoroughly working the area and sharing info for near 3 weeks. One can only speculate, however, as to their destiny. Some suffer injuries during the rut (hips/legs/eyes/etc) that can leave them more susceptible to predation or starvation.

Oregon's hunters report success or failure online, but we do not do check stations where trophy take might be noted.

Have a good one, and will try to get some more images up tomorrow.

Thank you for the info. Love the photos

-Jake

Unbelievable! I'm grateful you are willing to share these pictures.

How close to the deer are you?

cburns17:



Cookie runs around with a couple cameras. One carrying a 100-400 mm zoom lens. Each original image comes with data listing the camera settings. For the porn image below I'd guess she was about 15 yds away as the lens was backed down to 100mm. There are some rare times, however, where she's been too close to fit in just the head and antlers when backed down to the lowest setting. She has tons of patience and will wait for hours if she thinks there's a potential shot. If my doings are involved, however, she turns into a drill sergeant demanding immediate action.


Her second unit has a 500mm prime (no zooming abilities) lens that's used to reach out. Just the face and antlers will fill the frame at about 40 to 50 yds and many of the frame fillers were taken with that unit. This was probably at about 30yds with the big lens. Lots of great detail given that one can near count eye lashes, but she dumps most of these if portions of the face or antlers exit the edge.


One does run out of fine detail resolution, however, with the big gun at about 200 yds. Counting from the top of this thread, that's about the range for the 1st, 8th, and 12th images. If the focus is nailed though, one can still count antler points etc on images taken out to 5 or 600 yds.

The rut is a great help. If a hot doe does not flee, the bucks are hesitant to leave a sure thing. With no does around though, they will often clear the country. Last, one gets a bit more help near the tail end of the rut. Bucks that would initially flee at a couple hundred yds are so worn down they'll let one easily get within 20 or 30 yds without rising from their beds. All another reason for us retired folks to spend one more month in the field. Next fall she wants to focus on elk and bighorn. Probably a bit more travel over to Marty's country for that.

Fan Freak'n Tastic!!!!!!!!!

Love that puffed up quail photo.

Great pictures!! Thanks for posting them its nice to actually see some good bucks!! I just returned from a late cow hunt sort of over your direction and was sure disappointed in the number of deer I saw driving in and out of my area. Usually when I've hunted this hunt I'll see some great bucks chasing does, this year I only saw one buck that made me stop and go Wow! It was unseasonable nice early in the week but man the deer numbers sure seem down.

Always a challenge to catch them around water.


A really fine 3by


Another, not much stature, but heavy


I guess this is our version of Africa's tick bird.



A few days away from a full moon near the end

Time to wrap this up as there is finally some snow to move outside.

Was aware of this guy, but it was our last morning right at sunrise when we had an encounter. A little trash.


Same critter but finally standing still


Did manage to catch up with some sheep on one day. This was a real stretch at about 250yds for Cookie's 500mm. Still a good bit of detail showing though.


And a couple of river crossings



It's been fun, and again, have a good one out there.

Scrolling down to the moon pix I was expecting to see a large set of antlers silhouetted against the sky.

Those water photos are great and unique.

Fair_Chase:


Not to disappoint,

One of the few things I Photoshoped several years back. Daylight image, changed to black and white, darkened, eliminated original sky, and pasted in new night sky with moon behind foreground and buck. Fun effort but way too time consuming. Took forever to fill in all the holes through the brush/grass with the proper sky tones.

Such fine images that you guys come up with! Enjoyed spending time with you down there! Thanks for providing the warming shack...it made the trip much more comfortable!

Castandblast:

Thanks. Pretty much a restful and enjoyable time. Hope the deer numbers pick up next year, and maybe you two can get in a slightly slower paced trip.

Any star pictures you can put up?

Decided to add another image. Not a huge buck, but this one seems to exude attitude.

Some really nice pics. Thanks for posting.

Please tell Cookie that I will try to get back to this thread later to comment - if I can think of sufficiently good superlatives!

John

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Those are some great pictures. Cookie has an amazing talent. I make It to Burns about every 3-4 years to hunt. Love the area. Thanks again for posting.