Category Archives: Elk County

Recent Trip to Elk County, PA

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Last week my son, James, and I ventured to our favorite spot–Elk County, Pennsylvania. Oh, I know this doesn’t have the romantic sound like Yellowstone, Big Sur, or The Everglades have, but it is the home of a herd of elk here in Pennsylvania and we have a little camp that we like to frequent up on Winslow Hill. We thoroughly enjoy viewing, observing, and photographing the wildlife–especially the elk! I’ve been going to Elk County, PA for over 20 years now and we just cannot seem to get enough! Fortunately for me, James shares this passion with me!

So last week we spent three days there and we had a blast!

On one of our “elk runs,” where we drive to the spots which seem to hold elk, James spotted a cow right alongside the road. I could not see it at first because the guard rail blocked my view. I stopped so James could snap a few quick photos while no other vehicles were coming down the road and I scanned the road ahead for a place to pull off. Stopping on the main thoroughfares and blocking traffic is a nuisance, in bad taste, drives the locals absolutely nuts, and is illegal. Still, some elk observers get so excited about seeing the elk that they simply forget some of the basic rules of elk-viewing etiquette. I quickly found a place to safely pull completely off the road and then we walked back toward the cow with our cameras. James was out ahead of me and once he got closer to the cow I immediately saw that she was accepting of his presence. She was busy eating grass and only looked up once to see who was there and then just went back to eating. We spent approximately 20 minutes photographing this cow elk and she never once showed any sign of alarm or fear of us. We photographed to our heart’s content and she made a most excellent model!

Eventually another car came by and parked safely on the opposite side of the road to get a closer view and capture a few photographs, too. Again, the cow took a glance at her new neighbors and simply went back to feeding in the grass. Photographers and clicking cameras were simply no big deal to her! As the sun continued to get lower in the August sky, she slowly fed away from us. We captured some nice, close photos and were blessed to spend quality time with such a beautiful mammal. Her summer coat shone brightly in the early evening light and all was well in her world and in ours. Nature and wildlife are incredible!

Can you begin to see why James and I enjoy Elk County, Pennsylvania so much? Here are two photos I captured that evening with my old, backup camera the Nikon D70. The old boy still works and captures some half-way decent images. I cannot think of any better way to spend a summer evening!

No Photos but Wow, What an Evening in the Field!

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My son, James, and I recently purchased a portable blind at Cabelas. The main reason for the purchase is so I can photograph the birds here in my backyard. I inadvertently left the blind up in the mountains on a previous trip, so we decided to put it to use this past Wednesday evening. We practiced setting it up and packing it up while we ate supper around the campfire. It is not a fancy blind but it seats two comfortably. So off we went to give it a try. We assembled the blind and weren’t in it very long when James said, “There’s some elk.” Sure enough, there were four cows over on a distant field and then we spotted a bigger herd of elk just to the right of these first four. There were 40 elk in all! We also had deer come to within 50 yards of our blind. It was a very productive field test and we had a great father/son evening on the mountain!

We did see some elk this week. The highlight was Thursday morning when we saw an 8×8 bull–the biggest bull we’ve seen so far this year. Unlike our previous trip, we did manage to see more bulls, for which we were thankful. Their velvet is coming off and the bulls look uncomfortable with strings of velvet hanging all over their antlers and down in their eyes!

I will post some photos of our trip this coming week, but I think I jinxed myself. My most recent blog entry was about preparation. Well, I guess I jinxed myself because I got to camp with James on Monday around midnight only to realize I forgot my D300! I’ll bet Moose Peterson never did this! Thankfully, I did have my backup body–my old D70 and James let me borrow one of his lenses. I will post some of my photos in upcoming blog posts, but James definitely got much better photos than I did this trip! I guess I was just so excited for this trip that I overlooked grabbing and packing my camera bag into my truck. I even had it on my packing list! I can think of several words to describe what an idiot I am, but none of them are printable!

Now I really can’t wait to get back to the mountains of Elk County!!!

Whitetail Bucks and High ISOs

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Today I have more whitetail photographs, this time two bucks. Again, I was looking for the Pennsylvania elk and while searching for them came across these two nice, healthy bucks. One was a spike and the other a 6-point. The conditions for photography were far less than ideal: hazy, overcast, and downright lousy light in the mid-morning. This required a very ISO, 1600 to be exact.

I currently shoot with a Nikon D300. Previously, I used a Nikon D70. The differences in the two are amazing. One of the features that was greatly improved is the quality of photographs with higher ISO settings. I hear the D3 is even exponentially much better yet! In the meantime, I have to settle for the D300 and how it works in the higher ISO settings. I still prefer to stay at ISO 200, but sometimes this just isn’t possible. I get decent results even up to ISO 800 but get worried after that. My daughter acts in some school and local community musicals where the stage light sometimes requires an ISO as high as 2500! I do not like going that high, but with the D300 I still can get some useable photographs.

The results in wildlife photography are far different, however. Tack-sharp focus and no noise are required for quality wildlife photographs. We can never be too picky in trying to get the absolute best quality photographs. I will do much of anything with these photographs I am posting today but am showing them for the purposes of supporting my thoughts on this discussion of higher ISO settings.

These photographs were taken with an ISO setting of 1600. I did some minor post-processing in Adobe Lightroom 3.0. However, I did not use any noise reduction in Lightroom. I tried using it, but I personally think it sacrifices some sharpness, which is critical to me. Perhaps I am doing something wrong, but I just didn’t like the results using the noise reduction on these images. So what you see, as far as handling the higher ISO is right from the camera.

Here they are. Let me know what you think. Do you use higher ISOs with any success? Do you use noise reduction in post-processing? Are you satisfied with the results? What are the standards you use in your photography?

Join Us on the Next Pennsylvania Elk Photography Experience!

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How would you like to photograph an elk as he bugles into the brisk air or stands face-to-face with another competing bull in a showdown during the fall rut?

Our Fall Elk Rut photo workshop provides opportunities like these and more! Fall brings not only a change in colors, but also the Fall Rut for the elk. We are privileged to have elk here in Pennsylvania and my colleague, Dick McCreight, and I like nothing more than sharing this experience with others as we photograph the elk during this breath-taking season. It will be memorable!

The 3-day workshop actually begins on Monday evening and concludes on Thursday. We pack a lot of quality time into photographing the elk, sharing photo instruction and tips, and leading three different photo workshops in the evenings.

Includes 3 workshops:
1 – Setting up & using your camera for wildlife photography
2 – How to use Lightroom to manage and edit your photographs easily
3 – Techniques for Better Wildlife Photography & a History of the PA Elk Herd

Dick is incredibly knowledgeable with Lightroom and will show you how to quickly and easily manage your photo library and also how to edit your photos after a shoot. You will learn ways to photograph the elk at different times of the day and in different situations, how to set up your camera for wildlife photography, and more about this unique elk herd of Pennsylvania in these 3 workshops. We keep the group small so we have quality time together. It is sure to be a rewarding and unforgettable experience, which is why we titled our photo workshop: the “Pennsylvania Elk Photography Experience.”

The cost is $595 for the trip and includes lodging and meals. You can find more detailed information on our website. Join us for this exciting adventure as we photograph the PA elk together!

Here are just a few photographs we captured on previous trips:

 

 

 

There’s No Place Like the Mountains!

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My good friend and hunting buddy, Randy Greenly, teases me that sometimes I sound like a broken record. You see, if I said it once, I’ve said it hundreds of times: “There’s no place like the mountains!”

I believe this to be absolutely true, too. Last week my son, James, and I were able to get away for two days to our special place in the mountains of Elk County. We left immediately after his baseball practice on Thursday evening because we wanted to stop at Cabelas in Hamburg, PA before they closed. We got there 15 minutes before closing. The greeter who met us at the door even asked, “You do know you only have 15 minutes, right?” Yeah, 15 minutes isn’t much time at all for two outdoor enthusiasts to spend in a store like Cabelas! But we got what we wanted and were on our way to the mountains.

James and I both enjoy seeing the majestic elk of Pennsylvania and photographing them. We learn more and more about them all the time, too! The bull elk are currently in velvet, which means that their antlers are encased in a blood-rich covering that provides antler growth. Soon they will rub this away to get ready for the fall rut, which is my absolute most favorite time of the year to be in the outdoors with the elk. Hearing a bugling bull elk and watching two bulls stand each other off in a field are just of the impressive sightings I’ve experienced in the fall. It is awesome and there is nothing like it!

The weather last week was not very good, nor was it conducive to photography early in the morning or late in the day. The cloud cover and rain shortened the shooting time for us photographers, so I did not capture as many quality photos as normal. I do hope some of the following photographs do share my sentiment–that there is no place like the mountains!

 

 

Some Things are Changing and Some Things Remain the Same

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I enjoyed watching the old television series, “Wild America.” It was a weekly half-hour show that featured some animal or place related to the wild outdoors here in America. Not long ago, I caught some re-runs on television that brought back the fond memories of watching this show when I was much younger. I also enjoyed the old series, “Grizzly Adams.” I remember my uncle telling me that wild animals are not as tame as Ben, the grizzly bear of that show. But to me it was one of the few shows that pertained to the outdoors, where I loved to spend my time!

This past week I read in our local newspaper that John Serrao, a local naturalist here in the Poconos is moving away from the Poconos to Florida. His newspaper column always talked about some wild topic of the Poconos. He also led nature walks and helped to educate us on the wild-side of the Poconos. His newspaper articles and outdoor presence will be dearly missed!

This time of the year, with the fast-approaching New Year’s Eve celebration, often turns my thoughts to how things change. Some of this change is sad to me, like the passing of fond experiences turned into mere memories. I can be nostalgic at times, but I also believe that the passing of time reveals some consistency in our lives and even in the outdoors. While some people and television series come and go, the outdoors has a regular consistency to it. The sun comes up on schedule and the moon phases are just as predictable. The wild creatures still demand our respect and admiration, while continuing to need advocates at the same time. The people who fight for outdoor causes may have different names tomorrow than they do today, but their presence and voice will still be very much needed!

The land changes, too. Properties are bought and sold. Some land is developed and the landscape changes for the wild creatures inhabiting it. Some land is scarred for a season or two, and then is sometimes reclaimed to bring it back in line with the needs of animals. Food plots are constructed and some land is reverted back into wild habitat. Some species bounce back to amazing numbers while others are at risk of being lost forever.

Yes, some things are changing and some things remain the same.

Today I am posting an image of a Pennsylvania elk I captured years ago on our property in Elk County. It depicts the majestic elk in the foreground with a cross standing at attention in the background. It seems, to me at least, to show the connection between different times or eras. And in both times there needed to be a voice to share the important news with the people. The brutal crucifixion of Jesus and his miraculous resurrection as good news to be sure! Ever since, the cross has represented those events and still speaks volumes today in a voice of grace. In a different way, the animals in nature need to have a voice, too. They cannot speak with human words but their amazing existence and their continuing needs also yearn for a voice to be heard.

I am just a photographer trying to give voice to the creatures I love and enjoy seeing in the wild around me. Perhaps these photographs will help to at least give a voice of awareness to these beautiful creatures. After all, while some things are changing, at least one thing remains the same–the beautiful wild creatures need to be seen and heard!

Sunset Skies

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I like sunsets.

I’d like sunrises more, too, if they didn’t happen so early in the morning! Actually, I do get up to photograph sunrises when I am at the beach and other locations that provide beautiful sunrises. It’s just that where I live there are mountains all around so the sun rises later and is already too bright.

This sunset was captured in Elk County looking out from the front of our cabin. It’s one of my favorite scenes to observe and this sunset was awesome. The photo doesn’t really do it justice, but I do like this photo anyway.

I always like to say, “There’s no place like the mountains.” And scenes like this only prove this to be the case. I love the mountains!

 

Small Bull in the Snow

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On my last day of my recent two-week vacation, I found three small bulls hanging out together. As is typical, I saw them as I was beginning my drive home, but I had my camera and tripod at the ready so I could take a few minutes to snap a few photos.

I like photos of the elk in the snow because it really brings out the contrast in the hide of these majestic animals. This bachelor group was just beyond Medix Run on the Quehanna Highway. They were a little nervous about my presence at first, but as usual eventually warmed up to my presence and accepted me taking their photographs.

This bull was the biggest of the three, as the other two were just spikes. But they will all be bigger next year!

Bull 2D

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We saw this bull several times during the rut this year. He is magnificent in many ways. Just look at his antlers!

As a photographer I would prefer him not having that collar around his neck. It just seems far too distracting to me and I don’t even have to wear it! I understand,  however, that it helps the Pennsylvania Game Commission track the elk and assist in the herd size estimations. I further realize that I could spend the time in Photoshop to carefully remove the collar from the photograph, but I am far too influenced by my college training in journalism to feel right about doing that. So, I resort to documenting these elk just as they are–collars and all. After all, part of our joy of photography also serves as a type  of documentation of the elk herd here in Pennsylvania.

I like this image for several reasons. The bright blue sky provides an awesome background, as I mentioned yesterday. I also like how the bull appears to stand out and almost pop off the screen. Those antler aren’t bad either. And, to a degree, I even like that I can readily read the number and letter “2D” on this bull’s collar. It clearly shows exactly which bull this is among the herd.

What do you think about all this?

Red Berries, Yum!

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This bull elk was content to eat and keep eating the red berries on this bush. We watched him eat his supper for a nice long time!

As you can see in this photo, it was late summer when the velvet was still on his antlers. The soft-looking stuff makes for some beautiful photos! The background helps to tell the story in this photo, and isn’t that what we try to accomplish in our photographs–to tell a story? If there is any truth to the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words,” then we have to make sure our photographs contain the elements we want to tell the story we are trying to convey.

Shouldn’t a photograph stand up on its own without the photographer having to explain it?