After a stressful day of nursing along a doggy with pancreatitis I needed some fresh air and a couple miles on the trail. I hoped I would find some deer or elk to photograph during the golden hour, but it was completely by accident that I found my favorite mule deer bucks, The Three Amigos!
I didn’t see any wildlife during my hike, but afterwards I decided to take a drive over to Goldfeld. I wasn’t counting on seeing any wildlife there, but thought I might get a nice shot of the mines in the beautiful afternoon light. However it appears my favorite trio has found themselves a new home. The hordes of troll worshippers seems to have driven them far from their previous home in the open space, to a new location with far fewer people to contend with.
I could only see two when I first encountered them, but I got out the camera and monopod and started taking pictures. As usual, I had the 100-400 lens with the 1.4x tele attached. I switched to custom function 2, which is set to Tv mode with a 1000th of second and auto ISO.
They seemed to remember me and kept right on feeding in the tall grass, while casting a wary eye occasionally, to make sure I wasn’t up to any funny business.
As I watched, they started wandering up the hillside, occasionally stopping for a portrait. After nearly a year with no sighting of them, I was glad to find them healthy and strong, and still exploring the high country together. Unfortunately their new home is vast, and the chance of me seeing them regularly is not very good. Godspeed Amigos!
Eventually they made their way around the back of an old prospector’s mine, and out of view. I had hoped they would stay in the open, but they chose instead to go into the pine forest.
On the way home I watched the magnificent golden light on the west side of the road, and was captivated by an old homestead and the town of Goldfield with the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Range in the background.
Steven W. Krull is a renowned photographer and author who has been photographing and writing of the beauty and wildlife of the Colorado Rocky Mountains for over two decades. Please visit his website at S.W. Krull Imaging to view his work, including thousands of prints for sale, stock images for commercial use, and his library of published books.
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Colorado Photographer / Author / Wildlife Advocate | Steven W. Krull 