Please give my congratulations to Evan as knowing your limitations will only help him to mature as a outdoors-man. That should put a considerable amount of meat in the old deep-freeze for this fall and into the winter.
Thank you for the post with photographs it is great to read about your adventure.
Blessings,
Dan
Thank you for the post with photographs it is great to read about your adventure.
Blessings,
Dan
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It's fall up here in the Great Land!
My partner and I took a week for an early season caribou hunt and while the caribou were sticking to the high country, we spotted a young bull moose a mere two miles back.
A 2 mile stalk culminated in a 360 yard shot as he climbed out of a lake. He dropped a mere 12' from the shoreline making recovery with the inflatable raft about as easy a moose gets. Long week, rowed better than a dozen miles in the raft and hiked a dozen more over the course of two days. Great time to be out in the mountains.
My partner and I took a week for an early season caribou hunt and while the caribou were sticking to the high country, we spotted a young bull moose a mere two miles back.
A 2 mile stalk culminated in a 360 yard shot as he climbed out of a lake. He dropped a mere 12' from the shoreline making recovery with the inflatable raft about as easy a moose gets. Long week, rowed better than a dozen miles in the raft and hiked a dozen more over the course of two days. Great time to be out in the mountains.
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DrMike
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- Nov 8, 2006
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Ideal meat from a wonderful animal! Excellent table fare resulting from a good shot.
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We fried up some tenderloin in camp with onions and peppers... I've gotta say- outstanding grub after a long day of rowing and butchering.
I used the Nosler 180AB in Trophy Grade... hit the femur and didn't get an exit, bullet either vaporized (unlikely) or stopped in the paunch somewhere (very likely). Being this is really heavy griz country we didn't take the time to go digging around for it.
Bad shooting on my part- but we had to sprint about a quarter mile through to willows to make the shot. The moose was strongly quartering away but the bullet/bone fragment ruptured the femoral artery and he was down instantly and dead in less than 5 seconds- it worked faster than some lung shots I've taken. Wouldn't suggest it as a strategy but it worked out.
I used the Nosler 180AB in Trophy Grade... hit the femur and didn't get an exit, bullet either vaporized (unlikely) or stopped in the paunch somewhere (very likely). Being this is really heavy griz country we didn't take the time to go digging around for it.
Bad shooting on my part- but we had to sprint about a quarter mile through to willows to make the shot. The moose was strongly quartering away but the bullet/bone fragment ruptured the femoral artery and he was down instantly and dead in less than 5 seconds- it worked faster than some lung shots I've taken. Wouldn't suggest it as a strategy but it worked out.
DrMike
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Outstanding grub, indeed! Oh, yeah, a ruptured femoral artery would bleed him out pretty quickly. I know what you mean about grizzly country encouraging quick work. 
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Back out and at it after last week's scope debacle....
Took the wheelers in for a few miles until the trail terminated at a lake wedge in a steep sided gap in the Alaska range. We took off on foot and hiked 2.5 miles and got on a small herd on an exposed gravel band. An hour long stalk around ridges, behind skylines, through brush and even a bit of judicious belly crawling put me unseen on an adjacent pressure ridge. 255yard shot resting over my bino case- bang, flop and done.
A bit of a long pack out, but a good day in beautiful country. Some people would call the caribou ordinary, but there's nothing ordinary living in country like this!
Took the wheelers in for a few miles until the trail terminated at a lake wedge in a steep sided gap in the Alaska range. We took off on foot and hiked 2.5 miles and got on a small herd on an exposed gravel band. An hour long stalk around ridges, behind skylines, through brush and even a bit of judicious belly crawling put me unseen on an adjacent pressure ridge. 255yard shot resting over my bino case- bang, flop and done.
A bit of a long pack out, but a good day in beautiful country. Some people would call the caribou ordinary, but there's nothing ordinary living in country like this!
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DrMike
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Excellent report. Congratulations on a fine animal. Hunting caribou is just fun.
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sask boy":2n5e6wc9 said:Thank you for the post & photos. A young bull moose & now a caribou that will sure help this winter with your meat supply
Blessings,
Dan
For sure Dan- the "trophy room" (my freezer!) is looking really good. Enough so that I'm pretty much going to take the boy out for one more and call it good for the year.
I'll likely pack the bow to make an attempt at the archery thing once the migration fires off in earnest. I'm trying to learn archery and getting in bow range of a caribou is iffy at best...I feel better about such stuff once the winter meat supply is secured.
I make a real effort to be done with stocking the freezer by the end of August- then I can just have fun for the rest of the early season just taking out friends and family and plying my hack wingshooting skills in pursuit of grouse and ducks!
Hope your season is off to a great start!
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Went out for the finale of the early caribou season...
It was a slam bang shootout that started a mere 2 hours after pitching camp...
I tipped over a wonderfully plump cow at about 250yds before my partner even arrived and finished packing meat well after dark. I'll tell you now- alone, in the dark, out on the open tundra covered in caribou blood while you work a carcass is a creepy feeling...especially when you find fresh griz scat!
The next morning well before light, my partner and I headed back to the same spot to watch the sun come up and see what was around. The caribou hadn't moved far and I dropped another one a mere 100 yards from the gut pile I'd left the night before- almost the same distance, 250ish. My partner dropped one right beside it. The Nosler scored 2 for 2 bringing the season total to a moose and four caribou. We then had hours of packing both critters in the rain and wet snow the 2.5 miles back to camp.
We sat that evening until dark and again the next morning hoping a griz would come to a nice fresh smorgasbord of entrails... he came some time in the night and scarfed one down but declined to come for the others while we were waiting. Cold, boredom and the opening of beaver trapping season diverted us to other activity.
It didn't dawn on me to take much a picture during the whole process. I did sum the weekend up in a photo of camp. Roaring fire, my Dad's old Coleman lantern hissing (behind the stove!) and a tenderloin sizzling in some olive oil with peppers and onions.
Life is good in the 907!
It was a slam bang shootout that started a mere 2 hours after pitching camp...
I tipped over a wonderfully plump cow at about 250yds before my partner even arrived and finished packing meat well after dark. I'll tell you now- alone, in the dark, out on the open tundra covered in caribou blood while you work a carcass is a creepy feeling...especially when you find fresh griz scat!
The next morning well before light, my partner and I headed back to the same spot to watch the sun come up and see what was around. The caribou hadn't moved far and I dropped another one a mere 100 yards from the gut pile I'd left the night before- almost the same distance, 250ish. My partner dropped one right beside it. The Nosler scored 2 for 2 bringing the season total to a moose and four caribou. We then had hours of packing both critters in the rain and wet snow the 2.5 miles back to camp.
We sat that evening until dark and again the next morning hoping a griz would come to a nice fresh smorgasbord of entrails... he came some time in the night and scarfed one down but declined to come for the others while we were waiting. Cold, boredom and the opening of beaver trapping season diverted us to other activity.
It didn't dawn on me to take much a picture during the whole process. I did sum the weekend up in a photo of camp. Roaring fire, my Dad's old Coleman lantern hissing (behind the stove!) and a tenderloin sizzling in some olive oil with peppers and onions.
Life is good in the 907!
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Thebear_78
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Sounds like a great trip
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DrMike
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Excellent report of a very successful season!
salmonchaser
Ammo Smith
- Dec 13, 2013
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Well done. Are ptarmigan and ducks next?
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Headed out this weekend for the first day of the winter caribou season...had one more caribou tag and a work friend wanting to get out and see some Alaska hunting for the first time. Our snowfall is about 2 weeks late and even though the morning was single digit temps the afternoons warmed up to a gloriously sunny 35F. Just perfect fall weather- frozen ground, no bugs, no snow and a cloudless bluebird sky. It won't last long, but we enjoyed it this weekend.
Yesterday, we climbed high on some mountains to get into snow cover and found the birds really flocked up and hiding out at elevation. We bumped them three times and each time pulled three or four down. We only found a couple off the mountain but up there they were thick to the point of distraction. When a hundred plus jump up...it's kind of overwhelming!
The caribou rut is fully on and we saw thousands of animals rolling through the area. My work friend has an empty freezer so endeavored to fix that. We caught this young bull (thought it was a cow!) bedded with a small herd and closed the distance to 221 yards. The M48 sent a 180gr sleeping pill across the tundra and knocked the stuffing out of it. It jumped up and ran in a circle (and I did some pitiful shooting trying to back myself up!) but the deal was already sealed. A couple of seconds after the shot it just went down in a pile- double lung shot from a quartering too angle. We were worried about ruttiness, but this young bull had been denied the goods by older, more dominant bulls. We fried up the tenderloin with peppers and onions and it was fabulous. Shooting a bull at this date is not something I would have done on purpose. Sometimes telling those young bulls from cows is pretty tough when they're laying down and we are counting ourselves fortunate.
We even lucked out and picked up a double on ptarmigan on the way home.
Yesterday, we climbed high on some mountains to get into snow cover and found the birds really flocked up and hiding out at elevation. We bumped them three times and each time pulled three or four down. We only found a couple off the mountain but up there they were thick to the point of distraction. When a hundred plus jump up...it's kind of overwhelming!
The caribou rut is fully on and we saw thousands of animals rolling through the area. My work friend has an empty freezer so endeavored to fix that. We caught this young bull (thought it was a cow!) bedded with a small herd and closed the distance to 221 yards. The M48 sent a 180gr sleeping pill across the tundra and knocked the stuffing out of it. It jumped up and ran in a circle (and I did some pitiful shooting trying to back myself up!) but the deal was already sealed. A couple of seconds after the shot it just went down in a pile- double lung shot from a quartering too angle. We were worried about ruttiness, but this young bull had been denied the goods by older, more dominant bulls. We fried up the tenderloin with peppers and onions and it was fabulous. Shooting a bull at this date is not something I would have done on purpose. Sometimes telling those young bulls from cows is pretty tough when they're laying down and we are counting ourselves fortunate.
We even lucked out and picked up a double on ptarmigan on the way home.
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DrMike
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- Nov 8, 2006
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Excellent harvest! Congratulations.
salmonchaser
Ammo Smith
- Dec 13, 2013
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Love ptarmigan, boo is good to. Well done
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