Photos: Whitetail Goes Head-to-Head with Wolf in River

It’s easy to think of wolves as killing machines and whitetails as their defenseless prey. But in this photo series, a young buck shows us that’s not always the case.

John Way from Cornell, Michigan was on his way to cut some firewood last month when he spotted an 8-point whitetail buck standing in the Escanaba River. Living within view of the river, he and his wife, Jodi, routinely see deer crossing the water, but this buck was acting differently than those they normally see.

Thinking it might be hurt, he used his cell phone to call Jodi to ask her to come and photograph the buck. She had gotten a 70-300mm zoom lens for her Canon Rebel camera a week and a half earlier and John figured this would be a good photo op. He was right.