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Deer vs. Cougar


Deer vs. Cougar
Photo Information
Copyright: Robert Shannon Sr (eqshannon) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2497 W: 220 N: 9338] (27823)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-07
Categories: Mammals
Camera: Fuji Finepix S2 pro, SIGMA 28-70mm 1:2.8-4 DG
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): some blood, but it's nature [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-07-21 5:20
Viewed: 2156
Points: 28
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Two types of deer reside in my wilderness. One is the mule deer and the other white tail. They are both abundant and in a normal year one might see as many as 100-200 sightings of single or groups. Groups being most prominent.


There are many creatures in the wilderness. Deer is a game animal, so in highly regulated seasons, certain deer are allowed to be taken by hunters. I have watched many a season with hunters who go home with nothing to show. The vast majority of deer live on, in their environment and make it another year with odds now in their favor when it comes to humans with guns.

Deer are not the only mammals in the year-long wilderness. There are bigger and more vicious animals living among those who live, forage and survive in the heavy wooded mountains. This particular deer picture...as all other living species, may have known instinctively when it was born, that it would died as all things do...but in this case of passing in what appears to human eyes to be violent, was recorded by a camera and not by a gun.

One night, two years ago as I walked, this deer was nowhere to be seen in my nightly look at our wilderness property, on a road I had graveled for easier access in harsh winters...yet the next morning I found him as I went out for a shorter walk at sunrise. His fate? A cougar. Cougar are as much at home in the wilderness as the deer and certainly much stronger of the species. It was Darwin who taught us of the rule of the land on which we live. And it was his notion and theory in practice which brought this deer down.

Normally a cougar will have a large roaming territory, unless it has caught a prey, then the cougar will eat as much as it can, and stay around the carcass for a day or perhaps up to three days...eat... rest and be on it' way...but the cougar in this case didn't stick around for a full three day course. The deer was attacked by the at night, late in the dark, eaten till the cougar was full...and then the cougar immediately left the area, leaving the remainder to coyote....This is life and death in the wilderness...and it is also why nature is nature...
angybone, valy67, Little-white, Robbrown, jmirah, pankajbajpai, parthasarathi, Luis52, sranjan, cataclysta has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To RubyJazz: Shockingeqshannon 1 12-13 15:35
To jmirah: Appreciatedeqshannon 1 07-21 18:10
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Critiques [Translate]

You're right - it's nature. We tend to want to turn our backs on those things we don't see as very beautiful - we panic at a scene like this on our way to the local steak house.
Thank you for having the courage to post a well-done 'shot of reality'.
:)

Hello Bob !
I understand what you mean in your note - nature is not only beautiful flowers and butterflies, or proud and majestic animals. Death also belongs to nature and you show it perfectly with this picture. Well done !
Valerie.

Hello Bob,
what a sadness, but you are right. His death is life for the cougar. A sharp (maybe too much...) and touching image.
Ciao,
Violetta

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2001 W: 226 N: 6845] (24727)
  • [2007-07-21 11:06]

Hi Bob,
death is a way of life and you show it perfectly here in your shot and note.
A very detailed image of this sad yet gruesome scene.
Well done,
Joe

Thanks for having the courage to post it in full colour and not the B&W, it is not over the top and you surply a superb note with it.
The only change I would make would be to lighten the shadowed areas with either curves or levels to allow some more of the hidden detail to show theough.
TFS yours Robert

The cycle of life...Some must die for others to survive...A young buck still in velvet...With all the rain we've had in Texas, the deer are very healthy and developing heavy racks...Nice reminder that the human animal is just as savage as the animals in the wild...Angybone cries when they sell a calf to be fattened up for prime steaks, fajitas and hamburgers...The cycle of life...A saddening photo but the deer did not die in vain...Somewhere there is a cougar, possibly with kits, that is happy and content with a full belly...Nicely composed...TFS
Jim

Not the prettiest deer picture I've seen Bob. :-)
Clear focus but the crop seems a bit tight.
Great story.
TFS the unusual.
Richard

hi bob,
this is the cycle of life and every one is a part of the system. the notes are excellent as usual, you shot shows us some other side of the nature which we in general doesnt dare to shoot,
well done,
tfs & regards
pankaj

A dead animal is a sordid reality, Bob.
The half eaten carcass of this deer you have photographed presents that reality very well here.
TFS and regards.

In Indian philosophy death is the ultimate truth.But why and how , the question lies there.The deer is dead.It was killed. The sharp picture shows the remains and depict the end of a life vividly.But you can fill that it is not the result of somebody's greed.The blood didn't pore from a bullet-holl .The simple theory of nature worked here. A carnivoras satisfied the hunger of its own and a cycle of nature is completed. The death of the deer is pathetic but the death of a Puma in starvation also not preferred.So the picture is touchy but natural , not a workout of a butcher.

  • Great 
  • Luis52 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1109 W: 5 N: 3453] (12751)
  • [2007-07-22 18:04]

Hola Sr. Roberto. He tenido la oportunidad de poder ver varios venados que has sido atrapados por los "Pumas" cerca del lugar en donde trabajo, incluso tambien a pequeños caballos. Es extraordinaria la fuerza y la destreza para atraparlos. Saludos Luis52.

Hi Bob,
What had made you to avoid it's face coverage? Was that an expression of extreme pain associated with death ! Good coverage of life, death & life cycle.
Regards-Subhash Ranjan

Hi Bob
A little bit macabric but it is also a part of nature. Interesting observation and great educational shot and informative note
Best wishes
Krzysztof

Hi Bob,
Quite a shocking image you have here, but still, people need to see it sometime.
However, you have included good sharpness :)

Thanks for sharing (and critiquing :D),
Ruby :)

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