The Posing Buck

We live fairly remote at an elevation of about 9,000 feet in the foothills of the rugged Wet Mountains in Colorado with a large protected Natural Area directly adjacent to our house/property. Wildlife is abundant, and among the many animals visiting or cruising by our location, is a group of 11 beautiful mule deer bucks , who always travel together.Big and very powerful specimen, that are actually extremely impressive and downright intimidating. Especially, when I suddenly find myself up close and personal with this group of “The Magnificent Eleven”. Which is happening to me recently more often, because it seems like, these bucks have adopted me as one more member of their club. And I am not kidding.
When the bucks show up at our house, these normally very shy and skittish animals come sometimes right up to our windows, peeking in on us. And then they wait. Until I come out and we slowly meander together across the big meadow behind our house. Occasionally I have even gone on 90 minutes long hikes through the forest - the big bucks forming a circle around me, none of them ever more than max 25 yards away from me. Whenever I stop to take a photo, they stop too and wait patiently for me to start walking again. It is a bizarre, but incredible experience to be hiking, surrounded by a group of bucks through an alpine forest of piñon and tall ponderosa pines…
The bucks have especially well adapted to my various cameras, that are always glued to my face. I am consciously operating the cameras only in “quiet mode”, because the sound of the burst shutter seems to irritate them. But this very strange: When I raise the camera, it definitely feels like the bucks stop whatever they are doing they are doing at that moment- and actually pose for the photo, frozen in time, before going back to their routine. The proof is in the attached picture I just took two days ago during my evening stroll with “The Boys” on our meadow. Several of the bucks stopped every few feet at the edge of the meadow and looked straight at me , while I was pointing the camera at them, giving me just enough time to shoot a few frames of them - including the warm sunset light reflecting off their antlers and the Rocky Mountains as a perfect backdrop. I could have not arranged it any better. But the bucks somehow knew what to do…
ENJOY!!

Christoph

Sony RX10 Mark IV

Minor Adjustments in LIGHTROOM