I went for a little 500 mile drive on the now famous "Ice Road Truckers" route from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks. I had to take my work truck into town for service and haul some supplies, so obviously I had to take advantage of the situation and have my bow along. I've done the drive several times before, and I thought I was way out of caribou country when this guy was spotted hanging out about a half mile from the road. I had to double check the regs to make sure I was still good to go after arrowing a bull in late September. I was several miles north of the area where the limit switches from 5 caribou to 1, so I was good to go. I headed south about a half mile to get the good cover and better wind, parked the truck and set out to make the stalk.



The bull was hanging out next to the frozen lake and was grazing in and out of the small spruce on the edge. There was a 6-10 foot ledge before it dropped down into the lake, and the bull was working along on the edge sometimes on top and sometimes dipping out of sight on the bottom. Once I got down to the edge of the spruce before the flat, open section to the lake, the wind changed direction and was headed from the right to left in the above photo. My plan was to get across to the ledge and work my way in on the bull. I had to change it up and quickly work through the spruce to get the wind right, but it left me with 180 yards of mostly flat, treeless ground to cover in which I would have to go straight at the bull. Time for the patience to kick in and move slowly, watching the bull to make sure he doesn't spot me moving in on him. There were enough dips and knolls to duck out of sight when he came up to the top. Here is the open terrain I had to cover to get over by the lake where he was...



Soon the bull worked down the ledge and I was able to sneak to within 10 yards, but I couldn't weave a shot through the few little black spruce. I was pretty close to the ledge, and reluctantly moved a touch up wind from him to try and get a quick shot. I knew it was a mistake since he quickly raised his head, sniffed the air and began running towards the lake. I was already at full draw and got lucky as he stopped at 50 yards to look back at me. I already had the pin on him and touched off the shot. The arrow sailed perfect and he b-lined for the lake.



The ice looked very thin, and I was certain he was going to bust through. The arrow came out about 30 feet onto the ice, and the caribou started stepping hard and clapping his hooves on the ice. About 15 yards from the far shore, he started stumbling like bambi playing with thumper on the ice, and fell over hard. I was amazed that he didn't break through. When I got to the edge of the ice, I noticed it was 3-4" thick, and you could see through it like glass. No need for a blood trail, but it was pretty easy to spot on the ice...



I started walking out to get the arrow and while looking down and the bottom disappeared into blackness, I thought, "hmmm, this lake is deep!" It popped and cracked as I walked out to get it, so I got down on all 4's and made quick work to grab it and get back. I headed to the other side and walked out the 15 or so yards onto the ice, grabbed an antler and quickly drug him to shore. I had to head back to the truck for the camera and sled, so the picture shows him on the edge. His body heat had already started melting some of the ice.