Browsing Buck

[Ron Kruger]

I got a bunch of pictures of this buck about a couple of weeks ago.

[OldClicker]

Nice symmetric looking rack. Somewhat difficult to see with the leaves as a background though.

What do you (or anyone else) do about the shutter/mirror noise when shooting wildlife up close?

TF

[Ron Kruger]

Well, I treat it like bow hunting, by waiting until I have the best open shot before drawing back and treat each situation as if I'm only going to get one chance, because most of the time with a 200mm, I am shooting within bow range (30 yards or less). Surprisingly, I've not had many animals spook at shutter noise. It's not that they don't hear it, but I believe it is a noise they don't associate with danger. The noise a camera shutter makes may be similar to parts of some bird or squirrel noises they hear all the time.
A lot of times, they don't even look my way, and when they do, I'm fully camofluged, and as long as I don't blink, they soon go about their business. For deer and some other woods creatures, the biggest concern for detection is scent, then movement, then sound.
They'll look in the direction of sounds, but if they don't detect any movement, they don't worry for long. If they get a wiff of you, it's all over, no questions asked.
I took a dozen or so shots of this buck from within 30 yards before he moved off. The hardest part is getting them within range in the first place.

[OldClicker]

As a former bow hunter, I've watched them many times when they knew something was there, but couldn't tell what. Stomp their feet and snort - trying to get me to move. Eventually they get around to the downwind side and they're gone. - TF

[Ron Kruger]

Yes, if they stomp or snort, they're as good as gone.
I've spent so much time observing deer, that I've notice they all have distinct facial and body features, and can recongnize them almost as well as I do other people.
Bet deer think we all look alike.