Caribou Hunting Is Hard Work
August 21, 2004 Starting early saturday morning I joined up in the air with Ray in his 170 on our way to cross the Alaska Range via Merrill pass. We overflew some of my favorite places, the cotton field, end of the mountain strip and saw a black bear sow with one cub go right over the edge at a dead run where we had been trundling a few weeks before! They were really going fast down that hill! Mount Spur was quiet when we passed by, the water level at Chakachamna Lake was really high, our old landing spot was under lots of water. Saw a bunch of wrecked planes going through Merrill Pass and once on the other side our groundspeed jumped to 140 mph even though the wind was relatively calm on "our side" of the pass. CLICK ON EACH PICTURE BELOW FOR A LARGER VERSION
Once out of the mountains we separated a few miles checking the hills for any wandering herds. Ray found an old hunting camp with a landing spot for a much needed break but all I knew of his whereabouts was a general direction. My guess at his location was only 4-5 miles off but it turned into a good thing because I found several herds of caribou hanging around the tops of the hills trying to get away from the bugs! After I got a break, we went back in one plane looking for a main herd and general lay of the land. Back for another break we lightened our loads and went looking for a place to land and camp until the next day when we would be legal to shoot. Ray found a spot on a little knoll that we could both get in and out of easily then he went back for the rest of our gear while I walked and marked our strip. Caribou seem to know when they are safe, they were walking around our camp all afternoon checking us out. We just made room in our planes for our "tent" and sat back to watch the sunset. Up early the next morning, no caribou were in the immediate area so we waited and watched for awhile. Finally we bagged a couple and the real work began!
It wouldn't have been so bad without all the bugs that want to eat too! We managed to fight them off long enough to get the planes packed up and headed home. We paralleled the Mulchatna River for awhile, which reminds me of the color of the Kenai River except on a smaller scale. Being as how it was cavu and fairly calm winds we decided to go through Telequana Pass which would put us in the headwaters of the Neacola river which empties into Chakachamna Lake - a route I would not recomend with anything other than really good weather. Very crooked and narrow but really impressive scenery! Spur was still quiet but some of the snow around the old crater looks a little brown. Looking forward
to a cookout using some fresh caribou hotdogs! Back to Alaska Hunting On The Web |
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