This young Whitetail Buck Reaching for a leaf was near the Lower Scarborough which is at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. You can see in my photo that this area is thick with vegetation. I first heard this Buck wading through water feeding on the plants. It was so thick I could only get glimpses of him. This Buck and a couple of other Bucks waded over to the edge of the woods where I was able to get this photograph.
How I Got The Shot – Whitetail Buck Reaching For Leaf
I was driving the auto tour road and had turned left at the 4-corners intersection. I checked Miners Cove which is on the left after you make the turn. After not seeing anything to photograph at Miners Cove, I continued on for a short distance reaching an area called Lower Scarborough. Lower Scarborough is an open area with water that is on the left as you clear the woods. I have seen deer in this area before and I start looking for them as I drive by.
I always have my window to my pickup truck rolled down so that I am ready to photograph any wildlife I see. As soon as I cleared the trees I heard a splash in the flooded vegetation. Three young Bucks were feeding in this tall vegetation and I could only get a glimpse of them. I pulled over to the side of the road and turned my pickup off. I waited a few minutes and was able to get a few photos of a Buck reaching and eating the leaves from a tree. You will also notice that this Whitetail Buck is in velvet. I took this photo on July 3, 2019, at 6:37 in the morning.
My Fujifilm X-T3 camera was on a bean bag draped over the open window of my pickup truck with a Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens attached using a Fringer EF-FX Pro.
Camera Settings
- AV Mode
- Back-button Focus
- Aperture f5.6
- ISO 2500
- Shutter speed – 1/200 of a second
- Auto White Balance
- Single Point, Continuous Auto Focus
- Multi Metering
- Focal Length – 400 mm