TAKING THE PERFECT WATERFOWL SHOT

FROM FIELD...

World-renowned wildlife photographer Gary Kramer traveled to 40-plus countries over the past four years to try and capture images of every species of duck, goose and swan in the world, and they’re all in his latest coffee table book, Waterfowl of the World. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

THE WIZARD OF WATERFOWL PICS

CENTRAL VALLEY PHOTOGRAPHER ZOOMED ACROSS THE GLOBE TO CAPTURE BIRD IMAGES FOR BOOK

By Scott Haugen

I’ve been a fan of waterfowl guru Gary Kramer’s work for decades. I like his writing style. I love his photography. I deeply admire and respect his drive for perfection in every image he publishes.

I rank Kramer as the best waterfowl photographer in the world, and I base this on the quality of the images he consistently attains, the vast range of species he’s captured, and the fact he travels the world to get the shots in the birds’ native habitat, in the wild.

Born and raised in California, Kramer’s passion for the outdoors took root at an early age. Starting in the late 1970s, he landed a job as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Southwest Region in the Golden State.

Kramer worked on four national wildlife refuges over the next 26 years, including a 10-year stint as refuge

Kramer’s book features 1,299 photos of birds from around the world, along with interesting notes on capturing pics of rare waterfowl. (GARY KRAMER)

... TO FIRE

Trout fillets don’t have to come from a trophy fish to create a great meal. Tiffany Haugen says smoking is a good way to prep the meat for use in a variety of dishes, or as a snack itself. (TIFFANY HAUGEN)

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE… THERE’S A GREAT TROUT MEAL

By Tiffany Haugen

Whether you’re catching trout this winter or looking to do something with those fish that are in the freezer, there are many options. Smaller-sized trout are great when cooked up to serve as single portions, but if looking to preserve them to use in a variety of ways, try smoking them.

There’s not much to smoking a trout. Simply fillet, brine and smoke. Once fish smokes, it’s even easier to remove the pin bones so the meat can be eaten bonefree, fresh from the smoker or prepared for something else. Toss smoked and flaked trout into a hot or cold dip, on a salad or pizza or into a favorite pasta dish.

Four to six whole trout 6 cups water ½ cup white sugar 1/3 cup kosher salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 2 teaspoons granulated garlic 1teaspoon granulated onion

Prepare trout by cleaning and scaling. Keep refrigerated until ready to brine. Fillet trout and remove rib bones. In a large glass dish or crock, mix sugar, salt, pepper, garlic and onion until ingredients are dissolved. Add trout to brine and refrigerate for eight to 10 hours.

Remove trout from brine and let air-dry on smoker racks up to one hour. Preheat smoker at 160 to 180 degrees. Place racks in the smoker, add chips to the smoker pan and let smoke for two to four hours, or until trout reaches desired doneness.

For a light smoke flavor, use one pan of chips. For a stronger smoke flavor, use two pans of chips. The colder it is outside and the thicker the trout fillets, the longer they’ll take to smoke. Remove trout from your smoker and keep refrigerated until ready to eat. Vacuum seal and freeze for longer-term storage.

Editor’s note: For signed copies of Tiffany’s popular book, Cooking Seafood, and other best-selling titles, visit tiffanyhaugen.com.

Despite Kramer’s worldwide travels, some of his most memorable shots in North America have been of California ducks like wigeon and (below) pintails.

(GARY KRAMER)

The Yeti Rambler, just one of many Yeti products the author has used and been pleased with when thirsty in his blind. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

manager of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. There, he made unprecedented changes and impacts that resulted in attracting the highest concentration of waterfowl on any refuge complex in the U.S.

If you’ve driven through some of these refuges watching or photographing ducks and geese, you know what Kramer did. Strategically placed logs and habitat, clever road designs for good morning and evening light angles, and bringing in gravel that allows

KRAMER ON CALIFORNIA BIRDS

Scott Haugen chatted with Gary Kramer about some of his favorite waterfowl photographs, learning that despite Kramer’s travels around the globe, it was his home state that gave him as many memorable moments as elsewhere.

“My favorite place to photograph waterfowl in North America is right here in California. So many birds use our refuges in the Sacramento Valley, and you get to watch the full progression of their behavior from when they arrive in late summer to when they leave in the spring. It’s the best place in the world I know of to photograph courtship flights of northern pintail,” says Kramer.

“Not many people realize pintails start showing up here in August. In November they’re in full-blown courtship mode. In December, American wigeons start showing up in good numbers, too, along with northern shovelers and loads of Ross’s geese and snow geese.”

“It’s the best place in the world where I’ve photographed Ross’s geese in such huge numbers,” Kramer adds. “Lots of snow geese and white-fronts use the valley, too. You just can’t beat this place when it comes to variety and up-close behavior.” SH

birds to stand and gather grit, are just some of the strides he made that benefited birds and waterfowl enthusiasts.

KRAMER’S LATEST PROJECT COULD be his

most spectacular of all, as he recently completed a nearly four-year journey to more than 40 countries in which he photographed 165 of the 167 waterfowl species in the world. No one has ever accomplished this, let alone captured such stunning images that are highlighted in his latest book, Waterfowl of the World.

Kramer has always been a stickler for composing shots with perfect lighting in natural habitats at unique angles that make viewers feel as if they are there. Kramer ventured into the native habitat and some of the most remote corners of the world to get the highest-quality images possible for this project.

Once home in the Central Valley city of Willows (Glenn County), where he checked the images on his big screen,

if Kramer didn’t like what he saw he went back – multiple times to multiple places – to get the perfect shot.

Waterfowl of the World is a once-ina-lifetime work. In fact, this book is at such a high level, I have my doubts it will ever be equaled, let alone surpassed. The photos alone are worth the price of admission. Include the informative text, maps and adventure stories, and this is truly a special book that will meet the interests and needs of many people on a global scale. If you’re a waterfowl hunter, this book is a must-have.

WHILE CAPTIVATING PHOTOS KEEP me

coming back, it’s the book’s photographer’s notes that I most appreciate. Perhaps that’s because I, too, am a professional photographer and I know I couldn’t come close to achieving what Kramer did in this masterpiece, especially on the level he did.

The stories of Kramer’s travels to complete Waterfowl of the World would be a worthy read, in and of itself, as there’s no end to the challenges and hardships he faced.

There was the time he traveled to the remote mountains of Papua New Guinea to photograph Salvadori’s teal in their native habitat. Most common above 8,000 feet, Kramer first traveled to Australia and to Papua New Guinea’s capital city of Port Moresby, and he then boarded a domestic flight to the city of Tabubil to find these teal.

After over 9,000 miles traveled and five days of sitting in a blind on a remote mountain stream from daylight to dark, in the final 30 minutes Kramer got the shots he came for of a pair of Salvadori’s teal.

There was also a trip to capture the Madagascar pochard, the rarest waterfowl in the world and which was presumed extinct for 15 years until its 2006 rediscovery. Following three days of commercial air travel from California to Antananarivo, Madagascar – an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent – Kramer spent 10 hours driving on treacherous roads for the next few days before embarking upon a 30-minute hike down a slippery slope where he finally pitched camped near a secluded lake. The next morning he wasted no time hopping in a canoe with a local guide. Just five minutes later he captured what are likely the best images ever taken of these rare ducks.

Stunning lighting is what sets Gary Kramer’s waterfowl photography apart, as this flock of mallards proves. (GARY KRAMER)

FOR KRAMER, THE ADVENTURES contin-

ue, but it’s the stories behind the two ducks Kramer was unable to photograph that stand strong in my mind, primarily because of the effort Kramer put in and the money he was willing to invest to photograph these ducks. One was the Eaton’s pintail, which is only found on two subarctic islands in the Southern Ocean between Africa, Australia and Antarctica.

Despite Kramer’s willingness to travel 30 days by ship and spend over $20,000 of his own money, the French territory administration denied his multiple requests to visit the island and refused to issue him a scientific permit. No reason was ever given.

And with the printing of Waterfowl of the World, Gary Kramer will have likely published more photos of waterfowl than anyone on earth, 1,299 of them in this book alone. The 540page coffee table book features all 167 species of ducks, geese and swans on Earth.

As Dr. John Eadie of UC Davis points out in the book’s foreword, “Waterfowl of the World is an extraordinary accomplishment and a testament to Gary Kramer’s and John Mensik’s (text contributor) long professional history and expertise in waterfowl ecology and management, and even more importantly, Gary’s superb photography.”

Waterfowl of the World can be ordered at GaryKramer.net. Signed, standard edition books are $99 postpaid in the U.S. There’s also a limited edition of 250 signed and numbered books that come in a slip case and leather-like cover with gold embossing for $250. If you’re interested in waterfowl, you can’t go wrong with either option, as this will be a collector’s item for decades to come. CS

Editor’s note: For signed copies of Scott Haugen's popular books, visit scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram and Facebook.