Caribou Hunt

 Joni was the lucky winner of the hunt tag drawing this year...an either sex caribou tag for the Nelchina caribou herd. 

Even though it was late August, at 4,000 feet elevation it was pretty evident that summer was coming to  a close.

The first day we hiked from camp to the foot of the mountains in the distance (about 4.5 miles). We saw about 25 caribou in small groups - mostly cows and calves. 

Glassing a couple of caribou on the hillside.

A cow and calf silhouetted on the ridge. 

Day 2 awoke to some white stuff on the hills. It didn't take long for it to make it to us.

First snowfall of the year for us...August 29th. 

Need some different camoflage for this weather. This got the caribou moving out of the hills anyways.

Ryan looking to fill his moose tag and Chunk looking for birds. 

This bull moose was just a little too small for the area we were hunting (they need to have 4 brow tines or be greater than 50 inches wide). This guy only has 3 brow tines on either side and wouldn't hold still long enough for us to get out the tape measure. 

 On the last day Joni was able to score a nice cow (yes cow caribou have antlers). We were about 1.5 miles from the road so we had to quarter it up and pack it out. 

The northern lights were out every night but the clouds made it tough to get a good photo.

The best way to get to good hunting grounds in Alaska...a plane. Ryan and a friend are flying in to a coworkers cabin for a moose hunt in late September