This one kind of illustrates the encroachment of civilation on the wild environment. This particular area is inside the city limits and literally one side of the street is nice residential and the other, wilderness (almost).

A few years ago it was not unusual to see part of a herd of deer standing in the middle of the field watching joggers and families walking go by, now they are a bit more timid. Yet I saw one man near some of them scooping grain out of a bucket for them while being watched intently by deer only about 30 feet away.

This is also the area where 3 mountain lions charged out of the brush to take down a deer in front of several folks out for a walk.

Nothing fancy about the way this film was done, Canon HF100 on a tripod with zoom out to full 12x with lightweight Hama hood on lens and Hoodman 2x magnifying hood on the LCD fold out screen. Stay alert but make no sudden moves, footage of me was used mainly for "cutaways" to avoid too many "jump cuts".

The young bucks "sparring" was an unexpected bonus, and I felt kind of sorry for the small one that looked like he was really getting "picked on".

Link to vimeo for hi def version:
http://www.vimeo.com/1151175

Wow Bruce, they're quite feisty fellas! Great footage there, I know how hard it can be getting the shots you want with a 12X zoom but I felt you did a great job. Really liked the cutaways of you behind the camera, added a nice extra element we don't often see and broke up the visuals nicely. A good story well told...

Bruce,

Some very nice footage of the youngs bucks sparring off a bit, this fall you should go back for the rut!!!!

I really liked it and I thought the music was a nice match. I liked all the voice over (you always seem to do a great job in that area, I like your accent!)

with the amount of wind you had you had very nice steady shots. The one pan seemed a tad digitized because you had to go so quickly to keep up with the deer.

Are thouse coues shite tails?

thanks for sharing!!! good stuff!!

Hey Bruce:

Nice clip and well put together. Like Rob mentioned, I liked the cutaways to you... it was a nice way to mix up the action. You could almost feet the breeze in your face while you watched!

Dale's last sentence was a bit amusing... am I missing something or did he mean "are those does white tails?" Perhaps a case of the fat finger on the key board?

Thanks Bruce, I always have fun with your films.

Cat

Hi Bruce,

First of all, I really enjoyed the approach you took with your entry, ie taking the viewer along with you to show the deers home in relation to the homes, you as the camera man getting prepared, etc. This worked really well I thought. I also think you have a wonderful voice for narration and enjoyed having the background to the situation, which helps make the subject material that bit more interesting.

It would have been nice to mix up the deer shots a bit, with some close ups however, I assume you may not have been able to get much closer? It would be wonderful to somehow get really close to capture the action - which proably applies to 99% of animal films I guess. You captured some great shots of the deer!

Another excellent entry Bruce, well done.

terrific - a complete story, I really liked it.

In the intro there was a green pickup that seemed to disappear rather quickly (it just took my attention - I don't know why).

I liked the cutaways to you at the camera although a couple seemed to be very similar (I guess that's understandable given the circumstances).

every time I watch an entry I think (I wish I'd thought of that) and this one's no exception - nicely done.

Bruce, you always have such great stories.
A bit more close ups would have added a little to your film, but with only 12x zoom, I know that can be hard. (I find my 20x zoom way too little once in a while too)

As others have commented too, I also liked the cutaways of you.

Well done, Bruce!
Keep up your good work.

Nice Bruce...I like the fact it is was more than just the deer, it is the story of you going after the shoot.

Like others said, a shame you couldn't get closer or get a different angle, but we take what nature gives us.

I always like the videos where we get to see the videographer at work.

Ya know...I'm really starting to get to know your corner of the world.

Bob

Love the film Bruce.

Deer can be really challenging subjects and to capture the fighting behaviour that you did was brilliant and really nice to see. I liked the backing music too, fitted the piece nicely

Good job.

Pete

Nice job Bruce… Deer’s are cool! Nice with the cutaways one yourself.

Truly enjoyed this one Bruce....I absolutely love your voice overs excellent. As mentioned a few tight shots would have been nice but I do understand how skiddish deer can be.

Very enjoyable

Brian

Hello Bruce

You have here a exselent film, and allot of lovly deer.Wery nice to see you cut in
to the film. And werry special to see the yong stag faiting.

Nice Film


VJV.


________________

Bruce,

Very enjoyable. I liked the way the story flowed along with you taking the journey to the scrub land, that worked well. And, as others have said, you do a fantastic voiceover.

Great footage of the deer fighting. What I wouldn't give to live across the road from that place!

I think I noticed a couple of jump cuts and the music jumped a couple of times too (though maybe it was meant to?). I, too, feel the pain of having a relatively low power zoom lens and being too far away from thew wildlife. And the wind made the job that much harder.

I think we have Geir Inge to thank for the idea of getting ourselves in front of the camera, and more and more of us seem to be doing this now. Your cutaways showing yourself at the camera and driving worked really well. I had toyed with that idea as well, but my suction mount broke and there was nowhere to prop the camera, so the world was spared seeing my ugly mug driving along!

Nice job, Bruce. I’ve not seen that much footage of deer sparring before and found it really interesting. The light sure looked different at that time of day—it almost looked like you added some!

Not knowing them by sight all that well I couldn’t tell if those were white-tailed or mule deer. In Idaho we’ve got only mule deer, but I’ve read that both are found in Texas. Regardless, they sure are pretty little animals.

I always enjoy your video,s...You always have a story to tel,not just pretty pictures..very entertaining as always Bruce

Nice film Bruce, as always! I liked the interaction between you and the deers. You did very well in the edit here. The opening shots was nice, lead us to your place. I could have wish some more different cuts of the deer, more wideshots, and of course close-ups, but this is minor.
Keep up your good work Bruce!

Amazing images from such a little camera Bruce. Mine is three times the size and most days I don't get images to looking that nice. I've seen many deer around here as well, but I've never seen them behave like that. Kind of reminds me of when my wife comes home after a bad day.

Thanks for the film Bruce.

This one kind of illustrates the encroachment of civilation on the wild environment.

I hear you Bruce. We have the same problem in Illinois, except it is mostly the disappearing farm land. But that in it's self takes away local wild life habitats. Very nice.

Oliver

Wow! A lotta both nice and instructive comments here!

I apologize for being so late in watching and commenting on our UWOL films. I finished and uploaded mine early so I could start on the other challenge on this site, but in between I had a request for a Defensive Handgun class and that tied me up for a week, then I got to start on the DVC challenge. So I’m just now starting to review the UWOL entries and add my comments.


Cat: "Breeze in my face"? The wind almost never quits here, one of the main problems I had was the wind causing slight movement in the heaviest tripod I had. I had to bear down on the upper part of the legs with some of my weight to brace and stabilize the tripod. A lot of footage wound up in the "bit bucket" because of this. But thanks for the kind comments.

David Gemmel and others commenting on getting closer: The guy who they are used to seeing with the bucket of corn and a scoop can get amazingly close but they watch him intently also.

My tripod spooked them and I had to actually set it up on the other side of my vehicle (they are used to seeing vehicles, too) and shoot over my hood.

I estimate the distance from the curb across the field to the brush/tree line to be about 125-150 yards.

Lorinda: White tail deer. That's all I've seen in West Texas although I think the central hill country, north and east Texas also have mule deer. Some ranches in the central hill country (like the YO) stock exotic game.

All commenting on the cutaways using me: This was all I could do on this one to avoid nothing but "jump cuts" in the deer sequence. The only range I could shoot from was where I was, wider views were very uninteresting. So I had to use me. But knowing how much I enjoy seeing you folks when you include yourselves in your films, I don't mind doing it myself.

When you put yourselves in yours for me to see, it is like a personal video "letter" from a friend and that adds so much to my enjoyment of what we do here.

Folks: Thank you all for watching and commenting. Now I need to get on with watching yours.

Bruce,
I thought your narration was A1 a great lead in to you stopping and setting up your cam then on to take your shots of the young bucks sparring,
the choice of music was good, soft and calming.

Hi Bruce.

I liked this video a lot and maybe thats because, every autumn we have some deer coming to our garden and eating all of our apples. Every time I tell my wife the same thing: "Next year we'll pick'em before the deer comes around". But we never do :)
Nice pick of music and you are a great storyteller. I miss some closeups of the deer, but the fighting clips are great. I have never seen this among the norwegian deer, but they do fight in Norway too. Is this just female deer or what? In Norway the male and female keep distance until autumn comes around.

Wish you all the best.

Geir Inge

This is a mixed herd, bucks and does, a few of the does are even obviously pregnant. The bucks are getting territorial over small piles of corn. One person who lives on that street wanders out with a bucket of corn and with a scoop puts small piles of corn on the ground.

A few of the bucks figure it's all theirs. I actually got some footage of this guy with the bucket and the deer watching him intently until he wandered back off the field.

The ones you see don't do this over your apples?

Bruce I liked your film, good use of composition and a nice clean VO. The story was interesting, A-1 work man.

Cheers

At last I've found a few minutes to start looking at UWOL entries, and this was top of the list.

This is the kind of movie I try to teach (wildlife) beginners to take - using the camera on a tripod, knowing the limitations of your equipment (eg 12x lens) and appreciating your subject (and how close or not that you can get to it). Straightforward story about arriving, what you see, cutaways, and an ending. The long clips gave a relaxed feel to it - just what you should have when watching nature. No need for any fancy equipment. The narrative just gave the right amount of explanation.

If I have any criticism, it is that some of the panning wasn't smooth (I rarely get it right either) and you could have included another wide cutaway.

But it was enjoyable to watch, and that's what counts.

This is also the area where 3 mountain lions charged out of the brush to take down a deer in front of several folks out for a walk.

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Well you certainly wouldn’t catch me walking along there in a hurry - especially not at night! We have had too many people taken out by big cats in these parts to take a chance.

Very nice story and V.O. as usual Bruce. I have to second Eric’s observation - you certainly get amazing images from such a little camera - what a pleasure not to have to lug what some of us have to lug. Nice to get footage of the deer sparring.

As usual, I really enjoyed your film. The footage was really dramatic, and the narration was just right. I like the mix of shots, and the longer ones allow the action to unfold. Some of the atmosphere you captured in the light was almost as amazing as the subjects, too. Some photographers say you need to photograph the light as much as what you take the picture of, so I think you did that amazingly in this film. Thanks for sharing! I liked watching this a lot- informative and relaxing at the same time- a great combination.



Ruth