Gee Wiz, the older I get, the faster time "flies" by so what better way to start the new year than to catch a fly on the window and stage it for a focused stacked session. Although this was my first fly of the new year, it may be the last one that I find until warm weather returns.

This session was staged with a Mitutoyo 10X Microscope Objective (M PLAN APO) as the optic for the camera mounted on a Nikon 200mm f/4 AF-D Macro used as the tube lens for the infinity-style objective.

Today was the day when everything came together for my cow elk hunt.

Yup, there I was at the very North East corner of the Wildlife Management Unit, walking South to cover the entire unit North to South, thinking I would have to run into the supposed elk herd I had heard about. About 200 yards from the truck I looked ahead of me and saw about 80 or at least a whole lot of elk milling around. My rangefinder said they were 565 yards out. Normally I might have taken the shot but I had no steady rest and knew I had to get closer. What I did not know was another hunter had already fired two shots at his cow elk and they were just about ready to run to safety.

I bent at the waist to hopefully resemble either a deer or antelope size game animal and moved closer using cover when I could. At 265 yards I knew I could make the shot. I heard a shot, the other hunter's third shot and the elk really got busy getting out of there. I dropped down and using a branch as a sort of rest, actually the branch broke but was useable enough I fired just as I saw my elk run behind a hill. The shot looked good and I heard the bullet hit. I moved forward into the open prairie and saw the other hunter and his son walking toward me. I greeted them with, Good Morning. Good morning back the other hunter, Garrett, said. I asked if he had an elk down and he said he did. He pointed out his elk laying on the prairie. Then he said exactly what I wanted to hear; whatever you were using your elk dropped as if his feet were yanked out from under her. He had to attend to his elk and pointed to where my elk was laying. It took me a few minutes to find it due to the tall grass that swallowed just about anything other than a hippo or elephant. I walked around looking and then he and his son yelled out that they had my elk.

For those interested I used a Cooper Firearms rifle with a 3-9 Zeiss Conquest scope. The caliber was 308 Winchester using Berger Hunting Classic 168 grain bullets. My shot went right through the bottom of the heart with absolutely no other meat damage.

Dennis

Without a doubt, the hardest subject I've ever tried to photograph...Give me birds in flight any day..
I took about 40 shots of these guys at sunset last night and these are the best I could do. The wind didn't help but these guys are so fast and zippy they sit still for less than a second.
What I like about them is how they fly up into your face and hover there to check you out before going back to the flowers..
I added two shots, the last two, as the only ever good shots I've taken of them..and both of them are BIF which surprised me as well.