The deer and elk around the ranch have all shed their velvet and the bucks and bulls are busy cruising for females. With the chill in the air and plants tucked in for winter, big game feels the pressure to procreate and get back to putting on fat while they can. This offers up great photographic opportunities for those getting out where the big game roam.
There are some considerations you must contemplate before you even make a photograph. Most importantly is the welfare of our subjects, they come before the photograph. Calories are precious and we cannot do anything that might cause big game to expel more calories because of our actions. This can is easily accomplished by using a long lens and not pushing the critters with our approach. Ideally, you never approach the critter but rather, let them approach on their own terms. You’ll not only protect their well being doing this, but you’ll also come back with better images.
When it comes to the rut, doing a little research on your target mammal is important. Moose gather up harems and spend time protecting them. Pronghorn do the same thing where Mule & White-tailed Deer don’t. You don’t want to get in the way of these activities yet take advantage of them. Watch the behavior before you make a move, understand the rhythm to protect the process while getting better photographs. You can do it, have a great time and come back with memorable photographs when the chill is in the air.

With fall comes change signaled by many things and celebrated by critters. Their preparation for winter takes many shapes, forms, and actions, and none like migration. Snow Geese nest in the far north and come south in wave after wave spending the winter in our warmer south. They take many paths heading south laying over in many regions through North America. They are more than likely in your own backyard!

There are many ways you can celebrate this, with every lens and time of day the perfect option for your visual storytelling. For this morning one December, I choose predawn color reflected off the pool to celebrate the well-earned rest of the flock. Is there a “trick” here, yes! Get out and experience, that’s it, that’s the trick to be part of as the agless cycle continues.

On the Philmont Scout Ranch, they have preserved an iconic part of our wild heritage, the New Mexico Bison. On 5000 acres a 140 head herd roam as they did for hundreds of years. What is unique, they don’t have to deal with us! That’s to say, you will never experience a “Buffalo Jam” as you might at other parks because this herd cannot be accessed by the public. In fact, they so rarely see people that we weren’t sure how they would react to our being on the plains with them. That fact made the morning so special!
This lone spectacular bull watched as we pulled up in the trucks. As I looked over the hood through the 180-00VR, it appeared to me as if he was trying to hide behind that one thistle blossom. It was a very special morning to spend with Bison, letting them go about their day and approaching us as close as THEY felt and our being able to let that unfold. Our wild heritage, it’s bloody amazing!