A Buck's Life
by Jerry Austin
I, as I am sure some of you, am fascinated by antlers. I first saw this buck back in 2011 at the Fort Worth Nature Center. That year, his rack was a little unusual, but not what I would call a full blown non-typical. In 2012, I captured another image of this buck. There are posts of him in my gallery. At first, I thought this was a new buck. But, as I examined the image on the computer, I realized it was the same buck I had photographed the year before. However, he was much bigger and much more non-typical. His identification was made easier by the pink patch on his nose. It was like a fingerprint. I have images of him in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The interesting thing is that in 2013 his rack "reverted" back to what it looked like in 2011 and has pretty much looked the same since then. That brings us to this image that I captured a few days ago. Interestingly, he looks like he did in 2011. I will post a composite image with what he looked like in 2011, 2012 and 2013 in a follow up comment. Any comments about the image or the antlers is welcome.
Canon 7d Mark II
Canon 200-400 f4 L IS
f5.6
1/250s
ISO 3200
Comments
3 commentsThanks for your comment. Based on my observations of other deer, I don't think the weather in 2012 had anything to do with the larger set of antlers. I have followed another buck I call Big Boy and his antlers have remained virtually constant the last three years. When i first saw this buck in 2011, I estimated he was at least 2 1/2 years old. That would make him 5 1/2 years old this year. He should be hitting his prime years right now. His body is bigger than any other year. He should have at least two more years before he starts to decline.