I was robbed! Robbed of my chances after being so patient. Robbed of my adrenaline as I waited for them to come in. Robbed of my intent as the cool breeze whipped me in my face for an hour straight. The culprit? A little friggen arctic fox! GRRRRRRRR!

About 9pm last night I decided to head out hunting figuring I could pull an all nighter if I got one. I hadn' t seen caribou one in the last few days, but something told me to head back out. Sure enough, the caribou are coming through, and thick! I see a major herd working their way east to south west, and a ton of animals were bedded, some were up and moving, some were crossing the river still a mile off, and some were close by. I' d estimate over 1500 caribou in this single herd. I started my hunt about a half mile south of all the bou. I worked my way into the river bank, which was about 3/4 mile out, and started my way in on the herd. The bou that were up and feeding were moving, and leaving a gap between them and the rest of the herd. Granted about a thousand animals were moving away, but I still had 500 that if I could get between them and the others, I would surely be able to have some come within range. I found a nice hill, about 2 feet tall, to hide behind on the open tundra, but it meant belly crawling for about 300 yards. It took me some time, but I finally got to it. Before long I had cows and calves within 60 yards of me. I had my eye on a group of bulls that were bedded down about 300 more yards ahead, and being that it was wide open with no cover, I had to sit and wait, and see what direction they would pick when they got up and started moving. Unfortunately though, they weren' t just bedded down. With most bulls I could see one antler in the air, and the other propping its head up on the ground because he was zonked out.

An hour went by while more bulls came in and bedded down, but the half dozen or so bulls that had been there a while finally got up and started working a b line right for me! Money in the bank I thought. It didn' t take long for them to work in to me, but they found some good eats, and held up about 80 yards out. I had a marked spot at 32 yards to my right, and another at 20 to my left. The river would keep them within 50 yards as they passed if they went to my right, so I figured I' d at least get some in range. I look up over the hill I' m behind and see more bulls working right in to me. Uh oh, I didn' t know whether to set up to shoot to my left or my right. I figured I' d wait it out and see which group came in faster. Soon bulls were only 50 yards out, and working their way right in towards me. Then, the whole herd got spooky, big time. Every animal had their head up and looking right through me. What the heck? I was thinking. I slowly turn my head and see that I' m being stalked by an arctic fox. Dang, I thought, I hope he doesn' t ruin this for me. Sure enough, he comes into about 10 yards with his head down, butt up and staring right at me. He comes around the hill I' m at and works his was down wind of my by going around the hill, but it just so happened to be right towards the caribou herd. Every caribou jumped and started a full out run away. Dang! You little creep! I poked my head up to see the caribou, and I had about 100 coming right on top of me. The fox kept circling around, and a growled at him, but it didn' t phase him. He came in closer, to about 5 yards, but downwind of me, and finally worked his way off marking some territory on his way out. The whole group of caribou that was bedded down had caught up with the rest of the herd, and was 3 or 400 yards away by the time I called it a valient effort. I had laid on a dirt mound for an hour, even dozing off for a quick minute, dangerous thing to do at 10pm, and had the perfect set up going. It was cool watching nature interact though, I managed to walk off with a smile on my face.

I had one more opportunity that night, but the wind was wrong. I decided to try it anyways, and had another great set up, but once the two bulls working their way in got around 70 yards off, they held up sniffing the air and decided to change course out and around me. If it wasn' t for the wind, I think those two bulls would of been ducks in a barrel. I had a huge cut bank I was working north to south, and they were coming directly west, so if they started going a little away from me, I could work my way to intercept them as long as they kept moving slightly west.

Guess it wasn' t meant to be last night. I finally got in at 1am, and got going on the work day at 7am. It' s gonna be a long day, but I got some more bou hunting to look forward to tonight!

Wow. You are living my dream my man. Sounds like an exciting evening nontheless.
I am dying to visit that beautiful country. Maybe next year.

artic, you did everything you could do great job, try to take a snooze at lunch
you diserve it, it' s just a matter of time for you, oh ya, a little luck cant hurt8D]

Sounds like an incredable experience

Great story[8D]

Jer,

I hate you.

....Hmmm let' s see; While some of us are digging out of a storm, cutting up downed trees in 90 degree heat with humidity so high breathing is hard, your hunting caribou? [X(]....Oh man, you are my hero!!! [&:]

Great story! Keep these stories coming. I will live vicariously through you until September.

great story Jerry.
Thats why they call it hunting

Fox got a eat too.

Matt, luv ya too buddy.

rocky, if that fox would of held out, he would of had a whole lotta eats to himself after I finished boning out a caribou. He' s on my list for the trapline this winter.

Good story bud.


You' re lucky to be out hunting....Here in MD, it reaches to almost 100 degrees. No deer season for almost 3 months....Wish I lived in Alaska