An Alaska Caribou Hunt - NOTHING BUT DAYLIGHT

you got three boys most people are gonna die of  like a heart attack or you know something like that i figure if you get eaten by a bear it's a  pretty cool story that you can tell about your dad hopefully it doesn't come to that  but make a cool story if it did i have been to alaska before so i've been  up there hunting uh sick of blacktail twice on kodiak island uh i've done just a diy moose  hunt uh but i've never been up to hunt caribou and this is something that's been on  my bucket list fo

r since i was a kid it's something i've dreamed  about for a very long time i think the expectations going to alaska is you're  going to get the ultimate adventure i knew caribou lived out in the tundra which was very vast  grassland area i knew they migrated in giant herds but other than that i didn't really have too much  knowledge of what to expect on a hunt in alaska chris invited his brother josh so josh  neville went with us so there was myself chris neville josh neville and then our  our

camera guy luke j nev rhino my brother older brother we grew up hunting  together we haven't hunted together too much recently back in the game it's been too  long from the caribbean i see one way down there so it's about uh six o'clock we can't hunt  until tomorrow be the first official day that we can hunt right here look at this  one right out the door like 100 yards josh we got carao everywhere we're covered up in the  area we're covering caribou and we can't hunt we got till 3am and then it

's go time do you think  we're gonna kill one first there yeah i hope so if one comes in the camp like this shoot that one  okay i mean if it came in close enough you're not backing very far when god's giving you gifts  look at josh over there he's excited yeah he is we've been seeing bulls everywhere we can't  tell if we're looking at the same ones or different ones they're running they're going  here they're going there they're going everywhere the one that we've been looking  at right now see

ms to be the the best one we've seen so far maybe it is a  good thing we're not seeing the big ones yet i think it's a good thing yeah today's just  the day to like get your gear in order yeah get your uh your wits about you make sure you know  what a caribou looks like i just keep looking out across the landscape and can't believe that i'm  here i know yeah you want to be first shooter sure yeah i think four caribou  in 10 days is quite a lot i don't think it got dark at all last night maybe  f

or a couple hours anyway but it's a little bit windy today a lot colder than it was yesterday  i don't know if they're gonna be up and moving or bedded down on this stuff now we gotta be  out of the wind i think there's a cold wind who wants to get on the board luke we've got four caribou tags  we even got one for our camera man so if he's feeling itchy he wants  to shoot one right off the bat so we can have some camp meat i  don't think anybody's against it 101 yards yeah those look small to me

a wise old alaskan guide on the plane he  said be picky you'll see a lot of caribou yeah looks like there's a couple caribou maybe  out here about 400 yards it looks pretty decent it looks good every single one oh it still  looks like this one's a little bigger every single one we see oh yeah good almost good  i think we're better i don't really even know what a big caribou you know might score it just  really wasn't on my my radar and nor did i care i think for me you know i'd talk to my buddi

es  i'd looked at enough pictures i'd looked at their trophies and you know for me i just wanted  something that was a nice representation of the species you hear that often but for me i just  wanted something that that i got excited about well we only have like 18 hours  of daylight to get it done so every single one of those in there's  a bowl might as well head that way we're going in the left of it or to the right of it looks like  you can slip right there between those holders hit that next

little clearing and then pop up  trail and josh are gonna go up there then if they run off we're gonna have a luke our cameraman  get behind the gun because there's two really good bulls in there so we're really gonna cover  our asses make sure we at least get something so i'm just gonna get the gun ready where  these two are gonna go with their bows and hopefully we can get at least one down we got  within about 150 yards of where we thought they were bedded and at that point josh and i starte

d  to crawl so we were crawling in on this herd we got to about 90 hundred yards you could see  that the bulls were up feeding we were starting to see top ends you know up moving around and  they were kind of feeding back to our right so we tried to close the distance and as it worked  out we just couldn't quite get within bow range all right luke ready plan was is that if we  couldn't get within bow range josh and i that luke the camera guy would you know take the rifle  and then you know pick

out a bull and take a bowl so i immediately grabbed the gun gave to  luke and luke gave me the camera i didn't know it was recording so i double tap  record luke shoots a bull josh decided he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity  that we had in front of us with those that many good bulls that he wanted to take one with a  rifle as well so we ran up gave josh the rifle and then he made a great  shot and that bull went down double up baby what'd i say  what was my over under today and yeah

that was a little  bit of a scramble fest there we got it done i look back i see him  bringing the gun up fell like fell down twice it was a little bit of a cluster we got here thank you guys so much for  letting me get attacked seriously means a lot yeah that's awesome pretty heavy that's a cool looking  bowl heck yeah little shovels yeah these are bad ass see him love it huh  look how chocolatey they are so chocolate that's awesome check that out i think  that velvet is just so soft freezing i

t's cool we've got a lot of camp meat these things are crazy yeah i love them you  think we can get two of them out in one trip half each you can't de-bone them though can we no  bone in and your ribs and neck meeting a whole lot 15 hours left to daylight to get back i don't know  you can probably do half an animal a piece behind the front oh it's going to be heavy though rip  cage nightly it's going to be an 80 90 pound pack oh my god yours might be more so you guys think  with the head you're

gonna mount it i don't know so alaska requires you to take you know all  the meat so that includes the entire rib cage so you're actually cutting the rib cage out for  that species in that area so you're taking the quarters whole so you can't bone those out at all  so you've got the four quarters completely whole bone in you've got the back straps the tenderloins  uh any of that other meat that exist on that animal so when you walk away from that animal and  you have your pack fully loaded with

a caribou it's literally just bones and and hide you know  that remains we just did the hardest pack out in the history of packouts it was pretty bad it  was the shortest pack out but the worst backup was that your favorite pack out going through  that tundra that's fun did you ever fall i never did did you fall once did you oh yeah i  feel like three times yeah right to my knees i almost didn't want to get up either it's quite a day yesterday huh how was the day that was a long one four miles y

esterday i might need some  more ibuprofen i'm definitely gonna need some more ibuprofen let me loosen these  muscles up this is a thousand milligram day we've just been kind of  chilling drinking some coffee eating some oatmeal shooting the [ __  ] trying to dry out some of our clothes probably go out see if we can't see some caribou we got a grizzly right across the valley  over here big grizzly just chilling eating it's all coagulated better even start cooking the rain's coming yeah this is p

robably done you're ready to eat joshie that's good that's all we need today long i got a little salty dinner i might be hungry in a  couple hours all the second dinner about midnight dinner number two we'll go  back grab another back strap we might eat a whole caribou one right here if  we're here for 10 days i could eat i could eat backstraps every night well i didn't mind the  day off today at all i think i needed it so good it rained from pretty much time we went  to bed about maybe an hour

and a half ago just got up i am pretty sucked in with  fog although it is kind of starting to lift it looks like a little bit on the back  side of us we're just having some breakfast hopefully this fog lifts and we can get out  and do some glassing and find some caribou it's quiet calm no wind today yeah  zero winds but i'm sure that'll change lock it up you ready i'm ready it's like six seven maybe there's some caribou way off in the distance that one it goes the bear we think on  this should w

e take a look at it yeah big old grizzly bear just laying on top  of josh's kill fat happy right there it's been pretty slow been a slow day as far as  caribou hunting goes which sucks because it's probably the best weather day we've had we've  basically done almost we're gonna do a full circle around this whole mountain this knob that  we're camped on we haven't had really any caribou on our side on the side of the drainage where camp  is all day which there has any caribou even close no no wha

t's that cow and calf two calves  it's been pretty slow and there's caribou out there we can see them but they're  miles i mean hours and hours of hiking is 2.12 miles which is about an  hour and a half two hours maybe you think i don't know it seems we walk  about a mile and a half an hour maybe and that's that's two miles just as the crow  flies two and a half miles through tundra hill two and a half quite a ways it's probably like  walking on those exercise those balance balls at the gym yeah

like if you were trying to navigate  a bunch of little and they're slicker too do you feel like today like you you're more used to  it than you were the first day no it's the same suppose easier it feels easier  today maybe a little bit you know what i think i think those bulls  know like where this landing i know i think they probably know where people hunt from here  and they're like right on that brink of being too far you know what i mean like if you're  gonna go over there and kill one you

're all day all night which is probably what it's gonna take i think they feel pressure just like any other  animal might end up having to do an overnighter how'd you sleep pretty good how'd you sleep good i was sleep good how'd you sleep so like a baby trail just went out to go to the bathroom  actually there's a big bull right above camp balls are little wires i think cows and calves they're not too spooked but spooked enough i don't think i'm gonna be able  to get close to it with a bow and a

rrow right now dang it this is the extent of  the day sitting in the tent my legs fall asleep about six times after 12 hours yeah i get a little bored a little bit foggy this morning just  gonna be hiking hopefully clears up some caribou start popping out  all right trail that's right chris just hike in glass and hiking  glass and hope that the fog lifts some decent shovels not giant though looks  like he's got some back scratchers though yeah he's got some little back  scratchers he appears to

be all alone which is interesting you think we can come up  underneath him in that veg if you uh if he gets up and just clears country you think we should abandon it that's an abandoned  sign yeah that'll work max look at me xxx trail's gonna go in after this bull we're going  to head up there get a high point just to kind of give him some signals if this bull just  gets up and goes over the hill so he doesn't waste all of his energy but we figured it's  probably best just let him go in by himse

lf it's in a good spot he's got a lot of  vegetation in front of him he should be able to get to 100 yards but then it's that  100-yard break that's where it could be tricky trail's making pretty good ground right  now i'd say he's probably 120 yards away both still bedded he's kind of going  directly on to him i think if he gets right up through here he should  be in pretty good yardage i'd say i could see the top end of his  antlers and i could kind of see almost just like the tops of his his

head  trying to stay and stay below his eye line from my position i kept getting brushed you  know i kept i kept getting you know leaves and branches that were kind of sticking out and i  had a really hard time getting a good range on him caribou's up it's gonna happen here in  any second here it goes pulling back shot him drill him absolutely drill them i think he did bowl's still eating yeah he's chowing shook that one off what's trail doing hey miss i don't know i can't  tell if there's any b

lood i don't see i'm zoomed in pretty tight  on it i can get another shot at him i think he hit him this time where's his head at hit it right in the front  frontal shot it looked like he shot him like he's kind of quartering to him a little bit  looks like he got it like right in the front he said that right there i doubt he's getting up he's got his head just laid out like yeah  looks like he just did the old death kicks another bull down halfway halfway on the trip  five days we got five days

in five days left i'm just gonna take my time shoot the biggest  one in the tundra go get some chopping done the death valley over here all the bulls  die he's dead he's dead yeah he's dead thanks buddy that was awesome oh yeah oh  appreciate it buddy crushed it i'm excited i'm really excited how sweet he's uh he's got nice  thick tops oh yeah i thought you hit him on the first shot this too yeah over the top underneath  him underneath him yep i couldn't get a range you can't get a range on any

thing like  your range is bouncing off everything like any little branch especially when you're  on your knees you know yeah the second shot i had a pretty decent shot at him i think he  was quartering to me more than i thought there he is yeah yeah his tops are really thick aren't they  yeah just what you wanted yeah i wanted some tops he's pretty heavy he's not super long but  he's just pretty bull i was stoked with him nice bad it's not much for shovel but  that's all right cool top end he's

pretty yeah that's right where i thought  right inside that front shoulder what a neat animal did you think it was going  to happen yeah really i didn't know i booked it over here as fast as i could i crawled up and i  could just see these top ends i thought i think i got a chance just like that that's just how  bow hunting is right you don't like you don't think it's gonna happen and then all of a sudden  it does i can't believe i really got one here taking in these nice alaska sun that never 

happens what trail finishes keeping this bull resting my back for another river  hike it's gonna be a good one i need a good hike today a nice back breaker yep  it's been too long so i've had to make that hike you ready yet neville been over here napping  i thought you were on guard duty for bears i don't think you were at all i looked over  there and you were snoring get your back on jeez but we're just turning around oh wow 4.2 miles just remember  that four two from here four miles four miles

dang i'm gonna fill that in the morning eat well mr bear uh the pack out that time was not nearly as  bad because we'd learned our our lesson that we we'd use the creek bottoms and not just try to  traipse across the tundra for miles on end so we we'd learned a pretty valuable essence i think we  were feeling a little bit better we were making much better time and then we all had you know less  weight because we had that bull spaced out between the three of us as we're getting pretty close  to

camp we're just at the very bottom we just had to go uphill you know probably about half a  mile we're just kind of resting in this riverbank so we're just hauling my bull out we're about to  start climbing back up to camp we're just sitting to take a break and looked across the canyon and  there's a pretty good bull bedded just kind of middle of the slope it looks like if uh neville  goes up the bottom of the drainage and then kind of hooks it back to the left and then works his  way up behind

him he may be able to get a shot so he's trying to decide if  he's worth going after her go give her a shot i've got nothing but daylight go give it a whirl huh you just right off that just go right to that rocky rocky knob he's  right down from there wish me luck boys i think he'd have a maybe 60 60 yard shot  downhill oh he's up yeah he's up he's up yeah there's two of them yeah so you're the  one standing up to dink the one that's the bigger one's still better right  above him he's still bedd

ed up there so put a move on him you know working his way  up this edge and should be in a good spot well the bowl's still bedded so hopefully it just  keeps working his way to the left fingers crossed chris just came over the top of the  ridge he's just on his hands and knees he's just kind of crawling down into  some thick stuff i'm sure he can see him looks like this bowl's maybe 150 yards maybe  180 yards if he can cut the distance in half which looks like he's got good cover i think  he'll

have a real good shot of this bull those other two caribou that were with this wolf  kind of fed off on their own he just let him go he's still bedded so i think if he can cut  this distance i think he's got a real good shot looks like he's got his hand like  he's ready to draw if he had to you must not really see him i would say he's maybe 60 yards maybe  maybe a little more it's hard to tell distances are so hard to tell through a scope  but he just ranged him and he's kind of holding his grou

nd it looks like he's ready to draw  whenever that bull stands up i think that bolt's gonna get up here in a second oh he's drawn  he's drawing he's drawing pulls up pulls up he's probably quartering away and hard  away maybe hard to tell going hard away here we go shot him he shot did he hit him here he come he's coming  right down shoot him again oh he's tipping no shot him again yep he's running after it yeah i can't make out blood but to me it  looks like that pulls hit hard is he down that

is awesome oh my gosh he's down he's down  where's neville can you see him hands up yeah that was super exciting to watch that's awesome  that's better than anything i think we just got him and then pack him out tomorrow he's not  far from camp it's down the hill 500 foot climb right where right now nice job thank you that was awesome i'm good  hell yeah congrats [ __ ] sweet that's awesome yeah you came in right underneath him huh and  he was like where right here maybe yeah 55 yards double dou

ble shovel double shovel yeah the  double shovel the devil show every time we go out we shoot bulls we only we only shoot two  two days every time we go groups twos twos got a lot of meat packing what's our plan here  you guys got no backpacks there's really no way i thought we could get two bulls out that night so  we just made the decision to gut his caribou so it would cool the meat down and then hike back get  the full packs with my bull in it make it back to camp and then come back the next

day to haul all  the meat off of chris's bowl so i think it was a it's kind of rough you know it's a hard decision  because you don't want to you know open up an animal and gut it and then leave that smell  in the air when you're in grizzly country but i also didn't think that we could pack  two caribou out at that stage in the day that's quite a day good day quite a day hunting that is a full day's worth of hunting there didn't stop all day oh i might need you to step on  my back tonight trail

yeah i'll walk on that thing it's about 10 pm we had ourselves  quite the day of hunting now we're packing up trails  bowl one last good climb up up and away we're to take ibuprofen  drink a couple beers eat some food go to bed get up in the morning go cut up my bowl then do the hike again pack train  goes on can't stop won't stop is the moment i think why did i do that thing  why huh why because it hurts there's josh oh dude he was hiking angry didn't you think he looked  like he was hiking an

gry i've seen that before i'm cooked sick before kidding me i'm down ready for some food something to drink get this back off my back it  was a long day oh yeah good day it's a long day i was just wondering what does it smell  like in here holy cow thank god i can't smell it because i have a feeling  it's gotta reach it has to it's good it has to be a next level stink that's  part of it my feet have to smell so bad got light packs we're gonna go finish quartering  out neville's bowl that he shot

last night pack it out today spend the day in camp eating  good food and then potentially pilot may be able to get us out tomorrow but she's packing meat  today but the backpack right now feels pretty good i got a puffy jacket a water  bottle my lunch and a knife so we had scheduled that hunt for 10 days uh not  knowing you know how long it could potentially take to try to fill permits with a bow and  arrow uh i think we both got extremely lucky in the fact that there were two nice bulls  that

were in great locations by themselves and being out in that landscape being so remote it honestly is an experience that has  has changed my life josh is doing dishes i think we're kind of preparing for the worst  that maybe we won't get out tomorrow maybe not the next day who knows but when we get out we get  out but i mean good things are is cold enough the meat's fine we got something we've got something  to eat we've got food left over we've got mountain houses peak refuels we've got meat we'

ve got  potato potatoes we got one thing about those so we're good we're just gonna honk  around and hopefully we get out tomorrow probably get a good night's sleep  tonight everybody's bellies are full yes well it's friday about 8 am and our  transporter said to give him a weather check at eight which chris just did said  that the weather is partly cloudy we've got a little bit of snow we gotta skip  the snow last night um he just messaged him back and said what's the outlook on pickup  and he

said not good but you never know i just kind of sound like it's coming  back though doesn't it yeah it does first plane's in picking up two guys then  hopefully they're gonna try to squeeze us in today if not tomorrow yeah i'll pick  you up tomorrow if it's not too rainy you never know what the last thrill and i might be  shrinking in here for three more days who knows well at least you got plenty of caribou to eat we  got a lot of care to eat back into the plane back to civilization for the two

of us one more  night in the tent me and you yep snuggle up you