Chapter 1

Caribou are nomads of the north, Alaska's high plains drifters, monarchs of the mountains, and wanderers of the woodlands. Being a highly migratory species you can find caribou in just about every habitat in Alaska at some point throughout the year. Many herds travel hundreds if not thousands of miles from their traditional calving grounds to their preferred summer haunts in the high alpine, away from the bugs.





Much like many fish species though there is significant variation in the life cycle of caribou depending on the herd and/or the animals. It is not uncommon for significant herds to change their migration routes almost overnight and for no apparent reason whatsoever. Again much like anadromous fish, when they are "running" they can be abundant and when they aren't you might be convinced there is not a single caribou in Alaska. They can appear out of nowhere at nearly any time.






Though I've spent a lot of time in the places these animals call home and have been mingling with them now for years, this was the first time year I made trying to hunt one a priority and as the season approached my anticipation grew.

My wife and I welcomed our second child into the world in August and I knew my hunting time would be hard to come by this fall. I had already told my hunting partner that I may not be able to make it and to feel free to arrange other plans to preserve his preference for a longer trip in the prime season. In the back of my mind I was still hoping I'd be able to beg and plead a few days away to be able to roam the hills in search of both a memorable experience and good groceries.







As luck would have it my begging and pleading landed me two days to hunt for the opening weekend. The caribou tag I'd drawn was for a very popular road hunting area in the state, the Denali highway, and the state gives out nearly 15,000 tags for this area. The Denali can be an absolute mad house at times with scenes resembling Mad Max fury road on your average weekend. I had about as much interest in participating in that scene as I would have in getting my wisdom teeth yanked again. As such, I done a bit of homework on some lesser known areas in the unit and uncovered some rumors about small bands of more resident animals in a couple of areas that were relatively "inaccessible" by comparison. This was our plan A, head into a small sub-range of mountains and try and make the most of a small window of opportunity by going higher and farther than some of the competition may be willing to. That strategy has served me well in the past and I hope it would do so again.
















to be continued...