Bambi in duplicate

Last year, if you remember, I lost an incredible photographic opportunity when I saw a beautiful bull elk drinking from a river and I didn't have my camera with me.

I'll admit, I've been obsessively watching this stretch of river ever since, just in case lightning struck twice. Well the other day, lightning struck twice, kinda. I saw two white-tail bucks standing in the river, drinking.

This time I did have my camera with me. However I was also driving, and since it is a narrow and windy road, I had to find a place to pull over and turn around. By the time I was able to get back to the spot where the bucks were, they had waded out of the water to the bank. Therefor the following photos are a little less dramatic than they might have been, but they had the compensating virtue that I was stationary, the animals weren't bothered by my presence, and I was able to snap away to my heart's content.

I'm guessing these young bucks are twins. After their first fawning, does produce twins thereafter.

Unfortunately the cluttered background made their antlers kinda blend in, but oh well.

I'm not the best photographer, so I don't feel I did justice to these handsome boys.

Still, it was like watching Bambi in duplicate.

I watched these bucks until they left the river bank and climbed back up the slope, then drove home.

And this, boys and girls, is why you should never leave your camera at home. After all, you never know what you might see.