I had a rare encounter and photo opportunity with an elusive bobcat out in the wetlands - happened to notice him sleeping way deep in the cypress stand - curled around the trunk of a tree - only the white fur on the belly gave him away. ; I had to shoot through 15 feet of thick foliage between me and him with my 300mm + 1.4X TC - manual focus only to cut through the clutter (also took advantage of the tilting LCD and live-view so I could stick the camera down at ground level to get under some thick branches and give that eye-level perspective)...he even woke up and noticed me, but didn't spook and run...he looked at me, licked himself a few times, and then casually walked off into the deeper foliage where I couldn't follow:
Thank you Roger and Craig. ; No, surprisingly he wasn't too bothered by me - he did eventually get up and walk away, but it was pretty casual...more like he was annoyed that his sleeping spot was discovered, than fear of any danger from me.
Thanks John and Leo. ; I wish I had gotten a clearer path to shoot him, so there wouldn't be all the blurs of leaves along the corners...but it does show that he was pretty well hidden which is probably why he wasn't too spooked by me. ; You'd have had trouble seeing a full grown man standing there at that distance through that dense foliage...it was only by finding a small 'hole' through the leaves that I was able to find the face.
