Fort Snelling State Park
It was a bone-chilling 19 degrees when we awoke Saturday morning. It felt cold, but it wasn’t the cold that chills your core and burns your face, you know that type of cold that hits you around the end of January when you wish Winter were over. Cyndie & I, along with our good friend Linnae, arrived at Fort Snelling State Park shortly after sunrise. Traces of Autumn can still be seen, but for the most part the brilliant colors are gone – almost. We found some lovely color enhanced by the rising sun along the western shore of Snelling Lake.
Sunrise
Whitetail Deer
Our primary purpose of this trip was to photograph Whitetail deer – specifically [& hopefully] big bucks. It is that time of the year when bucks break away from their traditional habits and venture out of the thick stuff in search of receptive does in the day light.
Picnic Island
We found such activity quickly on Picnic Island. We noticed several scrapes and rubs. Pre-rut signs galore. There were no shortages of photographers on-hand to witness this spectacle. We spent a good amount of time watching a dandy 9-pointer pursue does all over Picnic Island. There were other smaller bucks darting about and avoiding direct contact with the bigger buck.
Pike Island
We decided to delve further in and explore another area of the park. Pike Island, a walk in only area, was just down the road. I am glad we opted to do this. The temperature was rising as was our excitement; we had buck fever.
We walked around the perimeter of Pike Island (mostly; except the eastern third) without seeing so much as a yearling. We decided to walk a game trail up the center. There were brush piles everywhere – all kinds of places for deer to bed down for a mid-day rest. It wasn’t long and we located a small buck. As I began to photograph him I noticed there was another buck behind him – a much bigger one. I continued to shoot and eventually saw the doe that was hunkered down in the grass next to them. I think we spent the next hour hanging out with those three deer. At one point a dozen or so turkeys came wandering down the trail and just walked on by like we were not even there. That was fun. What a great day.
*Just a side note on gear, you regularly see photographers hauling out the big lenses for wildlife. Thousands of dollars of gear. With the exception of the first few landscape shot, the balance of these images were shot with a Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 – a $449.00 lens; not a $2500 or $10k lens. The 70-300 was attached to a Nikon D700 shooting at ISO 2000 between f/5.6 – f/7.1. I am not going to lie, I would gladly shoot with a $10k lens if I had it. This is a simply demonstration that you do not need all that if you want to get out there and have a great time – especially at this location. The high-ISO performance of a full-frame sensor was beneficial given the low light.
Great shots Dan! Congratulations! 🙂
Thank you
Great nature and wildlife shots. Impressive!
I have to give some credit to the wildlife as they made it pretty easy really.
That was an incredible experience; one that is filed away in the memory banks. You captured the day extremely well- what an enjoyable blog post!
Thank you honey…I think we should back again this Saturday 😀
Beautiful!!
Thank you!
Wow! You really know how to make a visit to this park worthwhile! We were out there earlier in the fall looking for color (a little too early) and it looked like a good place for bird watching or cross country skiing or to escape the summer heat, but that was it. I had no idea there were so many deer out there! And thanks for the lens info. It’s always nice to be reminded that you don’t have to spend a fortune on lenses.
Thanks & you are welcome on the lens info. Pike Island has ski trails all around and throughout the island. I am looking forward to going back in the winter perhaps and hike around. It really is a lovely park.
Looks like a great day….even if a tad chilly! We have yet to have a frost or even a significant drop in temperatures which for November is unusual…..just hope that it means we will have a short winter or is that too much to hope for.
I am with you on the short winter! I am not so much a fan of it anymore; less and less as I get older.
Dan, I can see why you are giddy about this shoot. You captured some great wildlife and scenery shots. But I also love that you included Cyndie and Linnae in some of your images to totally tell the story.
That hobbit tree is charming.
The tree was fun – especially so as the Mrs. fit right in there easily 🙂 Photography is a wonderful hobby; to go out and shoot with other is a lot of fun. You can learn a lot from each other as well.
Beautiful Captures – Love Fort Snelling 🙂 Mr. Craves and I went there on a few dates, toured the Fort one time and then got married ten years ago at the Chapel. Happy Day!
Thank you. It is a lovely park. We haven’t seen much of the fort, but would certainly like to. There is so much to photograph there. I can certainly understand your fondness for Fort Snelling. That is great you were able to be married there.
We had a Military Chaplain marry us. We have had other family weddings as well as family funerals at the Chapel, so there is a little family tradition there. Great Place to Explore and the Beauty Changes with the Seasons too!
lovely pictures..
Thank you. It is a great place for a visit.
That looks like a super day out. It’s nice to hear your views on lenses, since there is no way that I can afford the top ones. You’ve proved it can be done. 🙂 I must keep trying!
Some fabulous shots of the deer – and great results with an affordable lens; it just goes to show it’s the photographer not the kit that counts!