Marla and I traveled to Pinedale, WY earlier this month to photograph mule deer on their Pinedale (WY) Mesa winter range. Since gas drilling started on The Mesa in 2001, the mule deer population has declined to record low numbers and a loss of 60% of the herd. Drilling is now allowed through winter, on winter range, and last spring 30% of the deer died while migrating.
Posted by Joshua Hardin on December 21, 2010 at 2:17 PM
I LOVE this image Dave. Perfect pose and framing on the deer. I feel cold just looking at the frosty sage environment. An informative and extremely well-illustrated blog post too. Thanks for linking to it. Keep up the good work.
Posted by Dean Sauskojus on December 21, 2010 at 3:12 PM
Gorgeous shot Dave!
Posted by Grant Collier on December 21, 2010 at 8:34 PM
Nice shot!
Posted by Don George on December 21, 2010 at 9:45 PM
Nice image Dave. Its sad to see whats happened to the range around Pinedale.
Posted by Doug Roane on December 21, 2010 at 10:46 PM
Love the deer against the frosty brush - awesome Dave!
Posted by Stan Rose on December 21, 2010 at 11:32 PM
Great shot and sad story. It's depressing what an impact the drilling can have on the deer population when back in Ohio the deer are overpopulated despite not having any large wildlife areas (also due to lack of natural predators).
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