Going out onto the back porch the other night, I heard a significant racket coming from either just outside the back fence, or just inside it. While I always have a pocket flashlight on me, the view in that immediate direction is blocked by the greenhouse and the shed, so I had to creep down there, to be greeted by no fewer than eight white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) all bucks with notable racks of antlers, one rack appearing to be a half-meter tall alone. Getting any photos of this in the darkness would have required not just getting the camera, but loading the Vivitar 285 flash with batteries and getting the headlamp just for focusing, and I didn’t think they’d hang around for that. I probably should have chanced it, because as I went across the backyard to the other side of the house, I was met with another, nowhere near as impressive in the antler department, but watching me curiously from about five meters away, while I could see two more at the edge of the front yard. Life is full of regrets.
Just tonight, however, I heard much the same noises, and this time before even venturing out I grabbed the camera, flash, and headlamp. They were farther off the back of the property this time and there appeared to be only three of them, but I managed a few frames before they wandered off away from me and my weird noises and lights. Only one was good enough to illustrate, at least:
Certainly could have been better, but here’s the deal: all focusing has to be done manually using the beam of the headlamp, and things are darker in the viewfinder, so the only thing that can be used is the reflection of the eyes – when they’re looking at the camera. That’s one little dot of light, provided I can keep the headlamp aimed at them while framing, which the large flash unit wants to block, so the headlamp has to be shifted off to the side, cockeyed on my head, where it wants to aim elsewhere. If I did more of this, I’d rig up something to hold the light on the flash unit, but since this occurs about once a year or so, I’m not inclined to put in the crafting effort.
By the way, the racket that I’d heard both times, reminiscent of someone clattering a load of branches, comes from the bucks marking territory by scraping their antlers along the trunks of trees, and I suspect the sound serves as well as the markings or the scent. Though why in the first instance there were so many bucks all together without a doe in sight, I cannot say – I do at least think there was one doe among the three tonight.
But yeah, if I was inclined to brave the cold for a chance at a few frames, I’ve got a good area to set up a blind within – but I’m not really inclined. I left NY because of that cold shit. Yeah, I know, dedicated nature photographer and all that, but make an offer if you like – I’ll certainly consider getting paid for it…