Ever read instructions?  I know they usually don’t exist anymore and you have to search the help menu, or they were written by someone over there and translated by someone who didn’t quite have command of our language.  Well here’s a How To Written by Me and I only know one language, so it may be understandable.
    How To See Wild Life.  Want to see a panther, bear or some other unusual critter?  Here’s some simple easy and time tested ways to do it:  #1. Be at a location where the beast is known to be. You’ll know because it’s their habit, their tracks and feces are there, and others you’ve talked to or you have seen them there before. #2. Be quiet. Go alone, so there’s no talking and don’t talk to yourself. #3. Be there when they are there. No matter what the books and “experts” say, there is no specific time of day. Maybe there’s a most likely time, but if it isn’t convenient for you to go then, go when you can; you still have a chance. #3.  Once you’re there get interested in something else or go into a trance of unexpectation (a specialty of mine kinda like daydreaming), so you’re not looking for the cat, bear, wild boar or other critter. Bring a book, fiddle with your cell phone or camera, or examine or photograph insects or flowers, or watch the birds in the tree tops. Anything that’ll get your attention off what you want to see will do. #4. Then in the midst of your distraction go into the next phase of absent mindedness and look up. #5.  Slowly in bewilderment let your eyes focus on the forms within 50 or so feet and more times than you’d think, there it is: a panther, bear, bobcat... #6. Then your senses will spring back to life as you are astounded by what’s before your eyes and of course your camera will be on the wrong settings…  I wonder if that’s how hunters do it as they sit in those tree stands.  What do you do up there all day; other than let your mind wander.  If these easy-to-do steps don’t work, be assured that maybe you didn’t see it, but it saw you. Don’t be surprised when you’ve given up and leaving you see fresh droppings, tracks or other calling cards. I’ve also tried being there, being alert, and let my eyes sweep 360 degrees to examine the landscape every couple minutes, so I don’t miss anything, but the absent-minded approach works better! As I said this method is time tested.  I know because I’ve accomplished it over and over again and that’s when I’ve seen most of the panthers, bears and bobcats I’ve seen.
    Last year I was watching a hawk that dived from its perch to the ground to devour its meal. When I looked up, here came a 250 lb. panther about 50 feet away towards me. This year I was photographing a snail shortly after sunrise and laying flat on the ground to get an eye level perspective. Yeah, I hadn’t seen anything that morning so I was desperate for an outstanding photo.  As I was getting a close-up of the head, I glanced up and there were two panthers crossing the trail about 20 feet away.  I scrambled to my feet in bedazzlement, aimed the camera, pushed the shutter half way down to activate the auto focus and it balked and didn’t work. Of course not, it was still in the close-up mode. By the time my brain caught up with what was happening, the panthers wandered off on their merry way!
    So I thought I’d set my other camera on the settings for the conditions to get the picture next time. I took some test light readings, concentrating on them, and looked up and it happened again. Here came a several-month-old panther bounding down the trail and as our eyes met, I froze with surprise, then fired the camera. I’d set it right and got a Great Pic that’s on my wall now. As I wrote this sitting 20 miles deep in the Everglades in Big Cypress Preserve, I’ve followed the “How To Do It Procedures” and, of course, I’ve not seen anything. Why? Because I never achieved that trance of unexpectationness!  I did hear an alligator bellow its mating call, though. Wow!  Another example of hearing or seeing something every day that most people never do in their life times.
    Every couple years I see big orange grasshoppers on my walks in the everglades; why only some years do they appear?  Who knows! If you walk very quietly in the Buenos Aires Preserve near Aravaca, Ariz., along the wet lands, you’ll see a very rare creature - the Chiricahua Leopard Frog. Both are one of nature’s special surprises. Enjoy your holiday and if you’d like to commemorate it with a family photo on the beach give me a call at 410-289-7339 or PHOTOSAs YouWantThem.biz