A Perfect Morning

Sometimes things just happen, all at once. This morning was one of those times. 6:45 am I headed out into sunrise in search of a great photo. I had no idea what was waiting for me in the woods. Being seasonably cold I bundled up for the hour I planned to sit motionless before I had to go to work. As I started into the woods I turned on my camera and did a quick light meter check, the results proved I barley had enough light to take a picture. I continued up the hill and took a side trail to a rock formation where I planned to sit. All at once I noticed a LARGE 8 point buck standing right in front of me, before I could lift my camera he was gone...never stopping once. As he exploded out into the dense brush above me a very large Barred Owl dropped out of a pine and came to rest on a branch to see what was going on. I was shaking from all this action and managed to squeeze out a few shots of him before he too fled to the safety of the deeper forest. I regained my composure and trudged on up the hill towards the rock. As I approached the crest of the hill I noticed the wind was more south west than expected so I changed plans and sat down behind a old pile of wood and began to rattle some antlers for 30 seconds. I waited about 10 minutes and spotted 3 doe running off in the distance, this was a good sign. About 5 minutes after that right ahead of me, coming straight for me was a nice 7 pointer that I know all to well. I maintained frozen as he approached. I watched as he nonchalantly sniffed and browsed without a care in the world. I began snapping a few shots, he continued on past me so close that I could not even fit him in the camera frame. Then he went up to a rub tree and began to rub his antler on the tree and licking it. I continued shooting. He continued off. Two minutes later another buck came along and this one was on to me. A small 5 pointer stood frozen looking right at me waiting for me to make a mistake. I did and off he went. I looked at my watch and realized I had to head back so I could get to work. I think I literally skipped out of the woods in great satisfaction for all the events that took place in such a short period of time. I feel like today mother nature gave me my Christmas present early. I have NEVER seen a barred owl while hiking and this is by far the closest a buck has ever walked to me. Here are some of the pictures. Click to enlarge.
Stop back soon and don't forget to enter the contest in the post before this one. The value of the grand prize could be upward of $150!!!