Large male caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) forages in the Black Spruce in the Kenai River Estuary. As evidenced by the fresh blood on his antlers, he had just finished scraping the velvet from them on the trees, all in preparation for the rut. This subspecies, selected from the Porcupine herd on the North Slope, was relocated to the Kenai Peninsula after years of predation by feral dogs had depleted the native herd.
Technical Details
Composite: No
EF 200-400mm @ 400mm; f/4 @ 1/80 sec, ISO 1600
Thank you, Jagdeep. A special morning watching him work off the velvet. Caribou antlers are the second largest of all deer species. Moose have the largest.
Thank you, Charles. It was a very special morning spent with this magnificent specimen. He thrashed about through the brush for quite a long time until all the velvet was removed. He often disappeared from sight but ultimately returned to this opening.
