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We are known as PaWingers or just The Wingers by our Geocaching friends. When we found our first cache we had to come up with a name to log the find. We came up with this name simply because of residing in Pa. and because one of our many passions is cruising this beautiful country on our Honda Goldwing. Aside from geocaching we are passionate about most anything outdoors including hiking, kayaking, snowmobiling and biking. We are blessed beyond words with a wonderful son and daughter in law. We're also blessed with some terriffic family and friends. We consider ourselves very fortunate due to the fact that after being married over 40 years we still enjoy these things together.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Early Morning Mist

This is another prime example where the quality of an image doesn't mandate whether it will be Blog worthy or not.  Once again  poor quality photos are included because of the story they tell.  These particular images were shot on a particularly foggy Sunday morning.  Fog and beautiful sunsets are two things that I just don't have the ability to predict.  In fact, I'm not sure anyone has that ability.  The way I work around that is to not worry about it.  If an evening sunset turns out to be vibrant and beautiful we enjoy it to the fullest.  In the case of fog, I can't change it, I can't worry about it and it won't stop me from pressing the shutter release. In fact I am finding more and more that I'm embracing it and amazed by it.  Sure it doesn't make for the sharpest of images but the images left in my mind are priceless.  My advice is to get out there on a foggy morning and as the fog clears just watch nature unfold before your eyes.  Those sights and sounds won't soon be forgotten.

On this early foggy morning I found myself sitting in the middle of a large herd of elk.  Since I was there when the fog began to lift the animals didn't seem bothered by me.  I on the other hand was a bit concerned by how close I was to an enormous bull. As the fog lifted I became aware of the identity of this large bull.  Sure enough this was "Ear Hook" probably the toughest bull on the hill.  The day before he had done battle in this same field and I would imagine some of the  cows present today were the result of yesterdays battle.  He's a huge intimidating animal with a very noteworthy characteristic.  He's got one tine on his left side that curls around in front of his ear.  That would be an awesome find come shed time.  We'll be looking for it for sure.

The other thing that stood out on this foggy morning was the sight of a small calf with the herd.  This calf was way too small for this time of the year.  I come to learn that this calf was born in mid August which is quite late in the year.  We hope he's strong enough to endure a hard winter.  I shot a few pictures that really show the contrast between Ear Hook and the baby.  We call this Big and Little.  I'm sure you'll see why.  One of the images show what I like to think as the family with Daddy, Mommy and the little guy.  While I'm not certain if that cow mothered this calf, she sure seemed to keep an eye on it.

The final picture shows a head shot which really gives you a grasp of how he got his name.  Hope you enjoy Ear Hook, Momma and baby.



3 comments:

Unknown said...

Gotta take the photos when it happens! You are right on with that. Nice job.

Willard said...

An excellent series. For some reason I couldn't get together with ear hook. I think most of the other photographers I know did get him, but I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I saw a calf that had spots in the winter of 2009-10 so it must have been born late like this one--not sure if it survived.

Coy Hill said...

Embrace the fog; they can make the best images of the day!

Sometimes cows are bred late making for late birthing, same happens with the deer. Hard to say how many of these late ones make the winter.