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I got a new lawnmower for Christmas
Today was rainy and gloomy. A winter storm hit the Yosemite area and I was just north-ish of that area...low enough elevation that we only had rain but it kept me inside most of the day...until I happened to look outside late afternoon.
There, on the front lawn of my cabin, was my brand new lawnmower making sure my grass stays well groomed:
What's that, too small to work efficiently? OK, maybe that one is just the weed whacker...here's the real lawnmower showing how it's really done:
Yep, two nice bucks hanging out in my front yard. There were two Does with them as well...I should say, there were two Does with the larger buck. He made it clear to the smaller buck more than once that these were his!
They didn't get into any head butting (man, that would've made for some great shots!) but the little guy did get chased away a few times for trying to get close to the ladies.
Here's a shot of the little buck watching wistfully from the neighbor's yard after being chased out of my yard by the big lawnmower:
You can almost hear him thinking, "harumph! Why does he need two? It's not fair! There should be one for each of us! Greedy pig!"
Here's the big one with his lady friends after the Does wandered over to the neighbor's yard:
When the Does wandered next door, the big buck was right behind them but that's where the little buck was...past tense! Little buck made quick tracks back into my yard to finish trimming the tall grass down to size.
Here's the little guy relaxing and enjoying the view of the lake after a tough afternoon of yard work:
The big buck got sneaky and tried to hide in the neighbor's yard. I'm not sure if he was hiding from me or hoping to ambush the small buck the next time it strayed too close to the ladies. He sure is nestled into the bushes pretty well:
Most of the shots were taken from the balcony, one floor above the deer. The horse shoe pit that the bucks are grazing next too in some of the pics is about 40 ft out from the edge of the balcony. The neighbor's yard is maybe another 6 or 8 feet lower than my yard and the shrubs the big buck was hiding in are just inside their property maybe 20-30 ft from the corner of my balcony...deer hang out near those shrubs pretty often and it's a great setup for shooting down at them.
The shots of the small buck laying down with a bit of the lake in the background was taken from the ground floor (there's a patio below the balcony and I snuck out there for the last bit of shooting).
There, on the front lawn of my cabin, was my brand new lawnmower making sure my grass stays well groomed:
What's that, too small to work efficiently? OK, maybe that one is just the weed whacker...here's the real lawnmower showing how it's really done:
Yep, two nice bucks hanging out in my front yard. There were two Does with them as well...I should say, there were two Does with the larger buck. He made it clear to the smaller buck more than once that these were his!
They didn't get into any head butting (man, that would've made for some great shots!) but the little guy did get chased away a few times for trying to get close to the ladies.
Here's a shot of the little buck watching wistfully from the neighbor's yard after being chased out of my yard by the big lawnmower:
You can almost hear him thinking, "harumph! Why does he need two? It's not fair! There should be one for each of us! Greedy pig!"
Here's the big one with his lady friends after the Does wandered over to the neighbor's yard:
When the Does wandered next door, the big buck was right behind them but that's where the little buck was...past tense! Little buck made quick tracks back into my yard to finish trimming the tall grass down to size.
Here's the little guy relaxing and enjoying the view of the lake after a tough afternoon of yard work:
The big buck got sneaky and tried to hide in the neighbor's yard. I'm not sure if he was hiding from me or hoping to ambush the small buck the next time it strayed too close to the ladies. He sure is nestled into the bushes pretty well:
Most of the shots were taken from the balcony, one floor above the deer. The horse shoe pit that the bucks are grazing next too in some of the pics is about 40 ft out from the edge of the balcony. The neighbor's yard is maybe another 6 or 8 feet lower than my yard and the shrubs the big buck was hiding in are just inside their property maybe 20-30 ft from the corner of my balcony...deer hang out near those shrubs pretty often and it's a great setup for shooting down at them.
The shots of the small buck laying down with a bit of the lake in the background was taken from the ground floor (there's a patio below the balcony and I snuck out there for the last bit of shooting).
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Thanks for sharing.
Dick.
Thomas Fuller.
SmugMug account.
Website.
Dave
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
My Gallery
www.capture-the-pixel.com
Ok, so these are up in the Sierras. I didn't think they had mule deer in San Jose. :giggle
Regards.
-joel
Link to my Smugmug site
Kdog - yep, up near Groveland along Hwy 120 about 25 miles away from Yosemite's northwest entrance. Another 24 miles from that entrance is Yosemite's valley floor if I recall the numbers properly.
I'm hoping to get out there this weekend and see how much of yesterday's snow is still intact.