06 May, 2012

Red deer stags

Never let anyone tell you a mountain is ‘dull’ or ‘boring’. The big south-east corrie of Slioch may not be the most photogenic of areas, being short on dramatic crags and long on tussocks and bog. But as we were crossing the corrie on the way down from Slioch and Sgurr an Tuill Bhan on an early evening in spring, a red deer stag trotted up over the lip of the corrie...


... soon followed by a friend...


They took a good look at us ...



... then evidently decided we were harmless, and settled down in a sheltered hollow among the rocks and heather to chew cud and admire the view.



I’ve seen deer come quite close like this before, having obviously seen us and presumably decided there was no need to be alarmed. Either deer know the shooting season doesn’t extend to the spring, or they can tell that certain sorts of humans are unlikely to be dangerous.

8 comments:

Gabriele Campbell said...

They probably can tell a camera from a gun. :)

Constance Brewer said...

What neat pics! That's wonderful they let you get so close.

Carla said...

Gabriele - yes, they probably can :-)

Constance - thanks! Yes, it was great to see them so close. They really didn't seem bothered by us at all, although no doubt if we'd tried to approach them they'd have objected.

Graham said...

Great pictures, Carla.

I don't know, the backdrop looks pretty photogenic to me, but then I love that wild, remote bleakness. I always find it calling out to me, even from the confines of a computer screen!

Carla said...

Graham - hello and welcome. Thanks! Yes, I like remote mountain terrain too. I don't think my photographs really do it justice.

Gabriele Campbell said...

Oh definitely. I'll try to go to Scotland again next year - this year a too tempting offer for a Baltic Sea cruise got in the way (maybe the sad fate of the Costa Concordia did something good; other providers came up with some nice specials because obviously, sales dropped).

Rick said...

Neat! How close were they?

Carla said...

Gabriele - have a great time on your cruise!

Rick - Close enough to photograph with a compact camera :-) I didn't try to estimate the distance.