I had heard someone mention seeing caribou in an area that I had never been to before while I was in the local hunting store on Thursday so I decided to check it out. Friday morning was the first decent day in awhile, no wind or rain and honey do list on hold, so I headed out with my father-in-law. We were looking for some open spots or cutovers to glass and hike but it turns out it is thickly timbered country. Off to one side I could see some small open barrens between the timber and thought that they looked to be potential places even though they were not ideal wide open landscape. After driving a little farther there was a trail leading through a small open treeless area so we drove down to see what was there.
We came across a nice view overlooking a small river and it seems to be a popular spot to go fishing from the fire pit and area cleared to put up a tent. I stopped the truck to take a little look and didn't expect to see much. When I looked across to the other side I spotted a white object, female caribou, and got a little excited then thinking maybe I might see a stag with her but two more females appeared. Finally a stag stepped into view and I brought out my rifle. I steadied myself on the hood and got him in the crosshairs and held a little high on the vitals because of the distance. When I fired he reared up a bit on his hind legs and held himself in the air for a second or two before going down.
The essentials were gathered and we headed over to collect my first caribou stag. To say I was happy is a bit of an understatement. When I got to him I could see why he reared, he was hit low and the bullet passed through. Looking back across to where I had just walked from it seems that the 200 hundred yards I initially thought was more like 275 yards, could be wrong on the distance, hence the low hit.
Trying to give directions to a non technical, half deaf 70 year on how to operate a phone camera is a bit of a chore.
My shooting point.
In the centre of the picture there is a small, dead tree leaning to the left in front of some rocks, that is where he was standing when I shot him.
The work starts once you get him down but it will be good eating this winter.
We came across a nice view overlooking a small river and it seems to be a popular spot to go fishing from the fire pit and area cleared to put up a tent. I stopped the truck to take a little look and didn't expect to see much. When I looked across to the other side I spotted a white object, female caribou, and got a little excited then thinking maybe I might see a stag with her but two more females appeared. Finally a stag stepped into view and I brought out my rifle. I steadied myself on the hood and got him in the crosshairs and held a little high on the vitals because of the distance. When I fired he reared up a bit on his hind legs and held himself in the air for a second or two before going down.
The essentials were gathered and we headed over to collect my first caribou stag. To say I was happy is a bit of an understatement. When I got to him I could see why he reared, he was hit low and the bullet passed through. Looking back across to where I had just walked from it seems that the 200 hundred yards I initially thought was more like 275 yards, could be wrong on the distance, hence the low hit.
Trying to give directions to a non technical, half deaf 70 year on how to operate a phone camera is a bit of a chore.
My shooting point.
In the centre of the picture there is a small, dead tree leaning to the left in front of some rocks, that is where he was standing when I shot him.
The work starts once you get him down but it will be good eating this winter.
