My Deer Friends

Lately I have been thinking about making a personal project out of shooting deer at Inks Lake State Park. There are a lot of deer there and I usually see them at dusk when I am hiking back to my truck, but not during the daytime hours. There are also a few deer blinds that I have noticed out there and I wondered if I could use them. So, I made a trip Saturday afternoon with the intention of checking out the blinds and seeing what sort of strategy I could come up with to get some good deer photos; especially in the fall when they have antlers. I figured photographing deer out there would take some patience and planning as I don’t often see them during the daylight hours.

Some deer at Inks Lake State Park

So, I set about my hike about 3 hours before sunset expecting that the deer would all still be hiding wherever it is they hide during the day. I wasn’t 5 minutes down the trail when I ran across a herd of six of them. They moved off when they saw me and I went to get my camera gear out under the shade of a tree. I tried to stealthily walk across some rocks, wearing a bright red tee-shirt, to see if I could get some good shots of them and they had no trouble detecting me, but they were at a comfortable distance and just stood there watching me.

Deer through the trees at Inks Lake State Park

There was plenty of sunlight and a lot of wildflowers around, so the pictures have a spring look to them. I mostly just got big-eared deer staring at me probably wondering if they should take such a big klutz as me seriously. I snapped away for a while and then continued my hike across the highway to the Pecan Flats trail where I had seen deer blinds. I had yet to see another hiker out on the trails which was surprising as it was a Saturday afternoon.

Flowers and prickly-pear

I hiked around the Pecan Flats trail, saw another herd of deer up in the trees but they went too far into the bush for me to follow, so I carried on. I came across the first deer blind and it seemed to be locked up with all sorts of growth around it. It would have been a lot of trouble to get to even if it was open and I was a little disappointed in that. So I continued up the trail to an overlook on a granite hill, found a place to try sunset and continued on to the wilderness trail and hiked with several thousand bugs. Somewhere along the Wilderness Trail I found another deer blind overlooking an open area.

Deer blind at Inks Lake State Park

I figured I’d go check out the deer blind and I sat in there for about ten minutes looking around and was about to give up when I saw a deer come prancing out right in front of me and pause for some photos. It didn’t seem to know or care that I was sitting in the strange brown box about 20 meters away. I snapped my photos and the deer wandered away. Below is the photo with almost no cropping done to it.

Deer among the cactus at Inks Lake State Park

It was bit cloudy by the time I took this photo and the light from the setting sun was beyond some trees behind the deer anyway, so this wasn’t a great spot for evening photos. But, this would be a great spot for in the morning. That brings up a problem though as the park office doesn’t open until nine AM and I usually just get a day pass to get in. Not sure how I can be at this spot legally early in the morning without camping. I suppose I could reserve a campground and not camp as it isn’t very expensive (about twice a day pass). Or I could just camp. The park is about 30 minutes of driving from my house and I don’t want to make two trips.

I stayed for sunset and was disappointed. The clouds were too thick and the sky just went gray. I got in a lot of hiking and had fun anyway. Didn’t see another hiker the entire 4 hours I was there, though I heard voices from the campgrounds.

Sun setting beyond Inks Lake

Incidentally, I have been walking 3 to 4 times a week on some hills in my neighborhood with a rucking vest loaded to 28 pounds (working my way up to 40 pounds). I do this to keep in shape for long rugged hikes with my camera backpack which weighs about 24 pounds and I must say it is working fabulously. I can remember a hike like this wearing me out and making my shoulders hurt. After this 3 to 4 hours hike up and down the granite hills and through the wooded areas, I barely felt that I was wearing the backpack – I didn’t mind it at all. So I am pretty happy about that and went on my rucking walk this morning for about an hour and 15 minutes. It is nice that I am starting to get excited about hiking and photography again even as we enter the long hot summer here.

Thanks for reading and be sure to read the comments as I am sure the deer puns will be coming.

45 thoughts on “My Deer Friends”

  1. I haven’t herd a good deer pun in awhile.

    The area of Inks Lake looks familiar to me, as I once lived at Buchanan Lake, and worked in Burnet (KHLB radio). I love your wildlife shots, as your camera seems to have excellent resolution. I like the second photo best, with the one deer in focus, and the two in the background slightly out of focus.

    I hope you didn’t get too many bug bites.

    Liked by 3 people

    2. I don’t know if you visited the state park back then but they have recently improved the facilities quite a bit. It is really nice. The Texas taxpayers voted for a large increase in state park spending a few years ago.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. No, I didn’t visit it, but I passed it by every day, while driving to and from work. I was too busy to visit anything. I had very little money for food, but when I was down to my last buck, I should have gone in there and shot a deer.

        Liked by 2 people

  4. Yay, about being excited about hiking and photography again. Wonderful deer photos, my favorite being the one with the flower. But I think in the last shot that deer is saying something to you. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Thank you so much for posting the deer photos, Jason. It made me happy seeing their stare.🤩 So cute. They wonder who’s sneaking us?🤭 Hey, it was Jason. Watch out, my darling deers. I love deers.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Nice photos Jason. Is there public hunting in that park your visited? Some public conservation places in South Dakota have blinds set up for folk to rent during certain seasons. Guessing it limits what is there and helps pay for some costs.

    So when does the Pun Show go on the road? You all five new meaning to the term “ deer slayer”. 🙈🙊🙉😎

    Liked by 1 person

  10. The deer were gorgeous. The blinds are provided for hunters, which are allowed in the park in season. If you use one of the blinds out of season, check it well before you go in. I don’t know how common rattlesnakes are in the area, but plenty of hunters I know have found a blind being used as a rest stop by a rattler — or, in one case, as a convention site. Yikes!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I agree with the “Yikes!” Gives me the shivers just reading it. Reminded me of going camping as a child. My dad always made sure to have the snake bite kit along, but truthfully, I don’t know what was in it. I just knew we always had it. Do you carry something like that when you go hiking?

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