Buck in Velvet

[rsgunner]

I shot this in July of 2008 through my dinning room windows. I was surprised it came out.
I put corn out for the deer so I usually get a few feeding but mostly at night, This was at 1130 hrs at about 20 yards. I live out in the woods so wildlife of all kinds is not uncommon.

Nikon D2x with a Nikon 70-200 VR.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i197/rsgunner/Photography/Buck_in_velvet.jpg

Comments and criticism appreciated.

Russ

[Cloud9Gal]

Russ~ Very nice shot! If we wouldn't know any better, we'd think that buck was actually posing for you??!! Look at the front legs, crossed! And to your point, it almost seems like the rack is covered with soft velvet.

Was the picture cropped at all Russ?

Thanks for sharing!

[rsgunner]

C9G

The image was cropped some to get rid of the extra stuff on the sides. I couldn't get his feet because of the window pane. He was standing over one of the corn piles.

The covering of the antlers during development is called velvet and usually during August/September the bucks will rub it off. It is a membrane that promotes the growth. Has lots of blood vessels in it. The bucks in this area have shed their antlers in March and will start growing a new set almost immediately.

10 point bucks are the largest sets I have had in my yard.

I will have to upload one where I did a lot of post shot processing.
Photoshop is my tool of choice.

Russ

[Chacha]

Cool shot, Russ!

Thanks for sharing. Nice angle too!