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\u00a0Canon 7D, 1\/800, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n This poor buck\u00a0was trying to control at least 28 females and was struggling mightily to do so.\u00a0 One evening we were at the bottom of a string of small hills just as the sun was setting (thus the warm, golden light in\u00a0these photos).\u00a0 The buck and his females were strung out on the crest of several of the hills and one of the does was\u00a0giving him a hard time by trying to escape the herd and join one of two other bucks that hung around the periphery of the harem.\u00a0\u00a0We saw this female bolt but so did the buck and he reacted instantly.\u00a0\u00a0Here he has just crested the hill into the light from the setting sun and is accelerating toward her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Canon 7D, 1\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n Five frames later (firing at full burst rate of my 7D) he has gained amazing speed (pronghorns are the second fastest land mammal after the cheetah).\u00a0 In this shot I was delighted to get all four feet off the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Canon 7D, 1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n Three frames after that I caught this interesting foot\/leg position.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Canon 7D, 1\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n In this image the escaping female is just below the buck and lower on the hill but out of the frame.\u00a0 He is attempting to get slightly ahead of her and then circle in front of her and turn her back to the herd- a maneuver I witnessed\u00a0multiple times with this buck over a\u00a0several\u00a0days.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Canon 7D, 1\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n Sadly I lost sharp focus in this shot but I include it here so you can gain a little perspective on the situation and\u00a0see the\u00a0female\u00a0he is attempting to control.\u00a0 Here she has apparently conceded defeat and\u00a0slowed down and he is beginning to put the brakes on himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n A\u00a0few seconds later the female had returned to the herd and the buck stood at the top of the hill in the wonderful evening light, surveying his domain for several minutes as he rested.\u00a0<\/p>\n This\u00a0male had a hard time of it while we were there.\u00a0 He seldom rested.\u00a0 Most of his time was spent keeping\u00a0wayward females from\u00a0escaping, marking territory\u00a0or running off the other two bucks.\u00a0 Occasionally he would snatch a bite or two as he patrolled his harem but he certainly couldn’t browse contentedly like the does did most of the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n One mistake I made is that I never did get a shot of the whole herd from a distance away – didn’t think of it in my effort to get close to them.\u00a0 Next time I’ll know better. \u00a0But this image does show the buck keeping a watchful eye on a few of\u00a0his females on the top of one of the hills.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This shot should give you some perspective on the setting for these photos.\u00a0 The peninsula I refer to is the spit of land in the middle between the two arms of the lake.\u00a0 That peninsula ends at the water out of frame to the left.\u00a0 The hills that the pronghorn were on in these photographs are those on the left half of the peninsula that show some shade.\u00a0 My camping trailer is the small white speck slightly to the right of the middle of the photo.\u00a0\u00a0 As you can imagine, our campsite was spectacular – extremely isolated, right on the water and we had a grand view as you’ll see in my last shot.\u00a0\u00a0 Just perfect for us.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"pronhorn-7448\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/pronhorn-7448.jpg\" "\\"pronhorn-7448\\"")
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