Bighorns of Miller Butte

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A reliable place to see wintering Bighorns—close to town on the National Elk Refuge.

Ridgeline Watcher

Each November, a herd of around 70 Bighorn Sheep move to Miller Butte on the National Elk Refuge. Exactly when they move in seems to be related to the area snow pack and severity of the early Winter. In 2013 and 2014, the first Bighorns appeared around the middle of the month. In light snowfall years, the first few show up around Thanksgiving.

Bighorn Pair

Besides simply finding a home to spend the Winter, the Bighorns use the area for their seasonal rut. Tourists and photographers are allowed to watch from the refuge road.

Wyoming Car Wash

We moved to Wyoming in 1986 after growing up in the flat prairie of Oklahoma. I always assumed you’d have to hike miles into the back country wilderness to find either Bighorns or Mountain Goats. I was surprised to find out they come to the roads at certain times of the year. In the photo above, my truck was parked at one of the pull outs on the Elk Refuge Road. The sides of my truck were treated with a “Wyoming Car Wash”. They are attracted to the residual salt and chemicals from the road crews.

ImpactWatchers (1 of 1)

Prior to the actual mating, rams gather to determine dominance or a pecking order by bashing their heads together. The distinctive sound echoes across the valley floor.

Impact (1 of 1)

Capturing the head bashing isn’t exactly easy, but if they go at it long enough, you can usually get a few.

Down Hill Chase

While the largest rams do most of the actual mating, young rams chase ewes across the sage and rocks.

Ram in Charge

The largest ram in the immediate area spends part of his time running other smaller rams away from his ewe.

Group Chase

Once in a while a ram gets a prime ewe to run, causing rams from all around to follow in the chase. The most dominant ram is usually immediately behind the ewe, but he will occasionally turn to bash the next closest ram. Doing so lets the rest of the herd get close to the ewe and some of the smaller rams get their chance to mate until the bigger ram catches up again.

Popular Gal

This ewe attracted a large crowd of interested rams.

TiredEwe (1 of 1)

At times, you have to feel sorry for the ewe. A herd of 10 or more rams can chase her to the point of exhaustion for an hour or longer.

Jumpers

Both ewes and rams are adept at high speed chases across rocky terrain.

Cliff Jumpers

“The Show” is free! Best deal in town if you catch it on a good day.

Rock Face Up

When love is in the air, a Bighorn can climb almost vertical rock walls.

Down

Down a shear rock wall is no problem either.

Rocky Chase

The ewe covers large areas of the refuge trying to get away from the relentless rams.

High Ground

Occasionally, a ewe finds a spot that seems to perplex the rams. This one found a small ledge and stood on it for an hour or longer as rams tried to knock her off.

Resting

Action is usually limited to ten or fifteen minutes at a time, followed by longer periods of resting.

White Out

Winter storms can pound the region. Stiff winds and sheets of snow can make photography challenging, but still worth it if you are dressed and ready for the cold and wind.

Portrait

Bighorns often feed near the road, allowing for some wonderful opportunities for close-up images. I’ve never seen one charge a person and the Refuge rangers don’t seem to worry about people being close. Of course, I have telephoto lenses, so even though I can capture images like this one, I am still a reasonable distance. I always worry about a point and shoot photographer pushing the limits that could result in rigid and restrictive viewing distances.

Flehmen Response

Bighorns, like Moose, Mountain Goats, and wild Mustangs will often display a Flehmen Response following smelling the urine of a ewe. Glands in their upper lips help them determine if a female is ready for mating. Some people also call this a “lip curl”. A couple of the rams at Miller Butte are “respectable” in size, but I haven’t seen any really large ones in a long time. Maybe we’ll get one or two this year. Biologists can usually age a ram by distinctive divisions in his horns. As with most “horned” mammals, they keep them all of their life. Antlered animals, like Moose, Deer, and Elk shed their antlers yearly and begin grown new ones. Many of the largest Rams will “broom” the tips of their horns once they grow to a full curl.

Mating

Actual mating can be observed regularly during the rut.

The Chase Crew

Rut activity can begin after Thanksgiving and can continue into early January.

Lamb and Ewe

Ewes with lambs of the year watch as other ewes are chased during the rut.

LambWatching (1 of 1)

Lambs usually stay somewhere near their mother, but still have plenty of freedom to explore and practice their climbing skills.

Lamp On Ledge

Lambs seem to be gifted at birth.

Digging

By mid-Winter, most lambs forage for themselves. I seldom see them nursing.

The approach

Rams move from ewe to ewe and approach each one in this classic position.

Lone Ram

Bighorns are reported to have incredible eyesight. They are aware of all movement.

Snow Faces

After a heavy snow, Bighorns are forced to dig through the deep, white powder to get to clumps of grass. Sometimes it sticks to their face and horns.

March Rams

Bighorns remain on the National Elk Refuge into March. By that time, their winter coats are bleached out and beginning to thin. The snow on the south facing rock faces is usually melted. By March, I have usually taken plenty of photos and am out looking for new subjects.

Photographing Bighorn Head Bashes

I am sure everyone has their own way of photographing the bashing rams, but I’ll attempt to explain how I’ve been doing it for the past few years. First, let me explain the problem. At the point of impact, the heads of  the two rams are typically somewhere near dead center in the frame. That’s the plan anyway. However, if you set your focus point in the center and let the rams move to it, the camera will be attempting to focus between the two rams and usually somewhere in the distant sagebrush.

Focus Point

Normally, when two rams are facing off, one of them will rear up onto it’s hind legs. Actually, both of them rear up at about the same following some signal only they seem to recognize. I try to focus on a spot just above center of the frame. Depending on the specific circumstanced, it could be on the neck or head of one of the two rams, as seen in red circle in the image above. This image was shot at ISO 320, F/8, and a shutter speed of 1/2000th second. Luckily, between the late November days and snow, I can get shutters speeds in this range. To keep the shutter speed up, I don’t have a problem pushing the ISO up to 800 or even 1250 if the action calls for it on. I also like to use a camera with a fast frame rate, like my Nikon D4. The last sequence in this post will illustrate why!

PreImpact

This is the same ram a split second later. I panned to the right, keeping the focus point on his shoulder or head. The second ram moves into my frame.

Actual Impact

Impact! The second ram will usually meet the head of my subject at approximately where I placed my focus point in the scene originally. (scroll back up to see the location of the red circle)

Impact

I miss some of course, but I manage to capture a lot of them. It takes a little practice, and a lot of patience!

Snow Bash

It’s hard to beat Bighorns bashing in the snow!

Locked up

You never know when something like this will happen. It took them a while to unhook their horns.

Too Many Rame

One of the most difficult aspects of capturing bashing rams is getting a clean shot of the event without distracting additional rams.

A Full Sequence

While this might seem a little redundant, I am including a sequence with this ram from beginning to its unique climax.

Shot 1

shot 2

Shot 3

Shot 4

Shot 5

Shot 6

Shot 7

While I included seven images in this sequence, I actually captured 14 images. That’s the beauty of the D4. It can capture up to around 90 raw images at 10 FPS before beginning to hit a memory buffer. If my buffer had filled after 11 or 12 images, I would have missed the last few important frames. With 14 captures, I had plenty of frames in between and was able to capture the most import shots.

Miller Butte Satellite Map

Click this image to see it much larger

If you head out to the National Elk Refuge, you might want to know a few ground rules. First, the area is a “refuge” and not a “park”. The animals get first priority—not tourists! Currently, pull-outs are very limited along the Refuge Road (shown in red above). If you plan on stopping to photograph the wildlife, you MUST use one of the pullouts. I don’t know if they will be passing out tickets, but refuge rangers regularly pull over with lights flashing and run illegally parked vehicles on down the road.  There is a 65′ county easement for the road running through the Refuge. The Refuge Rangers prefer that people stand off the actual county road when possible, but only a few yards off the road bed.  Posts with signs mark the boundaries fairly well. Hikers and joggers use the road, along with refuge trucks, FedEx trucks, UPS trucks and snow plows. It can feel quite congested and even a little dangerous at times with impatient drivers and slick, snow covered roads. I added Big Rock, Amphitheater, and Saddle to the map. Those are my terms for a few of the spots…not official. A few of us use the same terms. If someone says the herd was coming off the “saddle”, we know about where they are talking about. Miller Butte on Photographer’s Ephemeris.

This page might help with more specific rules and regulationsRefuge winter travel restrictions announced – National Elk Refuge – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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Other Bighorn Opportunities

Camp CreekMiller Butte is a very short drive from my home in Jackson. I can go there a couple of times a day. There are a few other places to capture images of Bighorns in the area. Occasionally, a few Bighorns hang around the red rock cliffs at the Slide Lake campground. A herd can also be found around Red Rock Ranch farther up the Gros Ventre, however that road is locked after December 1st. Another herd can sometimes be found near Camp Creek Inn, a few miles “up the Hoback” from Hoback Junction. I’ve seen bighorns farther up the canyon, near “stinking springs” pullout. Regionally, there are several herds in the Dubois area and quite a few on the North Fork of the Shoshone River outside Cody. That’s a long drive from here in the winter. Likewise, several herds of Bighorns winter around Gardiner on the north side of Yellowstone.

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Lightroom Keywording Tips, Tools, & Suggestions

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Keywords are integral for managing and finding images in Adobe’s Lightroom program.

Lightroom includes many ways of assigning keywords, but a few of them are less obvious than others. The goal is to develop some quick methods to let you get back behind the camera. Keywords are simply identifying words or titles you assign to an image that allow the search and filter features in Lightroom find images. From there, you can organize, view, process, export and print results. This page includes a few of my “real life” methods and steps. I photograph a lot of moose here in Grand Teton National Park, so the huge number of images I have in my catalog work as a great example.

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Keywords on Import

Import boxYou can always include a set of Keywords on import, but I only use that feature if all incoming images are of the same subject matter. At least in my case, that seldom happens. A typical shoot might include animals of several different species and random landscapes. A wedding photographer, on the other hand, might include keywords on import including the name of the wedding, bride, groom, family members, location, and so forth since almost all of them would apply to the same wedding.

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Basic Method

Basic Method

Basic Method: Just click in the text entry box of the Keyword Tags menu and manually type in keywords, separated by a comma. You can also click into the large box above it and add, edit or delete words there. Once you click off the box, the keywords are added into the upper box. LR will ignore duplicate keywords. If you accidentally put in a few repeats like “gold and cottonwoods” in my example, it is no big deal. You can add the same keywords to a group of images at one time by selecting them first, than applying the keywords. (Note: The odd numbers and alphanumeric strings in this example are part of my US Copyright submissions)

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Keyword Sets

Keyword Set Blank

Keyword Sets: This one is SO powerful! Just below the middle of the panel on the right is a section labeled Keyword Set. To enter a bunch of keywords quickly into the empty circle, all I had to do was click into any of the nine boxes under Keyword Set. (Note, this is a Keyword Set I created for Moose. More on that in a second).

Keyword Sets After Clicking

By simply clicking the four circled boxes, all the words in the upper box were added. No typing involved! Once one of the boxes is used, text turns white.

Keyword Set Comments: When I first started using Keyword sets, I felt limited to only nine descriptive words. There were only nine boxes. Somewhere along the line, I discovered I could add a series of associated keywords into one box. For example, if I am ever entering “moose”, I also know it is an animal, mammal, wildlife, ungulate, fur, hooves. Those can be added along with “moose” in one click. Most of my moose images are taken inside Grand Teton National park, so that group is Grand Teton National Park, GTNP, Jackson Hole, WY, Wyoming. Most are taken during the “Fall” so that word and any other related words is another group in the keyword set. If the animal is a bull, it will also likely have antlers, and be somehow associated with the rut. You can organize the keywords into logical groupings within the Keyword Sets in any combination that makes sense to you! Again, all it takes is one click for each group.

Keyword Set Access

Lightroom includes some default Keyword Sets like Outdoor Photography, Wedding Photography, Portrait Photography and so forth. Click the up/down arrow to see a list of keyword sets. As you can see, I am currently working with “Moose”, a Keyword Set I created. Here’s how….

Creating a New Set

Creating a New Set: It seems strange Adobe didn’t include “create a new Keyword Set” in this list. Instead, pick any of the existing Keyword Sets, then click “Save Current Settings as a New Preset” and give it a new name of your choice. Then click Edit Set…

Keyword Set Editor

Edit the Boxes: In this frame, simply add any desired keywords in any or all of the nine boxes. (Don’t add a comma at the end) In this case, I am allowing for adding cow and/or calf and an occasional resting moose. Click Change.

Update Set

Update Set: You might notice the word “edited” next to the Keyword Set “Moose”. Lightroom will allow you to work with an edited set without any repercussions, however if you were to choose a different Keyword Set, those changes will not be saved. To make permanent changes to the Keyword Set (preset), click the up/down arrow one more time and click “Update Preset Moose”. (Your preset name will likely be something else).

That’s it! You can create as many Keyword Sets as you need. I deleted a bunch of mine so I could show the lower set of commands in this post. They are easy to make, so it wasn’t a big deal to lose a few. Once a Keyword Set is created and saved, it is only a matter of hitting the up/down button and selecting it.

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Painter

Painter

Painter: I believe that’s what Adobe calls the tool. I think of this as a spray can for applying a keyword or group of keywords to random images while in the grid view. I recently created a Feature Post called Resting Moose: A Collection of Less Seen Lifestyle Images.  For the post, I needed to find resting moose images…lots of them! My folder of Moose currently has 20,000 images in it. If I had been diligent in my keywording over the past eight years, I could have easily brought up only “resting” moose. In fact, I did just that, but I also knew there were lots of them that didn’t appear in the search results. All I had to do was assign the word “resting” to the spray can, then go through the moose images and “spraying” the new keyword onto random images. Later, I searched for resting moose and produced the post using those images.

New Keywords

Spray Paint Keywords: For this example, I clicked on the paint can, then entered several associated keywords into the text field. You can see I already had the base keywords from the shoot using some of the Keyword Sets described earlier. But on this shoot, I had some images with the bull simply feeding alongside the other moose plus I captured some where the bull was doing a “lip curl”. Once the new keywords were set, all I need to do is click on any image while in the grid view.

Using the Paint Can

Spray Paint Keywords in Action: I clicked in three of the four thumbnails while the Paint can was active. Lightroom added all three keywords into each of the three images. This nifty little tool can come in very handy! As another example, a wedding photographer could include the basic keywords on import, then use the Spray Can to quickly add “John Smith, groom” to any photo he is in. You get the idea!

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Hybrid Methods

Manual Entry

Hybrid Entries: Just a quick reminder that entering the keywords is not an either/or option. It is more of an AND/AND/AND option! You can build the keyword list by using any of the methods I illustrated, including manual entries like the one above, or by simply copying and pasting keywords into the text entry box or into the large keyword box. You can also enter keywords into one image, then select additional, similar images and use the SYNC command. It’s located in the lower left of the large panel. If you look at the screen grab just above, you’ll see a list of grayed out keywords in a panel called “Keyword Suggestions”. Once you begin to add keywords to an image, Lightroom starts automatically modifying the words in the list based on your previous keyword entries. At any time, you can simply click on any of them and LR will add them to the current or selected group of images. Very nifty!

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The Wrap-Up

Both Photoshop and Lightroom offer multiple ways of completing similar tasks. Some methods may be faster or take less steps, but the results are usually the same. Most people find one way, get used to it and never learn of the faster method. Hopefully, some of the tips above will help. I am certain there are ways of accomplishing some the same tasks that are faster than the ones I presented, too. The tips above affect the portion of the program Lightroom calls the “Library” module. You might also hear companies call this segment “Data Asset Management” (D.A.M.). Lightroom does a great job with Data Asset Management, but it can also handle the processing of your images plus a long list of output options.

Lastly…Why use Lightroom? I wrote this page assuming readers already own and use Lightroom. But, for anyone not using it already, I highly recommend the program. If you take very many photos, you’ll quickly learn how difficult it can be to find specific images based on what folder you stored it in, or the date you think you took the image. Lightroom will allow you to find images stored in any of your folders and on any of your attached hard drives. Keywords are necessary to make the search results successful. For example, I could search for “Bull, Moose, Velvet, GTNP, 2012″. Results would eliminate moose in Yellowstone or moose with stripped antlers and only focus on the images I took that year. That’s what this post is all about…getting the keywords into your catalog so they can go to “work” for you!

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Resting Moose: A Collection of Less Seen Lifestyle Images

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Moose spend much of the daylight hours bedded down after grazing during the pre-dawn and first light periods.

Over the past 8 years or so, I’ve taken thousands of shots of moose bedded down in various locations and under most conditions and light. Resting moose images probably aren’t as popular or romantic as ones crossing a stream or in some sort of rut behavior. I enjoy trying to capture them—but then, I also take photos of metal rusting and paint peeling! For viewers not around moose that often, this Feature Post should enlighten you about some of their lifestyle and behavior when they are not “posing” for us in the other classic shots. This page is loaded with some of my favorite resting moose images, along with some comments about them.

Custer Watching

Moose usually bed down within an hour of the first light hitting the valley floor. They may continue to graze at the edges of the forest or move to the relative safety of the willow trees, but you’ll seldom them find them standing in the sagebrush during the heat of the day. To get resting moose shots, all you have to do is stay with them in the morning until they go down. It’s a given.

blade of grass

After feeding and going through their morning rut behavior, moose move to a cool, shady spot. They do a good job of bedding down in a place with small stems or branches in front of them. You’d almost think they do it to annoy photographers! Since I live here and get plenty of opportunities, I typically don’t photograph one with stems in their face unless the rest of the scene is outstanding.

blade of grass removed

It is possible to remove small imperfections in Photoshop. The “content aware” healing brushes can work wonders. It all depends on how much of a purist you are and how many days you can spend photographing them.

removing branch

It doesn’t happen that often, but occasionally a moose will reach out and chew off a branch or stem, cleaning up the scene the natural way!

cleaned scene

Perfect! No Photoshop needed on that pesky branch!

Moose in Sagebrush

I’d like to get more of this kind of image showing some of the distant mountains. Normally, I am out with a 200-400mm lens. It takes something wider like a 70-200mm lens to include much of the environment. Ideally, I’d be about 10 feet from the moose with a short lens to let them fill the frame—but that would be illegal and dangerous. They never seem to be alarmed or concerned with me at 35-40 yards out. Most moose in GTNP were born here and have grown up with photographers and tourists around them. As long as people don’t abuse the privilege, GTNP moose appear to view us no differently than any other grazing pronghorn, elk, or bison they see in the same areas. Back country moose “might” be less tolerant and either run or charge.

Moose in Sagebrush

Early morning or late evening light always help “romance” an image. A little “catch light” in the eyes helps most images, too.

The little bull

While this little bull has a lot of character, it is more of novelty shot for me. My rule of thumb is “shoot now” and try to decide if it has any long term value later. This particular image makes a great addition to this post, but who knew in 2008 I’d be writing a blog post in 2014. I didn’t know what a blog was in 2008.

Washakie

I tend to spend more time following the larger bulls and taking their photos—even the resting versions. They are wonderful subjects with a lot of expression and character! A bull will typically yawn once or twice after lying down. They also stretch their neck once or twice before settling into an extended nap.

Flat Out

Most “sleep” with their head up.  They can close their eyes, yet listen for threatening sounds by swiveling their ears in any direction. It is not uncommon to watch a moose’s head bob from semi-consciousness to full sleep like I used to do in a 7:00 am art history slide show back in college. Sometimes they roll over on their side, as seen above.

Completely out

Occasionally, one of the big bulls will fall asleep…all lights out! The fall rut can drain their energy.

awake

This bull woke up with snow stuck to his antler. He slept for roughly 15 minutes.

legs showing

This bull bedded down in an open area, revealing his folded legs. This kind of shot isn’t too common.

Two Bulls

If one resting bull is good, then two resting bulls must be even better!

Six bulls

Then again, if two bulls are good, six bulls are much better!

Bull and Cow

During the fall rut, bulls stay fairly close to the prime cows.

Gentle Prodding

It’s rewarding to be able to capture behavioral shots, too! This bull was prodding the cow to get up for a little “action”.

stacked calf and bull

This little frisky calf bedded down on a sand bar. The bull walked up, got a drink and bedded down next to the water. I shot this scene from several angles, but liked this one best.

curious young bull

Large bulls are often amazingly tolerant of a smaller bull. During the heat of the rut, you’ll seldom find two of the large bulls that friendly around each other.

after the rut

After the rut, bulls often reassemble in small groups. One year, quite a while back, I counted 28 antlered moose in one area, plus several I was sure were bulls that had already lost their antlers. I haven’t seen that many since, and reports indicate moose populations have been on the decline. Once moose bed down in the sagebrush, they can be difficult to spot, made worse once their fur gets covered with snow.

Lost Antler

By mid-December, some of the bulls shed their antlers. This bull had apparently just lost one of his. The off-balance effect of having only one antler must be hard on them. This bull was following a group of around 6 bulls but was constantly bedding down to rest while the others continued to graze.

On lost antler

I’ve heard it said the largest bulls lose their antlers first, but I am not so sure that is a correct statement. I don’t really see much of a pattern to it at all.

Washakie

Most tourists visit Jackson Hole during the Summer and Fall and never get to see moose in snow like this.

getting up

What goes down, must come up! Newton didn’t exactly say it that way, I guess. If you are willing to wait him out, a resting moose will eventually get up. They almost always do a unique “stretch” of their back and neck before being ready to continue with the rut or feeding again. Click this image to see it much larger!

cow with calves

I typically don’t take that many shots of resting cows. In the early part of June, moose are shaggy and not too “pretty”—and that’s being polite! Early June is also about the time the cows show up with newborn calves. Exceptions have to be made!

Cow in the river

This is another example of capturing a resting cow moose while doing something unique. By mid-August, afternoons can get warm enough to bake their dark fur.

Youngster

This young calf was just too cute to pass up!

in the pool

Okay, I would have photographed this bull in velvet whether he was in the sagebrush, willows, or grass, but catching him in a cool pool was a a treat.

with a rope

Once a bull’s antlers get to a point the velvet is ready to scrape off, they rub their antlers against just about anything they can find. Apparently, this bull found a worthy tent or clothes line. The line must have affected his desire to finish the velvet stripping. Luckily for the moose, both antlers would be falling off in December and he’d be ready to start over next year. Bulls start stripping their velvet a few days either side of Labor Day, but not all begin at the same time.

Scratching

Bull Moose seldom spar until they have had a chance to strip off all of their velvet. Once stripped and their antlers polished, they become a multi-purpose tool. When bedded down, they often use their antlers to scratch their back. By late December and into early January, he’ll lose his back built-in scratcher.

Washakie

This venerable bull moose (I call “Washakie“) has been one of my favorite subjects. I first photographed him with a digital camera in 2006. He was an impressive bull even back then, but each year, his antlers have been getting larger and more distinctive. He’s in quite a few of the images in this post above. He spends much of August near the big pull out along the Gros Ventre river feeding on fresh willow leaves and stems. During the rut, he can roam along the Gros Ventre all the way from the highway to the town of Kelly. As the willow leaves wain, moose begin to switch their diet to bitter brush, which grows alongside sagebrush in the open flats. This shot, taken in mid-November (only a few days ago), will probably be one of the last images I get of Washakie this year. He has snow on his face from pushing snow away to get to the low bitter brush. Their long legs allow them to pass over high snow and tall sagebrush. Their thick fur allows them to tolerate -30°F temps and heavy winds. They can sometimes be found near the roads near Ditch Creek road, but eventually, they move on West and out of range for most people.

Frozen Water Source

During the coldest periods of winter, finding water might be a moose’s biggest challenge. This irrigation ditch originates at the Kelly Warm Springs and travels towards the Mormon Row barns. Most parts of Ditch Creek freeze solid, but I believe moose move away from the roads and towards this irrigation ditch for the chances to break through the ice. Once an opening is found, other moose drink from the same spot. While this isn’t a resting moose photo, it goes with the preceding image and caption.

I am working on another Feature Post containing a collection of “unique” moose activities, similar to the one above. Now’s a great time to sign up to follow this blog if you haven’t done so. You’ll receive an email notifying you of any new feature posts. This photo makes me smile. It reminds me of a story about one of my young nephews. His mother had quoted the line from the Bible that goes something like, “And, Jesus walked on the water”. My nephew pondered it a minute…then said, “Must have been damned cold”.

Shooting Info

Most of these shots were taken with a Nikon 200-400mm lens at a range of around 40 yards. Most have a little cropping. The early images were taken with a Nikon 300 and later shots were taken with either a Nikon D4 or a Nikon 800. Resting moose seldom move their head too fast, so shutter speeds are not much of an issue. The distance from the tip of the nose to his ears is close to 2 feet. Lower shutter speeds and smaller apertures normally work fine. If looking at me, I typically focus on their eyes and let their muzzle go out of focus slightly. When at a 3/4 pose, most of the face will be sharp.

depth of field

Shooting Comments

For this Feature Post, I went through around 20,000 moose images and found around 1500 resting moose shots. No telling how many thousand additional resting moose shots I took and deleted. I included way more images on this page than some might think is appropriate for a blog post, but I tried to find images with some sort of unique nature or quality. When you are out in the field, it is way too easy to set up on a tripod and shoot 300-400 images of essentially the same pose of a resting moose. That just means you spend a lot of time having to cull a bunch of them. Over the years, I shoot less of them and cull more of them. I’d probably be much more discrete if I had to change rolls after every 36 captures.

If I find a nice bull moose in the morning and stay with him until he beds down, I typically head home or go somewhere else during the middle of the day. Moose sometimes get up in the middle of the day, but usually only to switch sides or move to a new shady spot. If I go back in the afternoon, they are seldom more than 50-70 yards from where I left them in the morning. I will usually be more tempted to go back in the afternoon if I left them bedded down somewhere near the river. They usually go to the water once a day, sometimes crossing after taking a good drink. Wild mustangs, elk, and pronghorns males “herd” their harem, usually away from other males. During the rut, bull moose normally just follow the “hot” cow wherever she goes instead of trying to keep her in a specific area.

Maybe you’ll agree—even when they are just resting, moose are incredibly captivating animals.

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Please note: Images on this page are fully protected with an official copyright at the US Copyright Office.  No unauthorized use is granted.

If you like this post, please take the time to click any of the Social Media icons below and share the page with your friends and associates. Hope you enjoy the images and comments. Cheers! Mike Jackson

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