I finally found a pheasant after searching for two weeks… and it cost me my tripod.
So today I was out doing wildlife photography and after two weeks of trying, I finally spotted a pheasant. Even better: it suddenly appeared only about 4–5 meters in front of me from a field ditch. I managed to get some really nice shots.
Then it moved on, and I decided to carefully follow it to maybe get a few more photos. The problem: I couldn’t take my tripod with me without making noise and risking scaring the bird away. So I left it in the ditch next to a tree, thinking I’d be back in a few minutes.
About 20 minutes later, I came back… and the tripod was gone.
The area is basically farmland with a path in between fields. The tripod wasn’t super visible unless you got closer, so someone must have actually walked over and taken it.
I’m honestly torn between being super happy about the photos and really frustrated about losing my gear. Feels like a 1:1 trade with the pheasant 😅
Has anyone else had something like this happen while shooting wildlife? And yeah… lesson learned: never leave your gear, even “just for a moment.”