After what seemed like a slow start, the Whitetail rutting season in the Smokies got into high gear in Jan. and Feb. I got to witness dozens of buck fights, from light sparring matches to all-out down and dirty battles to the finish.

Of all the fights, this one back on Jan. 20th, was the most intense and vicious fight between two bucks I'd ever seen. This lasted for a full ten minutes, according to the camera clock, with no letup. Before the fight began, one buck was peacefully guarding his does when suddenly, the other charged into the scene and the fight began. At times, they were only about 25' or so away from me and you could hear the antlers crashing together, their heavy breathing, and hooves pounding the ground. It was simply awesome!!

Feeling like a king, this buck was the master of his little domain and group of does. Little did he know that in a few short minutes, his world would be threatened by the fierce onslaught of a determined challenger.



Suddenly, the Young Prince's ears perked up and he seemed alarmed by something off behind where I was standing.



Challenger, on the right, rushed past me and tore into the Prince like a linebacker blitzing the quarterback and the battle was joined.







They became lathered up with sweat as they fought. Challenger already had broken antlers and a healing wound on his jaw which got opened up during this fight.





Both were breathing heavily and feeling the effects but neither was willing to give in.



Prince scored a knockdown....



But Challenger got right back up. The fight ended abruptly when Prince broke and ran, with an apparent serious injury to his jaw...might have been broken.

Battered, bloody, and all lathered up, Challenger, the Winner, hobbles off to claim his hard-earned little harem of does.



This year's crop of fawns ought to have some pretty powerful genes resulting from this classic battle of survival of the fittest.

Shot with D70/Nikon 70-200VR/1.7x Nikon TC.

Several more from this fight here: http://www.pbase.com/richardr/bucks_fighting_12007

Regards,

Dick:)

Cool stuff to photograph AND be whitness to. Great work.

Roman

You're putting all these wildlife in a pen and going to let them out when I come over there this summer right. You are just going to have to tell me where you sit to take all these great pictures.

Tom

Hey Dick

Awesome - just awesome. I agree entirely with Roman on this - not just the photographs, but the opportunity to see this. Nicely done.

James

Thank you, Roman, Tom, & James.

Tom, the bucks have lost their antlers for now but they will be growing new, mossy ones by the time you get here.

Good thing I had VR on and the camera on a monopod as my pulse was pounding a bit as the action started up. Being there was the real thrill; photos are just a bonus.

Best regards,

Dick:)

I don't care what you say, those photos were awesome and right there! Do you really like those VR lenses? All my glass is Nikon except for a Tokina 12-24, but I don't have any VR. I take it is worth the reinvestment.