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This is a long story as I am sure some you know I am not very good at making them short, LOL. I hope I do not bore to death those who chose to read it. This is a mule deer I had been taking pics of off and on from September to November. The third Saturday of the following January I was to enter a wildlife photo contest that I had won several years in a row. I was not really happy with my pics so at first light, the very day of the contest I headed back out to see if I could get some better ones. I was walking to the area where I figured he would be and there he was and a bunch of does. The other times I had photographed him, I had to go very slow but he would let me get close to him (I did not have a zoom lens just a 2x adapter) He would give me the most evil look, I could see it in his eyes and facial expression so I called him Malsum, the devil deer. Any way he was just about to have his breakfast of poplar leaves and twigs and then he spotted me. stopped browsing and stepped forward and just glared at me with that devilish look. After a few seconds he charged. I had no where to go as I was out in the open so I started taking pictures which was not easy with a 35mm manual focus camera in mere seconds. Every step he took he was purposefully throwing up dirt into the air with his hooves, head down and I am thinking this guy is serious and this is it. It still boggles my mind the things that went through it in such a short time. The main one being well when they find me and develop the film they will know what happened to me. Even though I was in good shape there would be no way of holding him back, it would have taken a half dozen Hulk Hogans to do that. I did not move, I held my ground and just kept shooting, there was nothing else I could do. When he got just a few feet away he stopped, thank god, looked at me, and then to the east as much to say good morning, I am just lookin to see what is over there. We stood there like that for a few seconds and I slowly started backing away, tripped over a rock and fell flat on my back so I was expecting another charge as he would see me in a vulnerable position but he never moved. I turned around watching him over my shoulder. After about half a km I reached the bush and he was still standing there watching me. Went to the photo shop to develop my film. Any way I entered the complete series and won the contest LOL. I went back in the spring to look for his antlers and not a sign of him or the does, they had obviously moved on to a better food source which I never did find. Any way I walked away with a story that few will ever get to tell and the pics to prove it, and the pics suck as I had to take a picture of the picture from the 35mm. Whew, this is a long one. A few more pics of him at the end.

Really good story Barry and some great pictures too. That guy looks huge and those antlers could sure make a mess of someone if he decided to use them.

Thanks very much Beans. Long no hear from.

A good read in my books !

Good morning, man I am feeling sorry for the rabbits LOL. It will be great fun. I used to rabbit hunt with some very awesome hounds all the time back there. Jack rabbits were a blast. I used a 22 magnum for them, love that caliber. After a while they would head across country, we would drive around trying to head them off but it rarely happened as the hounds would be well behind the rabbit making it difficult to determine where the rabbit was. Unfortunately at times we would not find the dogs until the following day, they loved what they were doing and were very devoted to it. The trail cam in the middle of your pic appears to be the same as mine just a different color. Mine is a T70. It was on Kijiji brand new in the box for $60 and I got for $40 and he delivered it right to the door. I have not tried the mini ones yet but have been thinking about it as you mentioned they are affordable and easier to conceal which are both important to me. Thanks for sharing the info about them to me, I just was not sure about them. Good luck to the kids and their rabbit hunt. Wish I was there, it has been a spell. I am going to try and find my wild boar skull today and post a pick of it. I think you will like it. He was a big old bruiser.