flintlock75
45 Cal.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2007
- Messages
- 609
- Reaction score
- 122
I have been waiting with great anticipation for the winter caribou hunt to start since I drew a Caribou permit in July. I had planned to go out on opening day to hunt; the reports had the herd crossing the Richardson highway in the Sourdough controlled use area. I was originally going to leave home at 4am on Sunday and drive the 5 hours to the hunt area but my wife did not like that idea so I went up on Saturday and stayed in Glennallen overnight, that would put me only 1 ½ hours from where I planned to hunt. I left Glennallen at 7am and headed north. As I approached the area that the caribou had been seen in, I could see tracks in the snow where they had crossed the highway. I was headed to a spot I had hunted a couple of years ago since it had good access off the road and a place to park. I came to my pullout and slowly drove down the trail to the far end, it was still dark but it would be light in about 20 minutes. I went to the end of the trail and turned around and was getting ready to start hunting. I pulled out my thermos to pour a cup of coffee and down the trail I saw movement, light spots in the dark woods, I knew that it was a herd of caribou crossing the trail and heading for the highway. I got out and looked down the trail as they disappeared into the woods and crossed the highway. I pulled out my Jaeger and loaded it with 100 grs of 3F and a patched ball; I checked the vent and primed the pan. It got light enough to see clearly so I started walking back down the trail to where the caribou had crossed. It was a beautiful day with clear skies and 10 degrees with just a little wind to bring down the temperature.
I walked down the trail to the crossing point and there were tracks all over the trail and several well beaten paths through the brush. I stopped and went back up the trail about 40 yards from the main crossing and stepped off the trail to watch. I had been standing there for about fifteen minutes when I heard a sound in the brush right in front of me, I looked through the brush and small trees and spotted a caribou coming right to me, I slowly knelt down and cocked the hammer of my rifle, the caribou kept coming toward me, I could see it stopping every few steps and raising it head up to look my way but it kept coming. Soon it came out of the brush at the trail edge and stopped, it was a large cow and only 20 feet away, I put the sights on her chest and fired, the cloud of smoke was tremendous in the cold air, the caribou bolted to my left as I stood up to reload, it crossed the trail and ran into the woods, I was on the move down the trail to where it went into the woods, I saw it standing about 30 feet in the brush and was about to shoot again when it staggered and fell over. I waited a few minutes before closing in but the Boo was down for good. The round ball had hit it square in the chest and had completely destroyed the heart and both lungs; I was surprised that it ran at all with all the internal damage. I had the animal quartered and loaded in the truck in about an hour and was headed home.
I walked down the trail to the crossing point and there were tracks all over the trail and several well beaten paths through the brush. I stopped and went back up the trail about 40 yards from the main crossing and stepped off the trail to watch. I had been standing there for about fifteen minutes when I heard a sound in the brush right in front of me, I looked through the brush and small trees and spotted a caribou coming right to me, I slowly knelt down and cocked the hammer of my rifle, the caribou kept coming toward me, I could see it stopping every few steps and raising it head up to look my way but it kept coming. Soon it came out of the brush at the trail edge and stopped, it was a large cow and only 20 feet away, I put the sights on her chest and fired, the cloud of smoke was tremendous in the cold air, the caribou bolted to my left as I stood up to reload, it crossed the trail and ran into the woods, I was on the move down the trail to where it went into the woods, I saw it standing about 30 feet in the brush and was about to shoot again when it staggered and fell over. I waited a few minutes before closing in but the Boo was down for good. The round ball had hit it square in the chest and had completely destroyed the heart and both lungs; I was surprised that it ran at all with all the internal damage. I had the animal quartered and loaded in the truck in about an hour and was headed home.
