Dad's Second Caribou

On about Day 10, Dad and Uncle Will decided to hike back to the 5-mile mark to try their luck with rifle hunting.  They were in luck, when they got back to 5 miles, they spotted a herd of caribou a mile and a half away (that is lucky, you get to walk another mile and a half!).

The herd was almost 300 animals, and it was difficult to get close enough, even with a rifle.  Uncle Will got lucky first and made one shot.  Dad heard the shot, and moved around a rock to see the entire herd milling back towards him.  After fiddling with frost on the rifle scope, Dad found the bull Uncle Will had nicknamed "Spider Bull" and got a shot at 275 yards.

Dad thought he needed a follow-up shot, but it was hard to see through the rifle scope.  He wiped his eye and realized that rifle recoil had cut his nose and eyebrow open on the first shot!  After he wiped the blood away it was easier to see and he made the second shot count.

Uncle Will came running over to see how Dad had done and his first words were "What have we done?".  It was 6:30 pm (an hour from dark) and they were over 5 miles from the truck.  After a couple hours of butchering they loaded up their packs and headed back.  They finally got back to camp at 4:30 am the next morning with Dad's bull.  After 4 hours of sleep, they headed back out to retrieve Will's bull.  What a day!