Deer in the marsh

[Steve Foss]

Here's a doe putting on summer fat for winter survival. Off the Moose Loop near the Echo Trail.

Canon 20D, Canon 100-400L IS at 400mm, iso400, 1/320 at f6.3 handheld.

[thewalleyeguy]

Thats a pretty cool picture

[floating minnow]

Steve,

That's wonderful. Right on exposure and comp.Perfect shallow DOP. Time of day?

Bruce

[Steve Foss]

Sheesh, just when you think you've posted all the relevant data, someone's gotta smart off! Kidding, of course!

It was about 10 a.m. and the light was a little hot, but there were some hazy clouds over the sun, which kept the shadows from losing too much detail. I also liked the translucent ears. I have a group of similar images of this doe. They are among my favorite deer images because this girl is being such a typical summer deer, and because the cattail leaves and grass seem to hug her like a comfortable blanket. She is so perfectly a part of her landscape. Nothing says summer like an unwary red doe in green grass.

I had parked the truck and was leaning against it, and she was feeding about 30 yards away in the marsh grass. Straight downwind, too. I had to throw rocks to get her attention. Yes, the lore of the wildlife photographer. When animals ignore you, throw rocks! Or, well, unless it's a grizzly.

[jonny_redhorse]

just a great deer image Steve!....I noticed you mentioned the distance to the doe was about 90 feet or so.......I certainly can't get a clear image as yours with my fixed lens(28mm-300mm)...I've taken some decent deer shots the last couple of years but I gotta be "close"...as in the twin fawn pics from last year that I took (like 15'-20' or so)......how many times does a deer stand and let you take 35 pics at 15'-20'..lol!....sure I can zoom but certainly loose the quality....again...nice photo......jonny

[Deitz Dittrich]

LOVE it... LOVE it... that grass on the nose is perfect.. how did you get it there?

Seriously.. awesome pict...

[Dbl]

I love that grass hanging from his nose. Nice and sharp.

[Andrew Erickson]

thats awesome

[Steve Foss]

Thanks fellas. Shoot, DD, it's easy to hang grass from a stuffed deer!

I just remembered how heavy the dew was that morning too. Looking at the neck, you see how she's picked up all the moisture off the grass and cattail stalks.

I keep shooting deer. I probably have 2,000 images of deer. I keep shooting them because you just never know if the one you shoot today will turn out to be something spectacular.

Like fishing. You may have caught a bunch of bass over six, walleyes over eight, pike over 20 or muskies over 30, but you keep fishing because of your love of fishing . . . and the seductive possibility there's something out there that will truly blow your mind.

[Dbl]

You know our deer shots in the metro look different with downtown Minneapolis in the background!