December PHOTO OF THE MONTH Contest.

[boneaddict]

Hunting/Washington.com
PHOTO OF THE MONTH CONTEST  December 2008
Please enter your favorite photo into our photo of the month contest.

WINTER SCENEs  anything wintery GOES  remember preference goes towards Washington and hunting and fishing.
(I really like Muledeer with large black antlers LOL)

The photo must have been taken by the entrant, but there is NO time limit set to how long ago the picture was taken. If the category happens to include field photos, they can be taken by someone else as long as it is of the entrant themselves.)- The photo must pertain to hunting or fishing or the outdoors in some fashion and it must match with the current months theme.
-Photo size MUST be 800x600 pixels or LESS  Most violated rule
-2 entries per contestant are allowed per month. If more than 2 entries are submitted the first two elegible ones will be the ones accepted for the contest.
-Entries must be submitted by midnite of the 26th of the current month in order to qualify for that Months contest.
-Photos of Washington material will receive preference in judging as the winner will be posted on the front of a Washington site. 
-Previous Photo of the month entries will not be eligible for this months contest
-The winner of the previous months contest is not eligible for the next months contest.
-Entries will be accepted or rejected as is, meaning the judges will no longer enhance, or alter images. Resizing is legal if you can talk a moderator into doing it for you.
The photos will be evaluated by a panel of Judges made up of  all the moderators.  The winner (NO TIES) will be announced as soon as we come to a majority decision. 

The Winner will have their photo posted on the front page

This is your last chance to become eligible for the photo of the year contest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      
   

New Ideas for the contest:
We are going to start having themes for some of our Photo of the month Contests.  These are not in concrete, but as outlined for now.  Get out there and get those PICS.
January....photo of the year contest
February....Anything with WATER (waterfowl, winter steelheading, scenery, boating, crabbing, Icefishing etc.)
March.....Shed Antlers
April.....Fishing
May.....Turkeys
June......open
July....Landscapes, spring flowers summer hiking trips etc.(wildlife or scenery can be included)
August.......Velvet bucks or bulls
September ...bowhunting/Archery
October....open
November.... Field photos
December.... Winter scenes (wildlife and scenery acceptable...anything winter)
 

[rosscrazyelk]

Took it this morning. Swakne

[boneaddict]

Thats damn cool!

[Timberstalker]

Boy! That is a helluva way to start this deal off

[saudog]

Here'a a good pick of a certain lake in the Sawtooth range.  I might use it in the "Where am I" thread but take a shot at the lake if u want.  It's not a big secret.

FWIW, we were hunting.  Unfortunately, there were no large deer hanging out next to the lake that wanted their picture taken after being shot!

[boneaddict]

Another NEAT picture.  Dang glad I wasn't there in my little tent at that time. 

[saudog]

This isn't that great of a picture at all from a photographic standpoint, but it's my favorite picture of all the pictures that I have personally taken and has a good story to go with it.  I've wanted to share the story with other hunters so bear with me regarding the length of the post.  The second picture (not for the contest) is from earlier that day and is to display a little more that it is indeed a Winter scene.

I was hunting Elk up high a few years ago with my dad up around 4000-5000ft.  We had cut some pretty fresh tracks made by a few elk that were zigging and zagging horizontally across the terrain.  Then we cut some even fresher tracks that started heading straight up to some seriously steep alpine country.  We had just gotten up out of the trees to where we could see a ways when we cut these tracks and were happy to follow them up a ridge so we could get a better lay of the land if not see where these couple of animals went.  Based on the snow fall they were only a half a day old but had about a half-inch dusting in them from more recent snow.  They sure looked like Elk tracks to us.

Well after scrambling up some very steep ridges and starting to wonder what kind of Elk would be heading where they were heading, we both looked up from seperate but parallel ridges and saw a MONSTER of a mountain goat.  He was on an exposed ridge and stook out like a sore thumb.  It was late in the afternoon by this time and he was heading back down to treeline to forage again.

We didn't expect to see goats where we were and there is no mountain goat season there.  This goat was huge and it was the first time I had seen one in the wild like that.  He was like something you would see on a real nice blown up photo from a gallery or in an advertisement.  As thick as he was tall and with very think and long horns and a goatee that came close to touching the ground.  He was staring right at us from his ridge and had probably been watching us for a while.  He wasn't going anywhere though as he could pause for nightfall and we'd surelly be gone.

The sight was awsome through my bino's and my scope, problem was the only camera I had was a Kodak disposable!  Determined to document the event I snuck up as close as I figured he would let me before getting spooked (still about 300 yards) and threw down my pack.  I lined my rifle scope up laying it on my pack and jacket and crancked it up to 7X.  Now with a disposable the view window is offset from the actual lens, so you have to just wing it in the postition I'm in, using my rifle scope as a telephoto lens.  I held it back about 3 inches and snapped off a couple shots, not thinking or knowing if they would come close to being viewable.

After wrapping up that Elk season and waiting for the pictures to get developed I was shocked to see that one of them came out pretty good, all things considered.  I also had to retake the picture with my digital Olympus to get them on the computer since I don't have a scanner here.  I know they aren't something you would put in a wildlife calender but it is my favorite picture.

[SpokaneSlayer]

These are my 2 entries.  The turkey pic was taken up around Springdale and the deer was behind my apartment.

[shanevg]

From Thanksgiving Weekend 2008.

[shanevg]

Here's one from an Idaho elk hunting trip back when I was in high school.

[Charlie]

Beautiful pictures Guys!!   

[farmin4u_98948]

Took this one Sunday eve while on the Rattle Snake Ridge above Sunnyside looking west. The Yakima Valley is covered in fog, Mt Adams on the right and Mt Hood right through the gap of Satus Pass.

[fc2038]

Wow there are some really good pics here.

[croix]

I don't envy the mods for having to judge. Looks like it's shaping up to be a close contest.

[saylean]

I'll toss this in the hat...dont have many winter photos...might get some tomorrow..

This is the north fork of Trout Creek, up by Harts pass.