Blacktail buck

It's been a while since I posted here. Sorry for being so scarce. In case you're curious, I do still own a camera .

This was taken the week before last on Blue Mountain near the Deer Park campsite in Olympic National Park. The campsite was packed, but getting up at dawn meant we had this area (complete with fogged-in sunrise) to ourselves for a while.

I'm wondering what people have to say about the right side of the image. This is full frame, so I could easily crop down to just the buck. I've also got shots with less stuff (see these, which are also full frame). I like this one because the stuff on the right adds depth and a little interest. Or not. I also like his body language and the sense of eye contact here more than the other shots I have of him. What do you think?

Thanks for looking,
Sean

P.S. If you're interested: D300, 500mm, F/4, 1/500s, ISO 800.

Sean,
Glad to hearyou still own a camera. What I like abourt this image is that the deer is in focus and everything else is out. There is no question to what my eyes lock on to. IMHO!

The composition is great. The color looks a little skewed toward magenta, but that might just be my monitor being overdue for calibration.

I agree that it's good to have just the deer in focus. I also think that the color is a bit off . . . perhaps a touch more green for the veg?