We started out last weekend by preping the kids for a week without us, as the weather promised to chill, and we were ready to put up some meat....damn Global warming anyway.....
We caught a bunch of Ducks, Geese and smoked up some salmon, put some in the freezer, picked a bucket of berrys, baked a dozen loaves of bread , gave the oldest a couple hundred $$ and leaft inna hurry, me , the wife and a friend
The kids snacking on drying Salmon eggs....
Then we headed up Kobuk River, to a place a few bends above Kiana, where we have always caught crossing Caribou, who are travling along rhe ridges starting South. The lead groups are Cows, with occassional bulls among them, and lots of calfs. they are leaving a wide swath of trail and scent that the groups of Bulls are going to follow, soon.
Some lead Bulls were getting caught in the crossings, mixed with cows, but no sign of rut , in this herd, as they will be full on around the beginning of October.
My wifes Sister Nita in Kiana had some fresh meats, so things look'd promising....
We arrived on a nice dry sand bar a great place to camp as the river level lowers, and with plenty of willows around, we could care for our meats there too.
We set up our leanto, so we had shelter and a great view of the West side of the river where Bulls will emerge along the trails set up by the bands of cows they are looking for, and start crossing to our side of the river.
Out in the river, we catch them up and examine them, decide which are best to catch and who gets to live another season.....where we dispatch them with a shot to the brain from a .22lr.
No ricocets, no wounded, no hitting two in the tight bunches they cross in.
And we waited for Bulls, but only Cows crossed.....
A big Moose emerged on the third morning, across the river.....we had met two Mooose hunters a couple days before, but they had moved on.....It was cool to call this guy out with "Whaaa Whaaa Whaaaa" and see him get his Rut "On"..
too stink to shoot now, but Cool anyway. His Antlers were Massive.
With the weather all warm and nice in the day and warm and rainy at night the Caribou just milled about....after 5 days, we had only seen cows. No cold means no move.
We ate well.
but as we ran outta food, I shot a cow at dusk, to have dinner and a breakfast.
The Kobuk River Fall time sun sets are nice....
But the wife made a late dinner with the aid of a flashlight.
After a week of only seeing Cows,Cows and more Cows, we decided to go back down river, pass by the house, check the kids, buy gas and some snacks, get coffee, eggs, and go furthe down, looking some more and again.
We hunted Geese , Ducks, catching a few and looked for Caribou....lotsa muskrats to shoot as well....
Well, we finally found a solitary Bull among so many females......we certainly know where bands of Bulls will be following, and the whole village is asking "Got Caribou?" .....yep, we have a good spot.
Caribou can be strange sometimes.~~LOL!!~~.....but were actually folding his antlers back and his forlegs will be wraped under them so I can work without 'em rolling on his side, while we skin and gut 'em....~~LOL!!~~
He's got a nice skin.
We threw 'em in the boat and took 'em home.
And did it again the next afternoon...
The wife took over when the meat hit the cardboard
She set up an adhoc meat cutting station as the rains are back and its freeking warm
Cut into roasts , cubed , diced and sliced , sinews dryed,and the rest getting hung and dryed as well, and yep, its smoking too....
....so were getting ready for another round, though not any need for overnighting, the hunt is still on ........
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