Today’s post wraps up the 4-part posts of Bighorn Sheep in the rut in Waterton Canyon, Colorado. I’m sure I’ll be posting some more rut images, but these past 4 posts were captured during a single sitting while the sheep were in rut. If you missed the earlier rut posts, you can find them at these links:
- Post #1 – “Let The Games Begin!”
- Post #2 – “Safe Sex …”
- Post #3 – “Bighorn Sheep Rut – Part 3”
Photographing the bighorn sheep rut is a wonderful learning tool for understanding the behaviors and actions the sheep take during the process of passing on their genes to future generations.
In this first image, a pair of large bighorn rams are busy jousting to determine “king of the mountain”:
While the rams are busy, the ewe slips away and climbs up the rocky slope (above the jousting rams) to a safe place, away from the rams:
Within a minute or so, one of the rams sees her and starts making his way to where she is positioned:
… then a second ram makes his way to the rocks:
Meanwhile, a couple of large rams, located below the ewe and rams on the slope, continue to head butt and joust for dominance rights:
Then, without warning, the ewe makes a run for it … with one of the two rams hot on her trail:
With little hesitation, she decides to leap from the boulders and make a run for it:
As she runs off, with the ram close behind, the other rams continue to joust:
Ya gotta love action like this!
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 body
- Canon EF 100mm-400mm, f/4.5-f/5.6 IS lens + Canon 1.4x TC (shot at 560mm)
- Handheld, with IS “On”
- ISO 400
- Aperture f/7.1
- Shutter 1/800 sec.