Blinds, Locations and Animal Behavior
There are many different types of blinds, I don’t just mean the hunting type like a little camo tent you sit in and photograph out of, you can also use the environment to blind your approach from the animal.
In this photograph, I neither needed a blind or to hide myself, but yet the bear is extremely comfortable with my presence and continues to behave normally. This is because of the location where I photographed the bear, Katmai National Park, which is a very unique and special place where you can walk amongst the grizzlies without fear of your life. So there are places on this earth where animals behave differently and don’t see humans as a threat and there are places where animals are much hunted (shot at) on a regular basis and behave totally different. So depending on where you go to photograph and what type of animal you photograph you may need to hide yourself and your approach to the animal to get within that critical shooting distance (usually closer than you think) where photographs reveal all their detail and sharpness. Sometimes you will need to consider camouflage as a tool to hide you and your camera or to use the environment to the same effect. It’s really up to you when to decide such tactics are needed and again it depends on the animal and the situation and / or location.
Some types of blinds natural and man-made are:
- A hunting blind like a small camouflage tent with small opening for gun or camera (a hunter’s blind)
- A bush or tree to hide behind while photographing.
- Placing a tree or other natural object in a direct line between you and the subject’s eyes, if you can’t see the subject, they probably can’t see you. Use this kind of blind to slowly approach a subject and get closer.
- Using the landscape, hills and bumps to block the animal from seeing you or your approach.
- Your vehicle is a perfect blind, stay in the car rather than approach the animal, in many instances animals (like moose etc.) are comfortable while you are in the car, but open that door and get out and they run.
- While a canoe is not a blind, animals like moose will often tolerate your presence for a long time in a canoe and continue to eat the watery vegetation in front of you, but run away when seeing you on foot.
- Camo clothing and camo clothes for your tripod and camera. Take a 9×13 square foot camo cloth and throw it over you and your whole tripod.
- Any kind of obstruction that hides you can be used as a blind.
So we established there are places where animals don’t seem to fear humans and behave quite naturally even if you are standing out in the open. Some examples of such places and subjects are:
- Grizzly (coastal brown bear) – Hallow Bay Katmai NP, Alaska; McNeil River, Alaska
- Moose – Grand Tetons NP, Wyoming; Baxter SP, Maine
- Black Bear – Yellowstone NP, Wyoming; Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary, Minnesota
- Mountain Goats – Glacier NP, Montana
- Big Horn Sheep – Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP
These are just a few examples of many, but for those examples the animals are so used to the presence of humans every day that they essentially ignore them and carry on. Photographing in places like those listed increases your chances of success and allow you to get closer than normal. Then there are local places like here in New Hampshire where moose are hunted and behave quite differently (fight or flight). Each situation requires its own unique approach, if I am photographing moose here in New Hampshire, I am essentially behaving like a hunter wearing camouflage clothing from top to bottom, sneaking through the woods and making a silent approach.
Another example would be trying to photograph moose you might bump into along the road here in Maine and New Hampshire where moose will often hang next to the roads to lick the salt that has gathered from salting during winter. Many people here make the mistake of jumping out of the car and walking towards the moose only to wonder why they run off and hide. Had they just pulled over and used their car for a blind, they could have sat and photographed for much longer and the moose would most likely have stayed and behaved fairly natural.
One reason to consider a blind or camouflage is to capture natural behavior and interaction. By being hidden from the animals view, you might just get to see the intimate side of their relationships and courtship and they will tend to behave much more natural without constantly worrying who that human is and what are they up to.
Anyway, that was just a brief intro to that side of photography, all I want to do is open your eyes to options and methods and then you decide if they have any value to you.
I am going to close this section with one of my favorite moose photos above, taken here where I live in New Hampshire. This was not a blind situation, but rather fight or flight and the moose decided to do both. First, it retreated and then when I kept taking photographs, it got annoyed and charged us. We made a hasty retreat and got out of the danger zone. Moose can be a bit like that, especially during the rutting period when this photo was taken. Remember to be careful out there, know your animal, respect its personal space and enjoy the world of wildlife photography!