Rimrock Muley

Quite often I find an animal that is just fantastic in every stage of life that you just want to do it over and over again celebrating each stage.

I have loved mule deer ever since we moved to Colorado and I saw my first one.  It was up in the Rocky Mountain National Park and it was only a brief, fleeting moment but it was enough to tempt me to search for them frequently thereafter.

There are so many ways to depict an animal, at young stage, in the early stage of development and muscle and antler growth but then as you watch the animal development in years to come the antler development is awesome.

There are often antlers that develop after injury in a young animal and create a particularly unusual shape that stays with them their entire life every time they develop that years antlers. There are particular animals that their antler development is influenced by diet or environment.  You find a six or seven year old deer that has been feeding well and developed naturally and you will find a prize worth a thousand pictures, paintings, and cries out to be sculpted.

 This particular muley had a nice set of antlers with stickers and added points to give him royalty and dignity.