Waterbuck - Running for Life

An adult Waterbuck bull runs from a watering hole after detecting danger. Instinct. A, no, THE survival mechanism that tells wildlife what to do, when to run, when to hide. You get the picture.

As you can see from the photograph details, this shot was taken at 63 mm focal length, which means I was pretty much on top of this guy. I was still, but the wind got me. The most crucial aspect when photographing wildlife, is to check your wind. If you are facing a watering hole, the wind must blow into your face. Off-coarse one can not say from which direction the wildlife will enter the arena, but if they approached from down wind, they would have run away in any case, more than likely you would not have even known about it.

Watch your wind. First and foremost. Watch your wind. And two days before you go out on your photo shoot, on the hour, every hour, record in which way the wind blows. This should give you a great idea, if normal exists (and it doesn't) which way the wind will blow.