Andy Tells About The Caribou Hunt

I guess it all began about six months ago. I was standing in the Useful Things pawn shop in Anchor Point when I noticed a gun on the rack. I normally check guns out a bit anyway, but this one stuck out with its small, pink camouflage stock. It was a .308, a good caliber in a configuration that would fit Tabitha well. After going home and talking to Tabitha about it, I came back and bought it for her. 

When Tabitha held it up to her shoulder, it fit perfectly, which is unusual for any gun that she uses, since most guns are made for large framed men who have long arms and wide shoulders. She loved it!

This summer she really wanted to put it to use, and ever since she saw a picture of a young friend with a gorgeous caribou bull it had been her dream to go caribou hunting. I had her practice quite a bit with her gun, and a 10 year old boy from church (Carver) wanted to come with us, so he practiced with her gun as well. We set up the target at 200 yards to get used to long distance shots.

When the time came, we packed up in the rain and headed up the road on Sunday afternoon, August 8.

Our entourage included our van and our truck and trailer which was loaded with gear stuffed into contractor bags and three four wheelers and an Argo.

I had gotten some four wheelers running in exchange for using them. Subsequently I had brought along lots of my tools, as I expected the jerry-rigged fourwheelers to break down at some point. Carver rode with me in the truck to Anchorage, and Jessie, another young guy from church, needed a ride so he came too.

Tabitha picked up her sister Joanna and her husband Kyle at the airport as well, while Jessie and Carver and I went to Walmart and got extra ammo for Tabitha’s gun. I couldn’t find any for my gun, but I had three bullets and had been practicing a lot. I also had my trusty old .270 pump along with plenty of ammo.

We met Tabitha in Cabellas parking lot and Kyle came with the guys in the truck. It was 9:30 pm already, so after getting out of town we searched for places to camp, and ended up stopping at a rest area beside a lake around 1 AM. The ladies decided to sleep with the children in the van in their seats since it was raining, and we men put up a tent and slept in that. I took Oscar and had him sleep with me, so that was one less child for them to deal with.  

The morning dawned rainy and cloudy, so we made a quick breakfast and got on the way. After a while we started seeing other people that we knew heading up to go hunting. I also filled a cooler with ten bags of ice at a gas station to cool the meat down as quickly as possible when we got caribou. 

We finally reached Fairbanks where Carver got his permit and I tried unsuccessfully to get more 7mm ammo. We got to our destination around 4:00 on Monday evening after a 12 hour drive plus a lot of stops.

There were a lot fewer people than the year before according to the people who had been doing this hunt for multiple years. We set up our tent city in the tundra beside the parking lot at Twelve Mile Summit.

It was a bit foggy and a bit rainy at times but there were blueberries galore and other children to play with, so our children had loads of fun. We finally had our camp all set up and Tabitha was putting Ariel to sleep when a herd of around 50 cow caribou popped over the distant ridge and ran across the mountain beside camp about 650 yards away. That got everyone fired up! A bit later a herd with a bunch of bulls appeared from the same direction and then went back over the ridge. We were all excited for Caribou season to open the following morning!

The next morning it was light around 3, so we started trying to get the fourwheelers going. It took almost an hour, but we finally got under way. We rode to the top of the ridge, and pretty soon a herd of caribou came right along. It was barren ground, so we could see them clearly.

Kyle was the first to shoot, and I heard a good solid whump! from the hit. He shot it again, and then some other people started shooting. Tabitha was the next to shoot, and she made a good shot at 260 yards right in the chest. I took Carver and tried to get his, but the rest of the herd got away from us. A friend of ours and his boys shot theirs right in front of us. That was neat to see, and Carver was gaining experience. 

When we got back to Kyle and Tabitha, they said that some other hunters had claimed Kyle’s bull. I guess they didn’t realize that it had already been shot when they started shooting at it and they claimed it for themselves. That kind of thing happens in high-density hunting, so the peacemakers end up getting other caribou. I sent Kyle up the mountain with my gun to shoot another caribou while we gutted and began skinning Tabitha’s bull.

After a while we heard a far-off shot and Kyle came down to get a knife to gut his new caribou. As he was heading back up another herd of caribou came down the ridge above us. We tried to get Carver to shoot, but he was all flustered and couldn’t get his earplugs in so I went ahead and shot a bull out of that herd. We had 3 bull Caribou and it was only 7 AM!

I went up and gutted that one and I halfway skinned it and let it sit and cool in the cool breeze while I went over to help Tabitha finish deboning her caribou. We finished with hers and brought it back to camp. 

Everyone came and gathered round and admired her bull’s nice rack. I put the meat into a big cooler and covered it with ice to cool. Tabitha stayed there with the children and Joanna while we went back for another caribou.

We drove up the hill as far as the four wheelers would go, and another fellow that we know named James helped us pack Kyle’s caribou out to his fourwheeler. I realized that my age is beginning to show a bit. They had heavier packs and were going up the mountain ahead of me! I came along in the rear huffing like a steam engine. A slow one.

James took Kyle’s caribou back on his fourwheeler and Kyle and I started cutting my caribou up. After an hour or so we were done and headed back to camp. 

I changed into dry clothes and ate something for the first time that day. It was around 3 pm. It had been rainy and chilly, but then the wind started to blow on top of that. We all piled into the minivan and turned on the heat, which happened to be the only way to really get warmed up.

Some more caribou started appearing, so Carver, James and I went racing off again to try to find them. They were long gone by the time we got there, but we hunted for a while anyway. Carver and I saw a herd coming down the valley a long way away, so we booked it down the mountain to try to head then off. They saw us and tried to cut back, so we sneaked up and waited until they came back.

The lead cow saw us and took off running past us. They were running about fifty yards away, but with Carver being a junior I wanted him to have a standing broadside shot. The following caribou ran more and more slowly until the last one, a bull, stopped broadside fifty yards away and looked at us! Carver tried to shoot, but his safety was on. The bull walked a bit forward until his spine was above the ridge. “Shoot him in the spine” I whispered.

Carver tried to shoot again, but he hadn’t pushed the safety completely off. Then they moved off and were gone. We ended up going back to camp without a caribou, and that night the wind tried to blow us off the mountains, slinging a cold rain against the side of our tents.

We packed up the next morning and drove home, making the whole drive in one day. We arrived home around 12 a.m.

Thursday we spent the entire day processing 4 caribou. Our 3 bulls and the cow that Jesse got. So many roasts and steaks! Tabitha made sausage with about 35 pounds, and also canned some in chunks.

The freezers took a while to recover from the large amount of meat that we loaded them with and meanwhile we caught up on sleep. 

We had a caribou pot roast for supper last night and it tasted amazing! I’m looking forward to eating caribou meat along with our salmon this winter!