Thebear_78
Handloader
- Sep 30, 2004
- 3,047
- 669
After many days afield sand hundreds of miles covered with no caribou to show for it I was afraid I wouldn't get a chance to fill my tag this year. The warm weather earlier in the season left a large portion of the herd spread out and up high. This combined with the steady to heavy rain made for some difficult and uncomfortable hunting.
As luck would have it they extended the nelchina herd hunt to the end of the month instead of the original Sept 20th. I took advantage of my two days off this week by heading out after work on Friday morning. It takes about 6 hours to get to my buddies cabin on the Denali highway.
We got up there about noon Friday and headed up to glass several nearby mountains. After 6 hours of glassing various nearby locations with nothing to be seen we headed back to the cabin for the night. I'd been up over 30 hours by this point so didn't mind and early bedtime!
Since we hadn't been seeing anything close to the cabin we decided to head way back first thing in the morning. We woke up to a thin coating of slushy snow and 30 degree temps. It took about 4 hours of rough 4 wheeling to get back to the valley we were planning on hunting. We got to the valley about 11 am.
It had been sleeting and cloudy the whole morning. As we topped the high spot overlooking the valley the sun peeked out from the clouds and it warmed up to the mid 40s and the first thing I see is a herd of about 60 bou about a mile away. We made s hasty plan to get over to those bou and rode down a creek bed to a draw that would get us to within 1/2 mile or so.
Before we could get over to them we bumped into a smaller herd of 20-30 bou about a half mile away on another hillside. They were feeding into the wind moving from the left to right. Me and my friend nick were trying to get in front of them by angling towards them. As anyone who has ever tried to chase down a caribou can attest they flat out cover ground, they don't look like their moving very fast but that wobbling gate of theirs just eats up distance. We were unable to get in front of them bud did get to within 300-400 yards of them, but the wind was going to be headed right to them shortly.
We were out of cover with only short grass left between us. I was layed down with my best rolled up for a rest. Due to the angle of the hillside it was actually a really comfortable and steady shooting position. I had a little low spot to shoot thru at 323 yards. I could see the top of the back and rack as the bull approached my shot window. Nick was shooting off a tripod stick so he had a little better vantage. When my bull hit the window I gave nick the count down and took my shot.
My bull was hit right at the top of the shoulder and dropped at the spot. Nick wasn't so lucky, he emptied his gun and hit a small bull too far back. He also realized he was out of shells having left his ammo in the wheeler.
I tossed him my rifle and he hit it center of the ham. By now this wounded bull was getting way out there and the it was looking like this would be a long recovery. He tossed my now empty rifle back to me. I jumped back down on my vest, I was thinking " that's gotta be over 600 yards". Looked at my drop sheet 42" @ 600, two caribou chest thickness high, half a caribou into the wind. At the shot it disappeared. Perfect shot, 2nd to last rib entrance, exited high out far shoulder. GPS called it 657 yards. That's gotta be the best/longest/luckiest shot I have ever made on an animal.
Nicks bull
My bull
We got them dressed out and loaded I the wheelers for the long trip back to the cabin. Luckily my other buddy had a side by side that can hold a caribou.
After a recent discussion with Guy about a caribou rug and since this was such a pretty, white bull I thought it would make a nice rug. I was able to take the hide off whole.
It was a long but great day hunting after a long and frustrating season.
As luck would have it they extended the nelchina herd hunt to the end of the month instead of the original Sept 20th. I took advantage of my two days off this week by heading out after work on Friday morning. It takes about 6 hours to get to my buddies cabin on the Denali highway.
We got up there about noon Friday and headed up to glass several nearby mountains. After 6 hours of glassing various nearby locations with nothing to be seen we headed back to the cabin for the night. I'd been up over 30 hours by this point so didn't mind and early bedtime!
Since we hadn't been seeing anything close to the cabin we decided to head way back first thing in the morning. We woke up to a thin coating of slushy snow and 30 degree temps. It took about 4 hours of rough 4 wheeling to get back to the valley we were planning on hunting. We got to the valley about 11 am.
It had been sleeting and cloudy the whole morning. As we topped the high spot overlooking the valley the sun peeked out from the clouds and it warmed up to the mid 40s and the first thing I see is a herd of about 60 bou about a mile away. We made s hasty plan to get over to those bou and rode down a creek bed to a draw that would get us to within 1/2 mile or so.
Before we could get over to them we bumped into a smaller herd of 20-30 bou about a half mile away on another hillside. They were feeding into the wind moving from the left to right. Me and my friend nick were trying to get in front of them by angling towards them. As anyone who has ever tried to chase down a caribou can attest they flat out cover ground, they don't look like their moving very fast but that wobbling gate of theirs just eats up distance. We were unable to get in front of them bud did get to within 300-400 yards of them, but the wind was going to be headed right to them shortly.
We were out of cover with only short grass left between us. I was layed down with my best rolled up for a rest. Due to the angle of the hillside it was actually a really comfortable and steady shooting position. I had a little low spot to shoot thru at 323 yards. I could see the top of the back and rack as the bull approached my shot window. Nick was shooting off a tripod stick so he had a little better vantage. When my bull hit the window I gave nick the count down and took my shot.
My bull was hit right at the top of the shoulder and dropped at the spot. Nick wasn't so lucky, he emptied his gun and hit a small bull too far back. He also realized he was out of shells having left his ammo in the wheeler.
I tossed him my rifle and he hit it center of the ham. By now this wounded bull was getting way out there and the it was looking like this would be a long recovery. He tossed my now empty rifle back to me. I jumped back down on my vest, I was thinking " that's gotta be over 600 yards". Looked at my drop sheet 42" @ 600, two caribou chest thickness high, half a caribou into the wind. At the shot it disappeared. Perfect shot, 2nd to last rib entrance, exited high out far shoulder. GPS called it 657 yards. That's gotta be the best/longest/luckiest shot I have ever made on an animal.
Nicks bull
My bull
We got them dressed out and loaded I the wheelers for the long trip back to the cabin. Luckily my other buddy had a side by side that can hold a caribou.
After a recent discussion with Guy about a caribou rug and since this was such a pretty, white bull I thought it would make a nice rug. I was able to take the hide off whole.
It was a long but great day hunting after a long and frustrating season.
!
