Summer moves on. The stags' antlers continue to grow; both stags and hinds wallowed while water remained in the hole (that's dried mud on his antlers); the first fawn arrived on 7 December, the day I photographed this stag. Three more fawns followed soon after.
[7 December 2010, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 400, 1/320 at f8]
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor
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8 comments:
Kia ora Pete,
Hope to perhaps come across a fellow like above over the next 5 days, but more so the whio. 3 Jan. would be awesome. Will be in touch when I get back next week. Man its hot! The tought of a cool mountain river pool is a good one right now.
Talk to you soon.
Cheers,
Robb
What a fine portrait of a magnificent animal. It's hard to accept that people kill these creatures for sport. He is right to be contantly watchful.
Kia ora Robb. He'd be a fine sight in the wild all right. Best of luck with the weather and the whio, and I'll look forward to the 3rd :^)
RR, thank you. I think I'll avoid getting into discussions about the ethics of hunting, but I will point out that, unfortunately, wild deer in New Zealand have to be killed for conservation reasons. Moreover, most are actually shot from helicopters for the venison industry, not for sport (although that has a large, active following). I guess it's arguable (or perhaps not) whether stalking and shooting a deer in the wild is morally worse or better than buying factory farmed meat from a supermarket, but the irony is that it's probably one of the more constructive things a New Zealander can do to look after the environment (active political engagement must top the list, though).
Kia ora Pete,
Taylor and I postponed our trip as the weather just is not looking very nice at all, and part of it is wanting to enjoy some of the summer amenities, like a swimming hole and such. So will try again next week. The 3rd will be cool, will be in touch.
Cheers,
Robb
So intense.
So much larger than one expects, every time I've seen deer of any kind in person. They have a mass, a presence, that always surprizes me.
Kia ora Robb. That's a good call to postpone the trip with Taylor. The river's up and I imagine it will be similar on the other side; Nor'west gales are forecast, too, so Armstrong Saddle might have been dodgy.
Zhoen, the stags can look enormous, particularly when they have their antlers, yet I'm often surprised by how small and apparently delicate the hinds can appear.
Wow. What a handsome fellow.
Those antlers are even bigger now, Leonie. You'll see them on the 13th!
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