Slideshow from The Great American Outdoor Show 2016

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I created a slideshow with more of the photos I captured at The Great American Outdoor Show last week. You can view the photos here.

I hope you enjoy the photos. It really was a great event!

2016 Great American Outdoor Show

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I had the privilege of attending The Great American Outdoor Show this past week and it was awesome! This is the biggest sportsman’s show in the world and it lived up to the billing this year to be sure. I attended several instructive and informative seminars, watched the 3-D Archery Shoot, met four TV personalities, talked to several outfitters and guides, and visited booth after booth of hunting and fishing equipment. I have to say, my favorite booth sold lightweight backpacking saws to carry for your camping, I bought several of them to gift to the family. Words do a poor job of describing the excitement and enthusiasm around this show, so I am hoping my photos will help. Here a few to whet your appetite. I will be posting a slideshow on my website with more photos and will post another blog with that link once it is ready. In the meantime, check out these photos and let me know if you attended the GAOS, too.

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Cumberland Island Bobcat

One morning while on Cumberland Island, a beautiful barrier island off the coast of Georgia, I was heading out to the beach and was greeted by several horses. I will share  more about that encounter at a later time. I situated myself in the sand beside a tree. Several horses came out in plain view and after they moved on I thought, “Let’s stay here and see if anything else comes into this opening.” Sure enough another horse came out just minutes later. I photographed this horse and he meandered over the sand dune and out of sight. I sat tight, waiting to see if anything else would come out of the opening. Sure enough, not even two minutes later I saw this bobcat!

And what a beautiful bobcat it was! Just look at it! Now I’ve been in the outdoors enough to see bobcats in the past, but never when I had my camera ready for the action. Bobcats are very weary and leery creatures. They do sneak around often at dawn and dusk but want nothing to do with humans or any other potential threats. It is indeed a rare sight to even see a bobcat, let alone be fortunate enough to photograph one!

As you can see, this bobcat carefully checked its surroundings before coming completely out into the clearing. It didn’t stay in the area long either. It was a very fortuitous experience for which I was extremely thankful! My only worries were, was the light enough and did have the bobcat in focus? It all looked decent in my camera’s LCD screen, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I got home several days later. The suspense was killing me but gladly the results were fairly good and I am very happy to share these photos of a special encounter with you. Spend some time outdoors and you never know what might happen! Isn’t wildlife photography great?!