Saturday would be the opener of this Caribou hunt. The permits we had were for cows or small bulls. The state wanted to reduce the Nilchina heard by 10,000. This was the first for this type of hunt for us and we wanted to help, plus fill our freezer.
The terrain was thick, and slightly sloping towards the Gulkanan River. There was lots of spruce and low brush. The blueberries were ripe all over the place. Scattered openings only provided a 50 yard or less shot. The scope on my rifle was useless. Candy's 30-06 had sight through rings on it. The iron sights would be a plus in this spot. We finished our scouting. We picked out a spot of our early morning hunt and went back to camp.
Sitting back in camp we checked our gear. It was raining out and there was an occasional pull through by other hunters, some even set up a camp. I started my normal complaining about to many people and was worried about how crowded it might get. The plan was to get up early and get out there before anybody else.
We got up early, around 5am. Candy got the coffee going and we were all decked in rain gear and headed out by 6 am. The rain was coming down and the bugs were out but not bad. There was a slight breeze. It was just breaking daylight.
Walking for about a quarter of a mile we made our way to our spot. Candy picked a spot and I went a couple hundred yards further. We were a little nervous going back in. The brush was thick and the Grizzly population was pretty high in this area.
The first bunch of caribou came around 7 o'clock. There was 4 to 5 cows and a couple of calves. They were moving through pretty fast with only their head and necks exposed over the brush. There was no chance to get a shot. An hour later I heard a grunt and looking to my right I spotted a giant bull. He was at an angle that would place him somewhere in front of Candy. Candy had seen the bull and also saw a nice cow standing next to him. Bringing her gun up she couldn't see through the scope, it was all fogged up. She then went to the sight through rings and got the iron sights on the cow. She fired one shot. I heard the shot and saw the bull head towards the river. I walked over to where Candy was sitting and she told me what had happened. We gutted the caribou and dragged it back to camp. We skinned and quartered it back at camp. We were pretty tired but decided to go out for an afternoon hunt so I could fill my tag.
Back at camp we noticed there was no other hunters. The guys that set up campwere gone. As far as we know we were the only ones to hike back in to hunt. Everybody else was road hunting.
That afternoon the wind had died down and there was a little drizzle. Sitting about 15 min another group of caribou came in. I blew a 50 yard shot. Scopes just aren't any good in the thick brush. The black fly's were getting really bad and they were mixed up with mosquito's. I couldn't even open my eyes without getting bugs in them. They were biting too. It didn't take long before we decided that the one caribou would do for this hunting trip.
It's winter now and we just had a couple of caribou burgers. We had a great time and will go again this year if possible. This was one of many great adventures in the year of 96.
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