Fun Hunting with a Camera

While attending a Timberline course at the Mt. Pleasant scout camp (now called Camp Tifie), I was responsible for the cleanliness of the entire camp and not just the area where the course was being conducted. I was the Course Director so I had time to walk around the camp while the Scoutmaster ran the course. I usually got up at daybreak or before to make my rounds through the camp area which gave me opportunity to see the wildlife that was in the camp before the rest of the camp was up making noise to scare them off. One morning when I got to the southern end of the camp about a half mile from where all the activity of the course was conducted I went onto the road headed down the canyon from the camp. It was the road we would come up to the camp on when we drove in but was seldom on it the rest of the week. Well I saw this one lone buck that had not spotted me due to the wind going the right direction to prevent it from smelling me.

I took probably 30 images of it as I watched it. I was being very careful not to move so as to not scare it off. I did take an occasional step down the road so I could get a little closer to it. I thought it was by itself until one more step revealed a larger buck that was hidden from my view by the bushes.

Again I stood very still since at this point the older buck knew something wasn't quite right but couldn't really tell since again it hadn't smelled me either. The younger one though knew something wasn't right either and by now was starting to get a little skittish. It turned to move into the brush but since the older one didn't follow it circled back around to be by the larger buck again.

Then I moved ever so slightly just in case more bucks were below them and that started the older one to no longer doubt it's senses that something was wrong. It started to move away and the younger one followed. They still were not in a  big hurry but they didn't stop to feed agin until they were out of sight.

Little did I know I would see the younger buck twice more that week and those image will follow in another blog entry.