Friendly Forest Animals

Rokdktr

This little guy followed me for almost 10km on my return hike to the rig one day.
Canon 20D - f7.1, 1/500 - ISO 400


This Moose watched me for at least 30 minutes.
20D - f5.6, 1/80 - ISO 400

bfjr

dig the 2nd one, very cool

NorthernFocus

Two really nice images. Not to rain on the parade but any time an animal is acting "abnormal" it's a good idea to be a bit wary. We were visiting Bend, OR a few years back when a doe deer was hanging around town and attacked several people. If you've ever seen a doe fight you know what "attack" means. Many more people get attacked by moose up here than bears but it never makes the papers. Mainly because a moose is a lot easier to get away from. In Yellowstone the bears get all the press but the buffalo hurt all the tourists. Many more people are injured by herbivores than by predators. Fact, not opinion.

But I digress, excellent photos

dbaker1221

cool shots but now I'm afraid to go out after what Dan said

Rokdktr

Thanks for the appreciation! It's nice to get some feedback on some of my earlier stuff so I can learn and focus on improving my more recent pics.

As far as being wary of the wildlife....I am pretty conscious of all the critters, especially the moose and bears. I've yet to get a really great bear picture, but some of my close encounter stories are the makings of great thriller / suspense tales. I've tried for the last 4 years to get a picture of one of the large grizzly bears in this area of northern British Columbia, but in spite of being growled at from the cover of the trees, and stalked down wet creek beds, (that's the scariest feeling in the world) I've yet to get my photo op. :cry If I do get it it will be posted ASAP!:D

NorthernFocus

dbaker1221 wrote:

... now I'm afraid to go out after what Dan said

Sorry about that Didn't mean to sound alarmist. I may be overly sensetive on the subject It does make for good photography when the critters aren't scared of us ...:D

Maestro

That big, bull moose is impressive. He could rain down a lot of hurt.

fjf511

I think the moose shoots with Nikon and he was checking out your Canon

leahe

The moose was just checking out how big your lens was.

Rokdktr

Well it wasn't a very big lens, he was only 30 feet away. I think I was at ~20mm with a 17-85.

raptorcaptor

Of the two I like the 2nd one best! Did you try to get any shots without the branches blocking the face? Looks like you could've moved a couple feet to the right.

leahe

Wow, that was pretty close then. It seems they are as curious of us as we are of them at times. Very cool.