Hey Jason,
Snow at Crowley Lake really differs from year to year. I have seen years where there is 4 feet of snow on the ground there most of the winter, and then there are years where they only have a couple of inches. It all depends on how the storms come in and how big they are.
Normaly there should be some snow on the ground over the new year, but so far this winter has been pretty dry for the Eastern Sierra. Our biggest storm of the season was just last week, and most of the snow fell in the higher mountains. Hopefully it will all change in January.
The last couple of year have been big snow years for the Eastern Sierra. And two years ago we had a lot of storms coming out of the south, that is good for big snow at Crowley. We’ll just have to see what the new year beings us.

Hope you guys enjoyed the picture of the deer. There will be more of them to come. I will also be putting some up in the Visions Galley this next week.
I have been going out to Round Valley and shooting pics of the deer for the last couple of days. We are seeing a lot of good sized bucks out there. Yesterday morning we saw the biggest buck I have ever seen. He was at least a five point and might have been a 6. He was quite a ways off from us and we were looking into the sun, so it was hard to tell for sure how big his rack was. We tried to get a better vantage point to look at him, but as we repositioned, he vanished into the brush. We are calling him the Phantom Buck. As my uncle said, he didn’t get that big by being easily seen. I’m going to continue to look for him so I can capture him on film.
I have got some nice shots of does and a couple other good buck shots. January is the best month of the year to see and photograph big bucks in the Eastern Sierra. They are on their wintering grounds, aren’t to shy of humans in trucks, and they haven’t lost their racks yet. It gets harder in Feb because they begin to loose their antlers then.
And speaking of them not being to shy, the buck in the picture the last couple of days was only about 20 feet away from me. And at one point he was only about 6-7 feet away. He was totaly at ease with me staying in the truck and taking pictures of him. I got some nice shots when he was real close, but I made a mistake and he is totaly out of focus :angry:

I want to wish everyone a very happy new year. And I hope your new years eve is safe and enjoyable.

Talk to you all next year

Sunset over Owens Valley, Eastern Sierra, Ca

Sunset over Owens Valley, Eastern Sierra, Ca