Good luck and bad luck!

On Friday lunchtime I took my gear out for hike on a trail to the west of Thompson Rivers University where I work. I went to a gully where I saw some birds about 3 weeks ago in the hopes of getting a chance at a waxwing. As I walked along the edge of the gully, up jumped a mother deer and her fawn. - pictures to follow. That was the good luck. On the way back my foot rolled off the edge of the trail and I went down with a badly spained ankle. I'm on crutches for a week and then an air cast for 2 - 3 weeks. Arrrgh :!:

When I fell, my camera with the 300f/4 and 1.7TC hit the ground pretty hard, but everything seems OK although I did end up with a couple minor scratches on the equipment, one on the camera body and one on the lens hood.

These were all taken handheld (my ball head is in for repair) with the 300f/4 +1.7TC. Being lunchhour, the lighting was pretty harsh.

Mother mule deer:





The almost grown fawn:

 

Thanks, Frank.

I sure was trying to keep the camera from hitting the ground, but it happened so suddenly. Even though I had my hand under the lens mount, when my hand hit the ground the momentum caused the camera body to hit and then it rotated about my hand and the lens hood hit. I had the lens cap on which was a good thing - no dust on the lens! I think my hand cushioned the fall or I'd really be crying!

 

Thanks, Keith. The fawn was almost as big as the mother, but the spots were still there. By the way, your new avatar is really neat!

 

Thanks, Gordon. The 4th one is actually the one that I like the best because its not very often you catch them walking towards you.

 

Thanks, Kevin. Ankle is black and blue now but it will get better. I'm just thankful the camera and lens are OK.

These two deer were lying down in the shade of an aspen tree and I didn't see them until they jumped up when I was about 15 ft away. The mother ran one way and the fawn another. The mother ran about 80-100 feet and stopped. Then she slowly circled around me giving me lots of opportunity to shoot. After she got part way around, I saw where the fawn had run to and grabbed a few shots of it. Then they joined up and sauntered off. I think because I didn't chase after them when they first jumped up, they figured I wasn't going to do them any harm.

 

Thanks Ben. I'm glad you were able to keep from falling. It always concerns me a bit climbing up and down some of hills around here. Normally I wear my boots, but I only had runners on this time. I think if I'd been wearing boots I'd have been better off, so from now on the boots will always be on when I'm off hiking and shooting.

 

Thanks, Keith.

I was really pi**ed off when I did it. I have most of this coming week off and was looking forward to getting out for some good shooting opportunities. However, this will give me a chance to catch up on some post-processing. I ordered Intellisharpen II from FM but for some reason they haven't sent me the download instructions yet, even though its been over a week. I've been after them and hopefully I'll get it tomorrow and can spend this week learning how to get the most out of it.