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jeffnles1

jeffnles1

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It's tough being a deer. Check out the cloud of insects buzzing around this little doe's head and the ticks attached to her forehead. She didn't seem overly annoyed right now but I'm sure as the day wears on it gets old having them buzzing and biting. Sometimes we forget about all those little daily struggles to survive including being eaten alive and harassed by insects. And let's not forget birds eating the insects. Every day it really boils down to eat or be eaten and survive another day. I don't believe animals contemplate these matters the way we do but I am convinced they feel pain, hunger, fear, and maybe even some level of joy.

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Nice photo, and sad too. I made an image of a deer that has it's left eye totally covered and swollen with ticks. It's not a good enough photo to post on this board without viewers spitting at me, but it shows the serious nature concerns these animals are forced to live with..
 
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OK, I did a little more work with these in post to try to recover some of the highlights on the sunny side of her face. This is the best as I could get without causing the photos to look unnatural. Safe to say I'm not a pro in post. Usually, I'll crop to accentuate the subject better, do some mild color correction and that's it. I try to get exposure right, or as right as I can, in camera. Not always successful as is on display here.
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Charles Loy said:
Nice photo, and sad too. I made an image of a deer that has it's left eye totally covered and swollen with ticks. It's not a good enough photo to post on this board without viewers spitting at me, but it shows the serious nature concerns these animals are forced to live with..
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Thanks. I got one of a fawn last year that had won a dispute with what was probably a coyote. One of its ears was almost chewed off and it had a large cut on its nose. I never posted it because folks don't usually want to see that. The good news is this spring, I saw a young button buck healthy as could be with about 2/3 of its ear missing and a rather deep scar on its nose. One tough little deer. I thought for sure the coyotes would come back that night and finish what they started. Yes, the struggle is real and tough.
 
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Along the western shore on the Canadian side of Lake Erie the ticks have gotten so bad (rarely cold enough weather for long enough in winter anymore) that a friend who lives on the Lake says hunters report they often don't dress the deer they shoot as the deer's skin is are one big field of bloated ticks. When back country camping I've seen moose charging wildly through the forest driven by the black flies; my own bug netted hood I need to scrap clean of the black flies so I can see out of it. Pre last frost or post first hard frost is best for back country travel :)
 
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ssheipel said:
Along the western shore on the Canadian side of Lake Erie the ticks have gotten so bad (rarely cold enough weather for long enough in winter anymore) that a friend who lives on the Lake says hunters report they often don't dress the deer they shoot as the deer's skin is are one big field of bloated ticks. When back country camping I've seen moose charging wildly through the forest driven by the black flies; my own bug netted hood I need to scrap clean of the black flies so I can see out of it. Pre last frost or post first hard frost is best for back country travel :)
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I live farther south than you Kentucky. Ticks are a problem here for wildlife, domestic animals and people. Chiggers are also a nuisance for those of us who are sensitive to the bites.
 
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jeffnles1 said:
I live farther south than you Kentucky. Ticks are a problem here for wildlife, domestic animals and people. Chiggers are also a nuisance for those of us who are sensitive to the bites.
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Yes a friend balloons so her facial features pretty much disappear and her hands look like mittens when she gets too many black fly bites. This spring I have been driven from a photo location by the sheer number of mosquitos. Photography would have been impossible. They were in my mouth and nose in number, literally, and waving my hands in front of my face would fill my hands of mosquitos. Been in swarms of the buggers before but not without a bug hood and never in Toronto! Sadly I was trying to get into a wet wood for migrant warblers LOL
 
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ssheipel said:
Yes a friend balloons so her facial features pretty much disappear and her hands look like mittens when she gets too many black fly bites. This spring I have been driven from a photo location by the sheer number of mosquitos. Photography would have been impossible. They were in my mouth and nose in number, literally, and waving my hands in front of my face would fill my hands of mosquitos. Been in swarms of the buggers before but not without a bug hood and never in Toronto! Sadly I was trying to get into a wet wood for migrant warblers LOL
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wow. that is a lot of mosquitoes. We have them here of course but nothing like here. They annoy me but rarely bite me. However, a swarm like you described does not sound like an enjoyable way to spend a day.
Jeff
 
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