Red Deer - To close for comfort
A red deer during the RUT on the slopes of Lugduff in Co. Wicklow. This guy got to close for comfort.
OCT 2025: I have always wanted to observe the annual deer rut in the wild. Mid October myself and my youngest daughter decided to take a hike up by the miners village in Glendalough and on up to Glenealo and Lugduff.
The anticipation had been building since we left the car park as we could hear the deer on the hills all around us. My daughter is showing an interest in photography so I had her along to show her the ropes if you like. I had told her all along that the deer are not on whatsapp so a deer sighting could not be guaranteed as they just do not turn up for a photoshoot when we want them to.
Little did I know that every deer in the area must have known we were coming to shoot them on that Sunday morning as when we got to the bridge crossing at Glenealo there were red deer everywhere.
I was lucky to have my OM1 MK2 with the 150mm-600mm (thats 1200mm in full frame terms) with me so I could safely shoot from a distance. However, there was this one stag who felt it necessary to come closer and closer as I guess he sensed a free leftover meal from the hilwalkers that were on the Spinc route that morning.
A close encounter with a stag during the rut is something you do not want to happen to you. They are very vocal at this time of year with hightened senses and aggression so best observed at a safe distance.
This image was shot with the deer no more than 5 metres away from me. I was almost to close to use this long telephoto lens and I had frozen stiff when I noticed how close he had come. If you look at the image you will also see people in the background. This deer stag had no fear of people. I took the shot and backed off slowly without ever loosing eye contact with him. The deer that morning certainly got the Whatsapp memo.
There is a video on my youtube channel showing the encounter which also happened to be the very first video I did on my channel. You can watch that video HERE or a Youtube short HERE
OM System OM1 MK11 / OM System 1500mm-600mm F5.6-6.3
