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(meteorobs) Early Ursid Elk Hunting Epic.



>>George Gliba asked:
>>
>> BTW, did anyone see the Ursids, or know of any 
>> observations of them?



Howdy to all from Golden Colorado where the air is clear and stars are
plentiful. 
	This is a personal story about an epic that I had on the night of December
20-21, just prior to the Ursid maximum on Dec 22-23.  I had luckily
obtained a late-season cow elk tag for private land just south of Steamboat
Springs, CO near Yampa (40:09:12N 106:54:27W).  Because of the limited
snowfall thus far this year the elk were still all up in the high country
and weren't down on the ranches feeding off the haystacks.  Nevertheless, I
decided to get away from all of the Denver light pollution see if I could
find any elk.  If not, at least I'd be able to see the early Ursids from a
high elevation and with great LM. 
	At 8200' above sea level, there was very little snow.  When I reached the
4500-acre ranch that I'd had permission to hunt, I began glassing with my
Brunton Eterna 8x24 binoculars.  Within 20 minutes I was able to locate a
small group of six cow elk at a distance of about a mile from the road and
up on the north-facing slope of a small ridge (elev: ~9000')  With the
light fading fast, I put on my orange and ran toward the small herd, which
moved across the mountain slowly, seemingly oblivious to my presence.  As I
got to a distance of 500 yards, the elk began moving faster but were not
running, feeling comfortable with the distance between us.  I crept up the
north-facing slope to within 300 yards of the elk and lay down prone in 18"
of powdery snow.  With my Pentax 50mm obj. Lightseeker scope dialed in at
10X, I sighted in the shot at 300yds, 30° uphill.  Choosing the largest cow
in the group, I waited until she walked in front of my crosshairs and I
squeezed off the 30.06 round from my Winchester Model 70 Sporter.  Not
quite accurately gaguing the speed of the elk nor the trajectory with a 30°
uphill shot, my 180gr. Nossler Partition bullet hit about 12" back from the
heart and about 5" high--not too good.  I must have also jerked on the
trigger a little.  Luckily for me, however, this unclean shot kept the elk
fighting and she ran downhill almost 150 yards right toward me and my
truck.  I quietly waited, laying in the snow for about 10 minutes so as not
to spook the dying elk and then slowly crept back the 1/2 mile to my truck.  
	After changing my clothes to be warmer for the evening work and grabbing
my Petzl Micro headlamp, I made my way back to the elk with my trusty
husky, Juneau.  The huge cow elk was fully dead when we arrived and had
moved downhill an additional 50 yards since I left my prone position.
Several coyotes, however, could be heard both to the East and to the West.
From 5:30pm to 11:30 I dressed, caped, and quartered the huge animal in the
chilly, -5°F night air and drug the heavy carcass ~500 yds downhill.  (The
taxidermist estimates that she weighed 550 to 600 lbs dressed and caped
with the head off--a full 4X as large as most deer).  This left me
thoroughly exhausted and I decided that I couldn't drag the carcass the
rest of the 1/4 mile to the truck that night.  While dragging the elk, I
saw a few of the Ursids slowly coursing their way across the night sky.
The coyotes were much closer by the sound of them but still outside of my
flashlight beam.  I tied Juneau to a sage bush about 5 yds from the elk to
protect it from the coyotes and trudged back to my truck where I slept a
fitfull hour and a half.  
	At 1:30am I woke up to the sound of Juneau barking like crazy and the
sound of about 30 coyotes howling at the same location.  I quickly dressed,
grabbed my trusty Colt .45 ACP and ran out to Juneau's defense, yelling and
screaming all the way to scare off the pack of wild carnivores.  With so
many coyotes, I was now worrying more about my dog and less about my elk.
Again, a few of the Ursids dropped into the atmosphere.  By the time I got
to Juneau, he was very glad to see me.  He had successfully protected the
elk and himself from the brazen coyotes, who's tracks indicated that they
had gotten within 10 feet of my poor husky.  I could see several of their
eyes lurking off at a distance and so I decided that I'd spend the night
with Juneau and the elk.  After scaring off the coyotes with a few pistol
shots in their direction, I ran back to the truck and grabbed my Thermarest
and my -15° Polarguard sleeping bag.  Back in the sagebrush with the elk, I
set up my bag in the open air and in 12" of snow with a perfect view of the
early Ursids.   With flashlight and pistol within reach, from about 2:30 am
'til dawn I watched more than a dozen meteors slowly dropping from north to
south.  Not a single trail was seen on any of the meteors.  Some were quite
bright (brighter than any star) but I can't tell you more about the
magnitudes.  My exhausted body was kept awake only by the cool night air
and the adrenaline of listening for approaching coyotes.  Luckily, no more
encounters with them were had.  
	The next day it took me until well after noon to get the elk on top of my
truck.  Needless to say, Juneau was the hero of the night and has been
feeding well on the scraps left over from my processing of this tasty
animal.  
	Til later, happy meteor watching!
	Keith Evanson.

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