Vishal Subramanyan is a wildlife photographer who catches some genuinely stunning images. Earlier this month, Subramanyan recounted a time he found a coyote that made him do a double take. Did it have two heads? No, it was carrying something– a severed deer head. Subramanyan says it was a really unforeseen encounter, one he expertly captured on cam. He posted the picture to Instagram to show his audience of nearly 60k.
“A couple of years earlier, an early morning summer walking developed into a series of unforeseen encounters with a common style– canids with unusual prey products,” Subramanyan wrote in his caption. “The first encounter happened in the morning, just as the sun was rising over the hills. A coyote encountered a small ridge with prey in his mouth. With the range and sun behind him, it was challenging to tell what the prey was– my preliminary ideas were a rabbit or the leg of a cow. However as I raised my electronic camera and took a photo– I realized it was the head of a deer.”
Subramanyan guesses the coyote might have taken the deer head from a mountain lion that took down the deer. Or possibly the deer died of natural causes and the coyote scavenged the head from the carcass. Regardless, it’s a remarkable photo revealing a rare moment in nature.
“Whenever I’m feeling reluctant to go out– I think of this day, and the unexpected moments that nature can offer us,” Subramanyan wrote. “It constantly influences me to step outdoors and see what more remarkable encounters I can have.”
We love that outlook. You just never know what experiences you’re going to have when you step outdoors.
See a coyote bring a deer head here:
Have you ever seen a coyote bring a severed deer head? Get the story from wildlife photographer Vishal Subramanyan here.