To Wait or not…I was never a fan of sitting in one area for long periods of time waiting for a photo opportunity. Unless I was by a den or nest site under some sort of cover or camo netting I’d rather track and stalk, especially in Texas…too much to see. The netting works great, I have had doe come right up and sniff my shoulders while sitting still. You can usually tell if an animal is stressed and you have reached or passed their comfort zone. Birds for one, like the Night heron, will ruffle their feathers as if taking a bath, they seem calm and it’s a good photo opportunity…but it means you are too close, back away to reduce their stress. "Never risk stress or injury to any animal for an image." I'll talk more on getting too close and not heeding body language...it involves a large male lion, oh...and another time an alligator...and this one time, well...you get the point!
I have never needed to bait animals to get close and never would really like to; in South Texas they are abundant and nothing beats getting out there and covering the area on foot. When you are on the water there is no need to break up the “human silhouette.” If your movements are subtle, smooth and constant you're opportunity should show itself...BE PATIENT!
If on or in a kayak you can float to within feet of most herons, egrets, shore birds, otters, beaver and even deer. I have had a pair of otters come to within arms reach of the kayak barking and playing in the water.
This buck in the first image…I had heard about and had been after for sometime…one morning I was floating quietly in the kayak around the south island…off to the left about 15 feet from the rivers edge…there he was feeding. I drifted up to about 40 feet, camera in my lap…took a few images…then one paddle stroke when he put his head down to eat…over and over to within 20 feet. He would look up, stare for awhile then eat again. I knew my time was limited so I slowly raised the camera to my eye and let the shutter fly...taking about 30 images in the time allotted. At this point he looked, took one step and launched right over the 5’ to 6’ vegetation and off into the woods with the shutter still snapping away.
Shaking, I sat there enjoying the sunrise, water and my coveted Cheerios Bars (Have you tried these? Mmmmmmmm) in the kayak for the next 45 minutes thanking him for his time. With 5 minutes to the launch, a 5 minute paddle to the south island, about 10 or so to get to the final images, then 45 minutes to calm down. It was all I needed that week…a perfect outing. Another day I'll post the beaver I had breakfast with one morning before sunrise…again in the kayak along the shore, we both ate well.
In this second image I knew every morning the deer cross from one island to another in a specific time frame. For some reason I decided to sit and wait…about 20 minutes here they came wading without a care.
People that know me...know I have an incredible knack for attracting...FIRE ANTS, it doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing...they will find me almost daily! In the "Crossing" image I was leaning my body across a fallen tree that went out into the water. At the time the deer appeared I felt a stinging on my left arm, then up to my shoulder. Glancing down I noticed there were fire ants everywhere...do I freak out, frighten the deer, loose the image and let everything within a mile or two know I'm here or...deal with it. Fortunately (or not) my fire ant threshold is quite high at this point...higher than the first few times where I stripped down in seconds and proceeded to scream and run around the neighborhood in skivvies! I had quite a few bites in the time it took for them to cross. When the shirt came off after they had cleared the water, I was black with ants digging in everywhere. Remember...I said "never stress or injure an animal for an image" we don't count:)
Get out there...shoot and be careful!
Thanks again, TWI.net/com
