I intended to post a most excellent hunt Vid with me and Jeramy back day beferr yesterday, and the Fat little lady Caribou we caught.

I had seen tracks in the fresh snow on my way to the town of Kotzebue, and this was good, because me and Jeramy had blown away a couple days making repairs and getting MY act together..~~LOL!!~~
Caribou will follow trails made by other Caribou and even their own as I tell here, and can be fairly well ambushed along them.
Willow lines in the Spring is where Bears do such, and I have found quite a few "Bear kills" in favored spots.....must be like fishing to them.
Anyway, if you know where theres a trail, theres a great chance that you can wait along it and get a crack at a Caribou.

My friend Jeramy was going for his first Caribou hunt, as hes put in his year to become a resadent, and we can catch 5 Caribou a day, I knew some good State Lands to hunt and we were on our way.

We left Kotzebue proper and not very long at all came along trails that lead to a bunch of 10 that lead into a bunch of 20 that were bent to join 50 others on the hillcrest horizon.
Caribou are gathering up and moving now, and the herds are following the land(food) and there are thousands more comming this way North.
The Western Arctic Caribou Herd is 370,000 animals strong and healthy.


We were in old hilly tundra with steep creeks, short sharp hills, folds, pingos , lakes and craters/vallys and thick frozen stands of willows 8 feet tall, all with hard frozen waves of snow making it quite rough to ride , but a great place for Caribou to eat and guys like us to get into a defelade and close in, but also a guy can launch off an unexpected cliff or down ito a snow choked creek, with not much for help around, so slow and cautious riding is nessarry as getting stuck or falling aways is very possible.
I spotted a bunch of 30 or so on a lakeside, and we got within 500 yards before the figured us out when I drove over a small hill and they were moving off into a creek with a cliff on one side.
The Weatherman and I tryed to circle round the hill the herd was trotting up, but a brushy creek delayed our positioning and we had to make the crest insted of waiting on the other side, with the Caribou moving over it and headed down to the shallow vally.
From where I stood on the snowbank infront of my machine (every inch helps) I gave it a go with a Mosin I had parted together and Kotz pulled up with his AR-15.
I spotted 'em first and took first crack at 'em.
The Carbou trotted by, circling down the hill without knowing we were above them, and about 50 yards away.
4 consecutive "Click!!!" s later and I figured with a quick look at an ejected shell that my firing pin was backed out plenty enough to not pop the primer...ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! I could see two threads of the firing pin out the rear of the cocking knob. This was the first time I had tryed shooting this rifle with this bolt , as I had bought the rifle chaep and boltless and had sighted in with one barrowed from another Mosin, and had recently purchased a bolt for this guy............ This isnt a hard thing to do, adjusting the firing pin, but it certainly wasnt the place or time.
I encouraged Jeramy to shoot from where we were parked while I tryed to figure out my rifle.I told him wich Caribou would look good on a plate, and handed the show over to him.
A couple shots later and Jeramy got a lesson in "Lead" when his shots kicked up snow 5 feet behind the Caribou he had picked out, from those that were trotting in line 200 yards away, and decided to stop as I told him we could just get infront of 'em again and wait.......we reloaded and started our rigs....this might take some doing....

Again we went up hill and around, thinking we were cutting them off,(~~LOL!!~~) but after alotta minutes and a few miles, we spotted the line of walking Caribou about mile away, turned back around on their trail and headed back up the same hill they had come down, but now well aware of us.

The lean and fast had sorted out the fat and slow to the back of the line,and the Caribou went down the ridge that connected the hills that they had just gone up, we were getting fouled for an exit from a long lake we were trying to use as a shortcut, so in a "what the heck" judgment call I drove up a willow choked bank, dodging, vaulting off a couple snow banks and crashing through a couple more, landed good and I drove ahead along the side of the gully outta their sight. Heading them off about a 1/4th mile later, I drove up eough to see the laed cow comming, but I was out for two fat cows with no fawns I had picked out but at the raer of the line.
They had calm'd down and strung out so as to have some space back from the others for a clean shot, I stopped in alongside a snobank formed over willows that fairly conceled my machine, and I readied my pistol.
I let the leader and the majority pass on ,and as an ever faithfull follower, the Female I wanted passed into perfect range along the others trail, wanting only to be with the herd. Pretty close range...
I aimed mid chest just as she saw me she turned and quarter'd away, I fired and hit her right behind the shoulder, cross shooting int the opposite side neck, she stumbled, gatherd up and went another twenty yards before keeling over, both lungs blown.The other Caribou stopped in confusion.
Jeramy with his nice quiet 4 stroke had parked up on the hill with a great view and a windsheild for a rifle rest.
The crowd that was following The Caribou I shot slowed up, and a Couple seconds later, Pow! A solid hit! He had put one in the Heart of the other Cow that was in good shape, among the milling hesitaters.
He had stopped atop the hill above and 150 yards behind me and 75 yards to my left, he shot two more times to put a finish shot into the Caribou I had shot (I'm glad I was staying right there, making sure the shooting was over before going to the animals~~LOL!!~~) and a finisher into his Caribou too, which had gone about 50 more yards away before toppling over, but was still moving.
I like his style.
I went to mine and was "Almost" as happy as Jeramy, who had just caught his first Caribou

2 Nice Cows , good meat to last awhile, Mine was dinner tonight

The Daughters new Emachine wont formatt jive with the 3 inch (80cm) disks I filmed with, and to reformatt would erase the vid....got ideas???

Im looking for a cable to connect the camera to the computer,.......