How To: Wildlife Photography and staying hidden

[Methodical]

Any pics?

Originally Posted by ImageryMasters

Not sure of others here about using blinds or hides, But I use what they call a bushrag something like a snipers outfit. I just make sure not to be in the woods during hunting season, works great if you move slow or not at all.

[jbdavies]

[Methodical]

I don't think hunters aren't the only one's you will have to worry about...law enforcement

Originally Posted by jbdavies

[jbdavies]

Haha. I have yet to have any problems. And I have that exact thing.

[res]

Run a search for ghillie suit and watch what pops up. Even amazon sells them. Many of the hunting supply stores (Cabela's, Bass Pro, etc) also carry variations. Rick

Originally Posted by ImageryMasters

Not sure of others here about using blinds or hides, But I use what they call a bushrag something like a snipers outfit. I just make sure not to be in the woods during hunting season, works great if you move slow or not at all.

[Hntr]

Good info on this thread, I've been bowhunting all my life, both deer and turkey. I use a full ScentLok suit for deer, facemask, everything. I've had my suit for about six or seven years and it still works great. Most of the time for photography I use some netting stapled on 3 foot wooden rods, find a nice tree for my back, uprooted trees work great, I set my mini-blind up and sit down and wait. One very important thing, be comfortable, otherwise you will be fidgeting. I even have a homemade screen that mounts on my camera barrel. All these helps, but almost every deer I have photographed inside of twenty yards has heard the click of the camera.

I took these pictures while standing out in the open in the middle of a fire lane in a state park. I had woods for a background, very little wind blowing. I heard something coming out of the woods so I stop. You can see the rest. The buck was probably twenty yards away, looked right at me, but didn't bolt. He was tracking a doe so he wasn't quite in his best defense mode. He went forty or fifty yards to my right. I gave him a couple of grunts on my grunt tube, he stopped look at me for a ten or fifteen seconds, then he turned around and ran right past me again. And I blew the shot of my life!

It was probably less than sixty seconds from the time he came out until the time he was back in the woods. And yes, I'm a better hunter than a photographer.


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[sam walker]

Good on you Nice buck. Pretty enough to still hang on your wall without taking off his head.It is all luck almost ervery time I see a whitetail It's a doe. If i see a buck he's in the shade or behind a trunk.Great shots.
Sam

[Tom Reichner]

That's a nice buck there, Hntr. Yes, during the rut they will sometimes expose themselves like this. These are the best opportunities, as working from a blind has it's disadvantages with deer. By the way, what was the date when you took these images - mid-November?

[Hntr]

Thanks Sam and Tom! I took those shots on November 6, 2009.

These are the other bucks I saw the same morning. The first nice buck I photographed while it was still fairly dark, I was shooting at 1600 ISO and F8, but I still didn' t have enough light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUdL2XQb34c


Tom,I really enjoyed the buck photos in your gallery, great looking bucks! The fighting buck photos were awesome!! I chanced upon a couple of bucks fighting near my work one day, I only had my video camera.

This is what I got: http://www.vimeo.com/7326452

[K31Scout]

Nice shots Hntr. I'm a bowhunter too and there is a lot of good info here. I sometimes get within 5 yards of nervous MI whitetails by doing these things.

1. Put the wind in my face or at least quartering towards me.
2. Leafy suit or Ghillie suit. It breaks up the human outline unbelievably well!
3. I'm white so I have to cover my face or it's the first thing they see; with a mask or camo makeup will do.
4. Be comfortable for long stretchs by taking a cushion to sit on.
5. Take some shelled corn, an apple or acorns and toss them out where you think game travel to get them to stop and investigate. Be carful of your scent and what you touch or step. Most game animals are like blood hounds.
6. Don't over hunt the same spot. Visit it once a week. If you spook game, leave it for a couple of weeks.

To find game in the first place try driving rural roads at dawn and dusk when they are most active in the daylight hours. Most are creatures of habit and have travel routes between bedding and feeding areas. Set up close to these places with the wind in your favor and be ready.

[Hntr]

Thanks K31Scout!

Good points you brought too.

[amohajeran]

Hi every body

i am glad to read about your experience regarding hides and staying hidden in wildlife photography, in the areas that i work getting close to animals are extremely hard so i use different types of hides mostly made of the nature elements such as rocks, bushes, and also camouflage dresses and ... here is a few photos of hides that i use. for most of the cases i made hides at least 2 months before photography and let the animals get used to the change in their habitat.

[competent123]

1- most of the animals smell humans from far away, and the first thing they know from experience is RUN, and even if they dont' run, they know at least to hide or be very cautious, ( none of which we as photographers like)

so i personally try to use some wet dirt and grass on myself, it is sometime amazing what difference does that make in behavior of animals when they dont' smell humans.

[Tom Reichner]

That looks like an awesome blind, amohajeran.

What area (country/state) is that in? It looks like a rather barren desert kind of area. What critters do you shoot there?

[amohajeran]

Dear Tom, Its Yazd Province, Siyah Kouh Desert, In Iran and i shot mostly Gazella(Gazella dorcas) and wild sheep (Ovis orientalis) and some Birds like Cream-colored Courser (Cursorius cursor) such as this sample.