ElusiveOnline.com » Lip Curl

Bring It

Seth Topham — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:33:02 +0000

This is a unique looking buck I caught up to one morning. If the number of does hanging with a buck is any indicator of dominance then this guy was king of the valley. In the photo he is lip curling and snorting but not at the does. I bleated from my position below him and he gave me quite a display. He seemed to have a little chip on his shoulder.

I think if I was the two point in this photo I woud go ahead and back down; he just doesnt have the weaponry yet. I have to hand it to the little guy he sure kept trying to get close to the does but every time he was met by an angry charge. It was fun to watch and photograph this herd of deer for several hours, and watch the herd dynamics.

Somethings in the Air

Seth Topham — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:25:55 +0000

This buck has the deepest forks of any buck I have ever seen; a true monster. Many of the bigger bucks I have photographed have been the result of hours and days of painstaking pursuit. This buck however was a different story. Once again as in the previous post I was on my way home after a particularly disappointing day of looking for something to photograph when I happened to catch what looked like tines sticking up out of the black brush along the edge of the road. I hit the brakes, threw the truck in reverse and crept back to see if I had indeed seen what I thought I had seen. Sure enough there were tines sticking out of the black brush and from the looks of them the owner was huge buck. I quickly went about getting my camera set up which took longer than normal as I had already put everything away. Duringthis prolonged set up time the buck stood up and my heart stopped, I thought for sure he would bound away and that I had missed my chance. Instead this buck only added to his majestic prowess by sticking his nose in the air and defiantly snorting at me, as if to say, move on. The photo above is of one such snort. This buck never ran, he continued to snort and act defiant until I eventually got back in my truck and headed down the road. I had never, and still have never seen since, a buck act this way. He was king of the mountain and he knew it.

Its Good To Be King

Seth Topham — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:57:26 +0000

This is a great buck with 4 on one side and 7 on the other. I was headed home about 10:30 am after a morning of looking for something to photograph, when I caught a couple of second glimpse of what looked like a very heavy buck with extras going over a distant ridge. I called my brother and my buddy and as luck would have it they were both able to sneak away to help me try and relocate the buck. Upon their arrival we hiked out and snuck into the valley where I had seen the deer disappear. I was very disappointed to find there were no deer in the valley and that the buck must have moved on. We searched several other draws and valleys in the area but with no success. Before leaving I decided to give the original valley one last look. I pulled the binoculars up and out of sheer luck they were focused right on the big buck laying in the deep shade of a boulder. The rest is history, as we were able to sneak to a position right above this buck and shoot some great photos and video.