Arkansas Wildlife Photography Gallery and Buffalo River Area Guide -- Michael Dougherty, Newton County Arkansas

Before I forget. This website is all copyrighted material by Michael Dougherty, Compton, Arkansas. Don't steal the images or written content. Those are

the rules. I am real hard nosed about these things. Educators and nonprofits, please ask permission. I check websites for stolen material. I will sue for

flagrant theft.

1/27/12 Update. Please consider donating below for park safety. Great elk viewing today with 2 herds in down by Cave Mountain Road and the Ponca Access at the north end of the valley, and a bald eagle by the mill pond. New blog entry on herd positions. 1/27 elk location map below. Remember antler drop is not until April. Stragglers here and there. Normal viewing begins around 3PM in the evenings, mornings it will be from daybreak until 9AM in most cases (DST), the earlier the better for bulls, longer on rainy and cold days. Bald eagles are here. Drive 45MPH or slower in Boxley Valley.

Current Conditions

Historical Data (enter Ponca, AR)
Sunrise, Moonrise & etc.

Buffalo River Level at Ponca

Twitter

Speed kills in Boxley Valley. Roadside elk

bolt unpredictably. Slow down to 45, enjoy

the view. Protect your life and theirs, do

the right thing.

The spike bulls (right) bolted in front of a

red van that saw them, but did not slow

down. I thought I would be photographing

an accident.

Remember elk are huge. Remember also

that Boxley Valley has many blind curves

and rises in the road. Going slow will only

cost you a couple of minutes, it could

save your life.

Safe driving tips.

Free E-Post Cards New and growing collection from elk and swan pictures of Buffalo National River and Boxley Valley.

Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gismos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn't make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.

Peter Adams

Scenes from the 2011 Arkansas Elk Rut

Prince -- 8x8 Satellite Bull
Bulls like this are super rare. Prince is a symmetrical, double drop tine 8x8. He is considered an ultra trophy class bull even though he is still relatively young.

If you really understand how rare this bull is, you realize what a treat it is to just see him. He is in the league of bulls you see in bronze statues outside big time outfitters like Bass Pro and Cabellas.

Boxley Beast vs. Godzilla

I am the pro who made the mistake of taking his wife out to learn how to take videos. She did not know what she was doing. So she got this fight video, as good a video as perhaps has ever been shot around here, her first time out.

Mandy can be proud of this one. It has been viewed on YouTube almost 500 times in one week. These are rare videos. I did do the editing, but Mandy got the shot.

What's really important is to simplify. The work of most photographers would be improved immensely if they could do one thing: get rid of the extraneous. If you strive for simplicity, you are more likely to reach the viewer.

William Albert Allard

This recognition, in real life, of a rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values is for me the essence of photography; composition should be a constant of preoccupation, being a simultaneous coalition – an organic coordination of visual elements.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

This is Hacksaw, the one bull that this year rutted the entire season. I think it is interesting that he was the first bull I got in a river crossing this year, and so far, he is also the last -- still going strong in December.

Please Donate to the Buffalo River Chamber's Emergency Phone Project -- Learn More Here
About This Important Effort. Save Lives

1/27/12 Elk and Wildlife Map, Ponca, Arkansas