While leading a recent Hokkaido Photo Tour, I was able to capture an outcropping of land with a nearly uncountable amount Yezo Sika Deer.  It is always so remarkable being able to photograph the largest herd of Sika Deer on our planet. This opportunity arises annually but only when the weather conditions are in our favor.  And when the conditions are perfect, I know when and where the herd will be gathered, and everyone in our group is always awe-struck, and the authentic Japan wildlife action photography begins. (Imagine being in a small group 8 photographers in the wild with no other photographers in the vicinity and facing a herd of 1000 Sika Deer).  This occurs on a thin peninsula, and the deer have to pass us to reach the mainland, so I always recommend having two camera bodies, one with a super-telephoto 600mm to an 800mm and one with an 80-200mm.   As we approach the herd, I stop our lead vehicle 200 yards from them and we get out and start to immortalize the herd into our mind’s eye and memory cards.   As an amateur historian and lead photography guide, I know that the now relatively abundant Yezo Deer were once dangerously close to extinction.  Once Hokkaido started receiving an influx of Japanese from the main island, the deer’s population shrunk to near extinction levels.  Venison canning between two major hub cities in Hokkaido meant the deer were perpetually overhunted, but on two different occasions the deer were given protected status which allowed them to return to numbers enabling them to roam free.  And now they are available for photo ops in several different parts of Hokkaido, and my experience as a Japan Photo Workshop Tour Leader means that you will access to the locations with the highest probabilities of seeing the deer.