Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Now i feel better! Sort of.

Been a year plus since I shot at an animal. I made up for it today. The "at" part.

Blew 3 shots at a caribou at about 100 yards before I remembered the rifle is zeroed for just over 300 yards! For the fourth shot I put the cross-hairs near the brisket line and spine-shot her. I'm blaming age. Couldn't possibly be screwupitis!!

It was a late-start scouting trip to Pipe's Spit, about 8 miles away, to see if they were crossing yet. Warm weather, including several days of rain has delayed ice formation. Normally they would have been crossing for a week or so already. Still don't know, as I came over a rise 3.4 miles out (about 10 minutes - short hunt!) and found two cows and a calf standing in the trail, just looking at me while I dug the rifle out of the Kolpin. Only cows are legal this time of year this year, so after determining who was mom, I had at the remainder. Don't know if those 3 were crossers or locals, or ice condition in the bottoms. Might have to go scouting again tomorrow??

I'd been procrastinating even going out because of thin-ice concerns, but decided to go anyway and just not tackle anything even remotely chancy. The freshwater lakes are probably OK, as the brackish lagoon had 6 inches of ice on it, under 6 inches of rain/thaw slush when I checked it last night. There's two drainages to cross to Pipe's. Running-water streams are another matter altogether! I wasn't going to cross any ponds or lakes anyway, just for luck, and I certainly wasn't doing anything even remotely marginable in the drainage bottoms! I've put a snowmachine through the ice twice in the last 40 years, so i'm a little gun shy about it! Plus two died just that way in Noorvik last week.

I felt better when I found no fresh ATV or sno-go tracks ahead of me, even 2 hours after daylight. Within 10 minutes of my kill, there were 3 other snow machines buzzing here and there, obviously looking for the caribou I'd found. I suspect they'd been called by people who had seen them from the air, as the air traffic was significant over the area. Heard no shots, so either they didn't find the cow and calf or passed that cow up. As they should.

I'd rather be lucky, than good, tho good doesn't hurt any.... I love a bloody spot in the snow!