October 26th came and it was time to make the long drive north once again. We both worked full days that day and we got home, packed and hit the road. We hit snow north of Anchorage about 200 miles and made it to Fairbanks at about 3 am. North of Fairbanks, the roads got slippery and we were limited to about 35 mph for quite a while. The road eventually got better and we were able to make better time. by about 10 am we were north of the Brooks Range and found that there was less snow than on the south side. We drove north looking for a camp spot and caribou, which we hadn't seen yet. We were beginning to get worried and finally we spotted a caribou, then another and another. We camped in an area that seemed to be in the middle of where they were.
We setup our 6-man Cabela's tent and got everything situated and hunted briefly that evening before it got dark on us. It was bitterly cold outside, hovering around 0 degrees. We had to take everything that was electonic or could freeze and put it in the tent with us. Inside the tent, a indoor rated propane heater kept us warm. It was amazing though what had frozen just on the drive up. The air matress was frozen and must have cracked when I unrolled it because it no longer held air and was useless.
The next day we got up and it was about 8:45 when it was finally light enough to hunt and we set out. We found caribou right away and tried a stalk through the snow. We got within about 100 yards of a group of bulls but we couldn't get any closer. We quickly learned that we'd need a little more protection from the cold. I put foot warmers straight on my toes and had to wear my heavy gloves.
Over the next couple of days we made many many attempts on caribou with lots of close stalks but nothing that yielded an opportunity for a shot. We were starting to feel that this trip may turnout like the first. As we were discussing this, I spotted a group of cows near the road in a creek bottom. Then Rose spotted a bull caribou up the hill from them all by himself. He was feeding on a steep hillside near the top. I said to Rose that he's in a good spot and I think we can get this one.
We parked and grabbed our bows and climbed up and around the backside of this hill and spotted him from a distance. I saw a rock above him that I'd use as a landmark so I knew where to come over the top of the hill at. Rose and I kept circling around the hillside until we were at the rock above where we'd seen the bull caribou. I wanted Rose to try for the bull but she was too nervous with it being our first real chance at a caribou, she didn't want to miss the shot. So I krept up and peeked over the edge and there he was, right there at 30 yards, completely unaware. I nocked an arrow and drew back, then stepped forward till I could see his body. I held tight on him and took a breath and exhaled to hold as steady as possible. On release, the arrow passed clean through the bull and he trotted off wondering what just stung him. He stood about 80 yards away and began wobbling, then laid down.
Rose was ecstatic and just completely excited that we finally got one and that she got to see it all happen from beginning to end. It was a text book spot and stalk situation and ended perfectly with the caribou going down within 80 yards of us. Before we went up to the bull, we went back to the truck and got our back packs and anything else we needed and walked back to the bull.
I picked up his antlers on the down hill side and when I did, I slipped in the snow and fell. One of the tines hit me in the cheeck and cut me. I was lucky it didn't take my eye out! It hit me hard and my cheeck swelled up for a few days. We then took a bunch of pictures and began the process of quartering the caribou to get it back to the truck.
Rose was unsure how she'd handle that part but she watched as I worked and said it was really interesting to see how that part was done. After a while, she was getting cold and I loaded up some meat for her to pack back to the truck, which was pretty much in sight of where we were, about a half mile away. As she got back to me, I was finishing up and we loaded the rest and headed back together. We were pretty excited that we'd finally accomplished what we'd set out to do. And on a really nice bull to boot!
We got back to camp and got everything in the tent and let the meat freeze up outside. With the heater going, it didn't take long to get warmed up. Dinner took a little while as we had to thaw out a couple cans of soup. They had froze solid along with some of our other food. We had to keep things inside the cooler to help keep them from freezing!
The next day we were driving near where we'd had success the day before when we spotted a really nice bull out past the pipeline a ways. We thought we could sneak out to the pipeline and maybe he'd cross or come near us. We got to the pipeline and found the bull to be much further out than he looked from the road way, about 200 yards out. It was almost completely flat and zero cover, just a flat plain of snow. Well the bull was feeding away from us. Rose thought we should atleast try to sneak up from behind him, we had nothing to lose. I said we could give it a shot and we started walking straight up behind the bull, single file. The caribou bull was pre-occupied and had his head half buried in the snow. So we'd sneak a ways and have to stop if he turned his head at all. Then we'd sneak a little more.
Soon we were within 70-80 yards and at that point he started turning a bit and we weren't able to close the distance like we'd been doing. We kept trying and we just kept exchanging distances. We'd get to 60-70 then he'd move 10-20 yards. Then we'd close in again and so forth. I said to Rose, I don't think we'll be able to get to 30-40 yards on this bull. 30 yards is really what we needed for Rose. She asked if I could get him and I said I think so. I already had an arrow ready and rangefinder in hand. We hurriedly closed the distance once again to 60 yards. I had to wait for him to turn and turn he did. I drew back and took a breath and exhaled, then settled my pin on the spot I wanted my arrow to go.
After the shot, we watched the caribou race off and then lay down with in a couple hundred yards. And once again, we were headed back to the truck to get packs and what not to get the caribou out and back to the truck, which was about a half mile or so. By the time we finished up, it was dark when we got back to the truck and Rose I think was about frozen!
The next day would be our last and we were trying so hard to get Rose a caribou. We made many stalks and came very close on multiple occasions. We had a few hours left before we needed to pack and head home. I was feeling like we might get lucky as we were seeing lots of caribou and we had a couple stalks that came down to just missing them by a minute or two.
About this time I saw a warning light on my dash. I'd never seen it before and we had to get the manual to find out what it was. It was a tire pressure sensor! I was getting a flat tire! I busted out a can of Fix-A-Flat and tried that, except the darn thing was frozen! So we made it back to camp and I had to change the tire, which took forever with the wind blowing snow sideways and the freezing conditions. So we pretty much burned up the rest of our afternoon with the flat tire and getting stuff packed up.
I was pretty bummed that Rose wasn't able to get anything although she'd come so close. I was so proud of her for even wanting to go up there during that time of the year. I was proud of her for being so tough and willing to work so hard and push through the cold temperatures. She's a rare woman and I'm lucky to have her.
So off we went on our long trek home. It was about 5 pm when we left and we stopped for gas and dinner in a little town called Coldfoot. There's nothing much there, other than a gas station and a cafe for truckers. We took turns driving and sleeping and we were fortunate enough to finally see the northern lights for the first time since we moved up here! Talk about cool, that is something to actually see it with your own eyes!
No comments:
Post a Comment