eelgrass
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Now that I have a digital camera, I thought I would share my caribou hunt of a few years ago.
The hunt started out in Illiamna, AK. where my outfitter, Mark Kneen picked me up at the airport. He took me to his home,on the outskirts of town, where I was able to purchase my license and tag. He has a couple cabins for guests, so I settled in to wait for the next morning's departure. The rest of the day was spent checking the zero on my rifle, a Remington 700 in .300 Win Mag. and just enjoying the beauty of the surrounding country.
The next morning I awoke to overcast skies and light rain. Mark said it was too socked in to fly, so there was nothing to do but wait it out. I had just about given up for the day when Mark came to my cabin and said to bring all my gear over to his Super Cub, as we would give it a try. In less than an hour we were off. The "runway" is the gravel road in front of his house!
We flew about 125 miles north and started to see small groups of caribou. The farther north we got the more animals we saw. When Mark figured we had plenty around, he looked for a place to land. He found a fairly flat hill and set it down nicely, after buzzing it to drive off a group of caribou!
We picked out a good spot for the tent and I started setting it up as he unloaded the rest of my gear. When he saw that I was settled, he took off with plans to fly over in a day or two to check on me.
He no sooner left when I realized he had taken off with my sleeping bag! I couldn't believe it. My first thought was to gather fire wood, but as you can see from the picture, there wasn't much to be had. I was dreading spending my nights without being able to sleep but there was nothing to do but try to at least stay dry. About an hour before dark I heard a plane. Sure enough, here came Mark! When he chucked my bag out the door on the fly, I was the happiest man in the world!
The next morning at first light, my hunt would start.(you can't hunt the same day that you fly) When I awoke and peeked out the tent I was surrounded by caribou in every direction! A quick look didn't reveal any real good bulls, so I was at least able to get dressed before starting the hunt. I walked about 200 yards from camp and started glassing. I saw several good bulls on the next ridge but they were on the move, and I didn't fell like chasing them with all the animals around. About an hour went by when I decided to move to the other side of the hill I was on. As I stood up, I saw the tips of some antlers comming over the hill right at me! Shortly the bull I shot and 7 cows were less than 50 yards from me walking to my left. A quick assessment showed double shovels, good bez, rear points and nice even tops. BOOM!! Before I knew it, my hunt was over.
The rest of that day was spent getting the meat back to camp in the four deer bags I had. I put the meat in a patch of Alders about 100 yards from camp, as Mark advised, to avoid any confrontations with the many bears in the area. About midnight, I awoke to rain falling and decided to grab my flashlight and plastic to cover my meat. I also took my rifle, as you might imagine! It rained all night and all the next day. It poured hard the entire time. About 4;00PM it let up and I went to check my meat. The bags were all ripped open, and what meat was left was scattred everywhere! As it hadn't froze yet that season, the flies were all over it. I salvaged what I could which was about 30 pounds.
While waiting for Mark to pick me up, I counted 24 good bulls around camp, but none better than the one I shot.
When Mark showed up the next day, he said it was probably wolverines that had gotten into my meat. The rest of the trip was uneventfull, for which I was greatful!
Sorry I was so long winded, but I figured it was pretty slow this time of year anyway.
Steve
