Our caribou hunt

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Rick P

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
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1,686
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Palmer Alaska
The goal of a hunt is food. You start with the basics of the process, new hunters start with feild care and meat processing, the most basic and important part of getting food that is high quality and good eats! Many hunters including myself also find spiritual meaning in the hunt and getting our food from the natural world around us. We believe in living within nature to her rhythms not standing above the world around us! Hunting has a proud history and deeply held traditions without which the human race would never have had the proteins needed to form the large brain that allows you to read this! IF the following offends you keep that in mind and take a real look at how you effect the world around you!

Gunther took his first steps to becoming a hunter, instead of an observer with me on our trip. He took an active part in every step of the hunt from spotting and Identifying game to packing the meat for shipping. He held a leg in the feild when needed, carried gear while daddy packed meat out and fetched the things I needed from my bag. He did the work that was needed with respect, dignity and a great deal of maturity for a person of his age. I am very proud that he wanted to help with the last caribou of the trip and managed to talk my freind Suvlu into showing him how. He could see that I was exhausted and wanted to help. The fact my son learned to skin a caribou under the guidance of a Native Alaskan subsistence hunter is real source of pride for me.
 

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Gunther and I left the camp on our first hunt excited to get out on the tundra and explore. On the coast everything is on the horizon unless it's standing in a hole! Flat is not the word. But there are small changes in topography carved by the forces of ice and running water. The camp sat on a "hill" over looking a land scape of dry washes marshes and small lakes. One of these dry washes cut through the western edge of camp and dropped a foot or two forming the edge of a large mud flat. We wanted to work the little cover that edge gave us.

About 100 yards from camp I noticed a spot moving about 3/4 of a mile out....a spot with antlers! The Bugs and wind dictate what direction things move. Caribou will move into the wind 95% of the time even if it means spooking closer to you! It was very cool and we had a good wind so the bull was just lazily working its way along the ridge, in our direction. There major cue is smell, followed closely by sound and there eye sight is rather poor beyond 100 yards.

This is my biggest caribou to date, my most northern harvest and Gunthers first firearm big game hunt.
Gunther and I headed off to the area I thought we could set up an ambush. The conditions were perfect for his hunt! The wind direction hid us and allowed us to talk more than normal. He could also SEE everything unfolding before him. We worked our way to a bush "his head is up, he is watching us" I whispered with a subtle hand signal too hold. "Go he is relaxed and grazing now we can move faster".

Soon we were set up 50 yards from our target area......and the bull dropped down the ridge on to the flats with us 150 yards away! I left Gun with the pack and signaled form him to watch me closely. Using the little cover I had, a clump of weeds here a log there I closed to 100 yards and set up. He dropped in his tracks, I am very happy with the .270 I rebuilt for this trip! Not the best "looking" gun but beautiful in the totality of it's form and function!

Gunther helped field dress and quarter and we had the first load ready in less than an hour. Happiness is a heavy pack......but this bad boy took 3 runs over 6 hours! I dont take a break till the meat is out of the field! Life is too important to waste in any form.
 

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The next day we decided to give the same area a look for fossil bone and antler, "well drag along the rifle just in case". We didn't even round the corner fully when we spotted a bull on those same flats less than 250 yards from camp!

There are two herds in the area that converge this time of year. The Teshepuk, from the west are generally bigger and fatter. They dont see many people so they tend to be less spooky. Todays bull was every bit the eastern porcupine herd, spooky and lanky! We did however managed to get within 200 yards somewhat quickly. At this point I left my pack with Gunther, he kept low and watched as I crawled closer. at 150 yards he started to trot off but he wasn't 100% sure where I was. I got a shot opportunity when he slowed a bit and turned away from me at about 125 yards.
 

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This is an interesting story. I look forward to the rest. Out of curiosity, how much do you think those caribou weigh? And the next question, about how many pounds of meat do you get from one?

Thanks for posting about your adventure.
 
Rob73 we got one 70 degree day, everyone including myself was miserable! Highs in the low 50's and lows in the bottom 40's were the average. Totally diferent story 500 miles south in the interior! 80 in Fairbanks and we had to keep going or risk loosing the meat! I left camp at 10 am Friday, got home Saturday around 8:30 pm.........non stop!

Thanks Peter! We wont go walkabout without Tracy again! Gunther and I need her too much. Can't say the same for "my" dog.....she is still mad as hell at me!

OOPS, The big fella was a bit over 400 on the hoof. That's on the big side, although a few bulls have gotten to 700.......I have never seen one that size, about 500 is the top end of what I have seen. He yielded a bit over 300 pounds of meat. The smaller bull pictured above was around 250 and yielded about 175. I also shot a 300+ pound bull and a small cow, about 150......ya I know Gunther spotted her and really wanted to "guide me" within shooting range. Between the 4 harvests we brought home around 800 pounds of high quality organic protien.

PS I and my family think it's much better tasting than beef!
 
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Thursday was our last full day on the coast and I really wanted to visit fish creek! Fish creek is on the other side of the mud flats and peninsula that boarders the camp to the west. We started our day with a fuel run to town where we met up with my friend Suvlu, he had promised to act as guide, but found reasons to avoid the trip a couple of times over the last 3 weeks.

Gunther and I headed out first hoping to spot game on the way to the fish camp.......we had doubts that Suvlu would be following us and didn't want to waist time. The boys got a new girl and hasn't been as reliable a hunting pard as he once was!

He and a couple of freinds met up with us on the river about half way to camp and with great expectation we picked up the pace. Sure enough Gunther spotted a small cow around the next bend and we beached the boat. He was excited to have spotted this one on his own and immediately suggested a route and position for us. 5 minutes later I was in position and decided to take the shot. The boy was very proud of his work. We were short on space and looking for two medium sized animals and there was no legal or ethical reason to skip this harvest. She was without calf and in good position for a humane harvest.......but little. And easy to get to the boat.

We were only about 15 minutes behind the rest of our group so they hadn't even realized we had made a harvest. I got us some grub together while Gunther added a layer for our ocean crossing and flirted with Lisa. Cute girl Fred and Suvlu had brought with them, the boys got good taste! So dose Fred.

We were back in the boats and headed towards open water within an hour.......and stuck on a mud flat within an hour and a half! The colville is a very wide and muddy bottomed river that spreads into a vast delta at its mouth. Its channels are sometimes only inches deeper than the surrounding mud flats and this time of year they can shift yards within a weeks time. You point the boat and hope the channel is still there, if not you pole and pull your way to deeper water. There is pack ice 5 miles from shore! Suvlu and crew were in the water in shorts for over an hour!

The crossing took us about 3 hours of motor a ways, raise the motor and push pole to the next channel. The last 30 minutes of the run was actually rather nice and we stopped at the mouth to relax a bit. Gunther switched boats with Suvlu so he could flirt a bit more and we headed up stream. Fish creek is a small clear water river, I'm told it has a gravel bottom and excellent fishing some 5 miles up river. We spotted a caribou on the first bend.......and he knew we had him! Suvlu had been watching him with the scope and I expected him to take the shot but when I shut the motor down he didnt take it. The river was pushing us away from the now trotting bull so I told him "take a shot or pass" He passed and grabbed the paddle on his way to the stern of the boat. I sat in the bottom and lined up. Bows in the way! "turn us and grunt!" I muttered. Suvlu leaned on the paddle and let out the best grunt call I have ever herd! The bull slowed a little and turned broad side to us with his last step. 125 yards at a trotting bull from a boat drifting in the opposite direction! "(something I cant translate here) NICE SHOT!" Suvlu said as he fired up the motor and headed for the river bank.

The hoards of admiring skeeters met us with great enthusiasm when we arived to pack out our last bull of the trip. The little SOB's had already covered the bull and we worked quickly to get the bull feild dressed and back to the boat. By now it was 11pm, never did get to fish fish creek! Reason number 49870521 to go back!
 

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I go hunting with my father in law and his brother around their house. (Last year was a wash cuz of my gaul bladder, and not knowing what to eat and what not to, so as soon as I got out there; I generally ran out of toilet paper quick LOL). Well my father in law usually gets a deer pretty quick, to ensure he doesn't get "skunked". I have not shot one, because the couple times I have, they were not a sure thing. My father in laws brother is like rambo out there, if it's brown he is taking a shot. I joke him saying the white spots (on a fawn) are like targets for him. He jokes me for getting skunked.

We eat the meat, and really enjoy it. We recently got into making burger out of it. Two years ago there were 4 main deer we were keeping tags on (with cameras). When the season started we didn't see them a single time. It was a 10, 2 big 8's and a really nice 8. Well the farmer saw us one day, and he told us what happened to them. Someone shot them in a field not far from the land we hunt and left them there. Left the racks, meat and everything.

I respect a hunter, as long as they use what they harvest, or make use of it.

Around here there are a lot of hunt clubs that sit on the side of a field (with a few beers), and let the dogs run in the woods, and it is a shooting range, that does irritate me to no end.
 
Ya thats not hunting man! I'm the cautious one believe it or not, I just hit the platform, caliber and optics for me. Perfectly! Fact is this trip broke a big game dry spell and was a real bust to my confidance......about time the family is damn sick of rabbit!
 
Rick, Thank you for sharing your trip with us but even more for taking the time and effort to teach your son the right way to take game and what to do with it. I fear that way too many Daddies come off as a complete failure in that department. My Dad taught me there were only two reasons to kill a living thing 1) it is trying to cause you harm or 2) you are hungry. He never let me have a BB gun however he did present me with a single shot 22 and a 12 gauge. I did make the mistake once of killing a Blue Jay. Fried Blue Jay is not on the top of my list of game. You have done the right thing teaching your son how to live with nature. Congratulations.
Charles
 
Charles
I posted a lot more pics in the general trip thread.

I grew up the same way......far too many sport killers in the woods these days!
 
PS Spent some time getting the better cuts from one of the caribou today......BEAUTIFUL chops steaks and roasts! Some thin but well marbled brisket as well!
 
It cracks me up I will go fishing with people and when I have just a couple small, I let them go, because it is not worth the time to clean them for the amount you get. But if I have a mess, lets go. I want to catch a legal flounder of the pier... MMMMMM.
 
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