Back in August my wife, 2 kids, 1 friend and I drove up to the haul road from our home in Wasilla, AK. I left work on Friday at about 2pm picked up my family and the car. Started our drive and headed north to Fairbanks which took about 6 hours. We slept in the car that night. Which was the first time we all attempted sleeping in the vehicle. We mad hammocks out of sheets for the kids and put one in the front row and one in the back row. Locking the balled up ends outside of he car doors. Woke up the next morning grabbed one last meal from a restaurant and went on our way. It took us about 5 and a half hours to get to or next stop which was Coldfoot. We filled up here with gas which was about 5 bucks a gallon. I grabbed a Red Bull and we all took out our bows and switched into our hunting gear. I put my rangefinder, binos, and spotting scope in the front with my wife and I. As soon as we hit Atigun pass it’s game time. We each had tags for Dall sheep, grizzly, black bear, and caribou. We would take advantage of whatever opportunities would arise. So we leave Coldfoot and I started to head north. I figured it’s still early and hot so most caribou would be way north(within 50ish miles of deadhorse) which is another 6 hour drive from coldfoot. So we are driving and this is still Saturday so only day 2 of the trip if you count Friday as day 1. We hit atigun pass and we see 3 sheep. I pull over and put the spotter on them. Ended up being 2 ewes and a lamb(not legal) we start head north after this 10 minute stop. We get 45 mins north and I spot a caribou. I make a stalk which took about 45 mins just to blow it. I completely miss at 90 yards(a shot I was comfortable taking.) I got the buck fever and completely blew it! I used my bottom pin instead of the top pin which was the floater. So instead of shooting for 90 with the top pin I used the bottom which would have been somewhere around 110 yard shot. Which I would not take. Lesson learned. So we start heading north again still Saturday! We come across 2 more caribou not that far from where I just missed. Maybe 30 minutes north. We all get out and this is my friends turn to shoot so I looking through my spotting scope trying to se if either of these to had a set of nuts or a penis since this is a bull only area. Both bou had small racks so could be a bull or cow and that is about a 400 dollar fine if you shoot a cow and you hand over the meat. So I finally see that the front one has his manhood and I tell him front caribou is a bull. He literally heads straight for the caribou and they take off across the river that we humans don’t have the ability to cross. So that was an opportunity blown those caribou were maybe 70 yards from us. We see them cross the river and cross the road but we said let’s just keep heading north. Probably an hour into the drive we spot a small heard about 10 and one was a nice bull but it was getting dark and they were probably 1000 yards off the road. 1000 yards in the tundra takes forever to walk and stalk! I can’t even explain how the tundra is but it’s terrible for walking in and can destroy your ankles. So we get to driving again and now it’s dark and we will need gas so we get about 30 miles from deadhorse and we are all super tired and decide to pull off in a semi truck pull off(which is MASSIVE) it could fit probably 20 semis. We get the car seats out and set up the car for the night. All 5 of us sleeping in the car again! Which is what we did every single night! It wasn’t to bad honestly. Anyways I wake up the next morning on Sunday and there’s about 5 hug tanker trucks and some tractors all doing the same thing we were. Every one was super friendly up there as long as you don’t irritate the truckers by doing stupid stuff. So we all figure out what we wanted for breakfast. My kids and wife wanted oatmeal so I used my jetboil to make there food and for me I’m not huge on breakfast but I know I need to eat something so I would eat little chicken salad kits and they were perfect. For lunches the kids would eat jerky, ramen, Mac and cheese cups or share mountain houses with my wife and I. My go to lunch was a cup of ramen and jerky and at about 4pm we would make a mtn house and eat on it through out the evening. Now we are on our way to deadhorse. We fill up in gas which took me forever to find the gas pumps. Over 5 bucks a gallon again! Hahaha We stopped at the little shop and they all used the bathroom and looked around the store while I made some food. We now start head south and get about 40 miles south of deadhorse and we spot 2 bulls about 500 yards out. Now it is my wife’s turn to go after one. Since there is 2 bull my friend goes too. He went around to the left and she went to the right. So the kids are in the car playing on iPads and watching their momma go after this caribou. I get out and crawl on top of the car and made a seat with my bow case and watched this all go down through the spotting scope. I can’t see my friend because there is no telling what he’s doing. I don’t understand his methods and the way he works but I can say everything he done on the trip was not would I would have done. But to each their own. Everyone has their styles. So I’m watch my wife get closer and closer she has closed the distance to about 150 ish yards and I see her take a step and she sinks to her thighs. I see some panic start to set in and I was like crap if she is stuck we are going to have to go out there. But I give her a little bit and she crawled her way out. And now she is crawling through this tundra marsh water and gets behind this tiny hump of grass. The big bull starts walking away because he thought he heard her. So he walks to the smaller bull and they start staring at her direction. I thought it was over but the caribou start walking to her! The big bull stops but the smaller one keeps walking towards her. Now the big bull is curious and he trots in to her at 69 yards and stops broadside. She lets the arrow fly at the bigger bull and smoked him I saw him pile up 30 yards from where she shot him. I watched the whole thing through the spotter. So I see the bull go down and I hear the kid screaming mommy shot a caribou we want to go see it! So I throw my daughter on my shoulders and my son just takes off running to her. We get up to her and she’s super excited. She grabbed my son and we walk up on this caribou and they are stoked. I was so happy for her! The smaller bull took off to my friend but again I have no clue where he was at but this bull went between him and a small pond but he never saw him. I start cleaning and quartering him out and between the three adults got the entire caribou out in one haul. We load the car and start to head south to find more caribou. We get 20 miles south to this valley and now it’s my turn(or so I thought) we had established the way turns would go is me , my friend, my wife and then repeat that sequence. So I am in the passenger seat and he is in the back and my wife is driving now. We see this huge freaking caribou 20 yards off the road. So I tell my wife to pass him by 60 yards or so and I will stalk back to him. Before I could get out of the car my friend jumps out and goes after him. Don’t know why or what happened but that’s what went down so I said screw it. It’s one caribou I’m not taking my bow because he’s going to shoot it so I catch up to him and I am trying to show him which way to go so he can use stuff as concealment and I get this dude wishing 64 yards. He pulls back and punches the trigger and hits the dirt 15 yards in front of the caribou. The caribou takes off and we are running towards that direction. Again 65 yards broadside punches the release and shoots over him. I get wishing 60 yards of this caribou 2 more time but my friend would stay with me, he insisted on doing his own thing. Never got that caribou. I am not kidding when I say it was the biggest caribou that I have ever seen. We get back in the car and my wife said he ran up a long way crossed the road and took off! And my friend said to me hey I didn’t take your turn did I? I said no it’s fine. Not wanting to cause any issues. And then we are on the hunt for more caribou and we come across a big herd. Probably 50 to 60 Caribou with 10 big bulls. Now I am on the opposite side of the road waiting for these bulls to feed across the road in my shooting lanes. When this van pulls between me and the caribou and they pushed them farther up the road so I move with the caribou 400 yards up the road I go through this same ordeal 4 times with this van. On the 4th time the lady got out of the van and started talking super loud and scared the caribou so they split the herd half crossed the road 50 yards in front and 50 yards behind me and they never stopped running. I’m talking BIG bulls. I guess they were against hunting caribou hahaha. I never saw them or any anti hunters again. Then we get a heads up from a hunter that down the road there is a big grizzly and he didn’t have a tag but we did. We find the bear and it’s 3 hours before the season starts for grizzly. Talk about frustrating. So fast forward a couple stalks the next day on Monday I start stalk a bou I get about 100 yards from him and he takes off across the road. Well my friend got out and took a 30 yard shot and missed. He chased this bull for hours and missed 2 more times. During this I saw a small bull and cow and I make a stalk and get about 34 yards and I stand up and smoked this small bull. I get back to the car to grab a rope, tarp and a knife so I can gut this caribou. He’s only 200 yards from the road so I was going to just drag him. Well he was heavier than I thought so I walked back to the car thinking I was going to have to quarter home and pack him out since my wife was watching the kids. But I get back to the car and my friend is there super ****** and my wife is 50 yards on the other side of the road. She had a nice bull bed down 50 yards from her so she had her bow and 1 arrow. She shot at this bull and just missed right under him. No big deal she asked us to bring an arrow and before I could figure out what she was asking my friend starts yelling and grabs his bow and runs after this caribou shooting 2 arrows at it and misses both times. Now he only has 2 arrows left for the trip. And he scared a caribou off. Comes back to the car screaming and lays his bow in the road so a trucker would hit it. I said you need to chill out you cant do that so I grab his bow before the truck hits it and put it back in the car. Now I’m just kind of frustrated and my wife is not happy. We go drag my caribou back to the car and load it up. I packed my bow up because I was pretty upset at this point and just wanted to go home. We try hunting all of the next day which is Tuesday but only saw a few cows and no bulls. So at 6pm I said I’m done we are going home. So we start driving and hit atigun pass there is a medium size band of sheep. Pop out the spotter and there is a ram. Not legal he was maybe a half curl. So I told my wife I’m going to try and do a practice stalk on these sheep. No weapon just my rangefinder since in knew there was nothing legal in the band. I stalk into 87 yards and I could of got closer but chose not to since I have already got into range. Snapped a couple photos and hiked back down this mountain. And headed home. We drove straight home just south of deadhorse at 6pm on Tuesday night and we got home on Wednesday morning around 11am ish. It was an epic 3 day hunt instead of the 7-8 day hunt. It will be an annual trip for sure.
If there are any question or further details you would like to know please let me know.
I will post pictures in a reply from my phone.
If there are any question or further details you would like to know please let me know.
I will post pictures in a reply from my phone.
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