Monday, August 4, 2008

Best way to hunt a deer, for photos that is!

Friday morning I was up early and off to work before the sun rose. I watched it come up and almost stopped on the highway 3 different times to take some photos of it cresting the horizon but I had to be at work bright and early so I kept going. I still managed to get to my exit early and decided to take a quick detour to Sunset Lake in Bridgewater.

For those of you that don't know, I drive a hybrid - to be more specific a Toyota Prius. The Prius is really cool because at speeds less than 30 miles an hour it has a tendency to turn the engine off and use the electric motor. I found a spot to park and glided up and imagine my surprise when I saw a deer maybe 25 feet away. Her ears didn't even twitch. The silent mode of the car took her completely unawares. Of course, I then made my first mistake, I turned the car off. The smarter thing would have been to just open the window and shoot pictures of her from there. (The windows are electric - they Don't work with the engine off)

I decided to be a little braver and got out of the car without closing the door. She pricked her ears at the sound of me getting out and gave me the first shot.

D300, 70 - 300mm VR, 260mm, f/5.6, 1/30s, ISO 800
Click image for a larger view

She didn't like the camera noise but slowly started moving through the woods and since I wasn't moving at all she kept going. She grabbed something to eat but kept her eye on me. When she stopped and looked through the opening in the trees I grabbed my second opportunity.
D300, 70 - 300mm VR, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/25s, ISO 800
Click image for a larger view

I love the way the trees frame this shot. I definitely recommend a hybrid for sneaking up on animals. It makes it much easier.

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