Northern Nomads--Adventures With Caribou

Day 3

They say good things come to those that wait. Guess I haven`t waited long enough! The good news is, the rain and clouds finally gave us a reprieve in the mid-afternoon. By then, we`d prowled the lake shore, hiked to several promontories and seen hundreds of caribou, almost all being cows and calves, with a few young bulls in attendance. Where were the big bulls?

We finally found a small bachelor herd of mature fellows, some actually sound asleep on their sides, with their heavy antlers laying on a tundra pillow. Although several were quite nice, and had those brilliant white capes I dream about, none had that magic combination of palmated tops, thick bezes and a good shovel, so I passed. The tundra was gorgeous in the late afternoon sun, and we enjoyed picking bear berries and blueberries during periods of glassing. Seeing the sun was a treat, although the wind picked up and the lake was worse than ever...I wonder what the wind chill factor is at 15 knots and 35 degrees? We enjoyed fairly close looks at some of the herds, watching bulls start to lock antlers and shove half-heartedly, anticipating the fierce rutting duels to come next month. Another five beautiful trophies came into camp tonight, so here`s hoping that tomorrow is the day.