A leopard or a tiger can't just pop down to the shops and order a chital (spotted deer) burger. Chital are fast, super fast. It's no wonder big cats will take dogs when they can, they are like tortoise when compared to deer. Hunting bigger prey is low percentage for leopards and tigers which is why they have to make it count when they can... especially in this pre monsoon heat where efficient energy use is vital. That being said, prey will make use of available water holes, the big cats know this...
I rarely carry a standard camera now. My focus (excuse the pun, intentional, attempted humour, I like it even if no one else does) is remote cameras and for the past six years I've been developing technique. If, like yesterday, I see animals like tiger and elephant while in the jungle, I enjoy the moment, confine it to the memory card in my mind (it still works) and the smile in my heart (also still works). High resolution remote cameras (RCs), placed in the right places at the right times, bring the reward of images of animals undisturbed, acting naturally. I've got ten of thousands of images both from still cameras and remote cameras. Just in the last 24 hours I've gone through over 4000 images from RCs placed for security (anti-poaching and leopard rehab zone) as well as monitoring. To understand predators you have to understand what they eat.
Anyone who has followed these blogs (my sincere thanks to those who do) knows I hate disturbing wildlife. If you disturb a deer it may well be that a tiger hiding in wait will go hungry. My philosophy as a conservationist is to move quickly and as quietly as possible in the jungle, look for and record sign, place cameras as needed... keep disturbance and footprint to an absolute minimum. My great wish is that one day the wildlife tourism sector will be more uniform in this thinking.
Using RCs for wildlife photography as an art form is something I have decided to concentrate on now more and more to deliver a message, particularly with regard to leopard conservation. One of my most important goals is to help the leopard get protected status in as many regions as possible. By bringing the story of how the leopard lives, its incredible importance as an ecological engineer and the fact that this apex predator covers regions far beyond tiger and other "hero" species, that will be another step towards the goal. The magnificent chital stag in the image is a part of the web of life in which the leopard plays its role...
FOOTNOTE: I have cropped the details of the photo out of the image for security reasons. The location (GPS) recorder was switched off in camera, that data is recorded manually.
