Dean Parisian
Active Member
- Messages
- 441
I drove up quietly, rolling to a stop and being careful with the car door to get out and head down the trailhead. My film girl was up for the hunt! The time was late in the day during the first week in April, 2010. The place, an island in the ocean!
I had come a long way to put myself into perfect position to take a camera shot of these deer and I knew I had to make it good as I was leaving the state shortly and I hadn't got the picture I wanted of these rare whitetails.
The bucks were only sporting small protrusions. Antler growth was just kicking in. Does were heavy with fawns and I had not expected to see any groups of deer. In fact, out of all these deer I spotted, all were alone. Not any indication what age class of whitetail I might be photographing but at least I was going to get close. I was careful to quietly slip down the trail with a close eye out for snakes. I spotted a couple of small gators in the water hole and kept moving around the pond hoping to photograph a deer coming to water before darkness set in.
I really didn't want to have to come out of there at night, I had no flashlight, no packback, no GPS and snakes were on my mind. I had no snake gear on. No camo. None of my favorite deer hunting color, blaze orange either, for those of you have hunted with me or saw any pictures of me toting a rifle on the hunt for big game. I played the wind. I had no cover scent. My clothes reeked of the smell of salt water fishing, chips and salza and the RAW BAR. As I was doing what I call the "Chippewa Creep", going step, by step, by step, ever so slow, (don't laugh, that slow, slow speed has killed more 10 pointers laying down than anyone else I know) camera at the ready, here one came. I had to make my move quick to get the shot. My photographer (hotter than Tiffanie and someone I have been happily married to for nearly 20 years) swung into position. Timing had to be quick. The whitetail was on the move and stopping for nothing. It knew where it wanted to go and wasn't slowing down much. Things were happening fast. My videographer was grumbling about bugs and snakes and chiggers, you get the idea, after 20 years you have heard it all. I had no time to hear any of it. Just start snapping pictures baby. It was the moment I had been waiting for. To be so close to such a rare animal. The thoughts I had of getting one of these deer mounted, perhaps obtaining one from the FHP after a road kill or finding one in the ditch from getting clobbered from a speeding tourist. The possibilities were endless. The thought of one mounted in my entertainment room was taking on a life of its own as the size was perfect for standing one ON THE BAR! So here it is. My best picture of a Florida Key Deer. Taken here:
www.fws.gov/nationalkeydeer/
I had come a long way to put myself into perfect position to take a camera shot of these deer and I knew I had to make it good as I was leaving the state shortly and I hadn't got the picture I wanted of these rare whitetails.
The bucks were only sporting small protrusions. Antler growth was just kicking in. Does were heavy with fawns and I had not expected to see any groups of deer. In fact, out of all these deer I spotted, all were alone. Not any indication what age class of whitetail I might be photographing but at least I was going to get close. I was careful to quietly slip down the trail with a close eye out for snakes. I spotted a couple of small gators in the water hole and kept moving around the pond hoping to photograph a deer coming to water before darkness set in.
I really didn't want to have to come out of there at night, I had no flashlight, no packback, no GPS and snakes were on my mind. I had no snake gear on. No camo. None of my favorite deer hunting color, blaze orange either, for those of you have hunted with me or saw any pictures of me toting a rifle on the hunt for big game. I played the wind. I had no cover scent. My clothes reeked of the smell of salt water fishing, chips and salza and the RAW BAR. As I was doing what I call the "Chippewa Creep", going step, by step, by step, ever so slow, (don't laugh, that slow, slow speed has killed more 10 pointers laying down than anyone else I know) camera at the ready, here one came. I had to make my move quick to get the shot. My photographer (hotter than Tiffanie and someone I have been happily married to for nearly 20 years) swung into position. Timing had to be quick. The whitetail was on the move and stopping for nothing. It knew where it wanted to go and wasn't slowing down much. Things were happening fast. My videographer was grumbling about bugs and snakes and chiggers, you get the idea, after 20 years you have heard it all. I had no time to hear any of it. Just start snapping pictures baby. It was the moment I had been waiting for. To be so close to such a rare animal. The thoughts I had of getting one of these deer mounted, perhaps obtaining one from the FHP after a road kill or finding one in the ditch from getting clobbered from a speeding tourist. The possibilities were endless. The thought of one mounted in my entertainment room was taking on a life of its own as the size was perfect for standing one ON THE BAR! So here it is. My best picture of a Florida Key Deer. Taken here:
www.fws.gov/nationalkeydeer/
