El Ciervo de Oro

This photo always brings a smile when I see it.  I took it at Custer State Park in South Dakota in 2010.  I consider it my best deer shot… and I don’t even remember taking it!

It was our first visit to Custer.  David, Roxanne, and I had spent two days in the park, hiking and traveling around the wildlife loop.  Custer is known for its herd of “wild” burros so tame that they will shove their noses into your vehicle in search of a hand out.  We were fortunate to find the entire herd along the roadside.  I literally took hundreds of photos.

As we drove back to camp, we spied two buck along the side of the road.  I rolled down the car window and snapped a few shots with the camera.  That evening we downloaded the photos to see what burro antics I had captured, never even looking at the other images.

It wasn’t until we returned home (nearly a month later) that I discovered this photo of the buck.  I actually gasped when I saw it.  It has become my best but least memorable deer photo.  I call it El Ciervo de Oro which translates to the golden stag.