Day 7 of my wildlife photography adventure at Black Mesa State Park began with another early morning drive to the nearby nature preserve. I’m still on the lookout for the elusive Bighorn Sheep that frequent the area. Shortly after leaving the state park, I spotted three Mule Deer, and one of them was a buck. I quickly stopped my truck, grabbed my camera, and managed to capture a few photos of the buck.
As I observed the Mule Deer buck, it exhibited some behavior that struck me as rather odd. The buck was slowly walking and feeding when it suddenly stopped and lowered its head as if it was about to eat something off the ground. However, it paused before reaching the ground and simply stared at a spot for what felt like a full minute, almost as if it was frozen in time. Curious, I looked to see what might have caught its attention, but I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. After this unusual pause, the buck lifted its head and continued on its way as if nothing had happened. This behavior seemed strange and left me wondering what could have caused it.
After this encounter, I continued on to the Black Mesa Nature Preserve, hoping to finally spot the Bighorn Sheep. Unfortunately, I didn’t photograph anything during this visit. I had planned to walk the trail, but when I arrived, a busload of hikers had just started their trek, so I decided to head back to my campsite instead.
I plan to head out again this evening, and if I manage to photograph anything noteworthy, I’ll make a second blog post later on.