I had crawled out in front of the herd of caribou. It was negative temps and the morning wind coming down from the mountains was ice cold and gusting hard. I had my rangefinder and shooting hand down my pants to keep it from freezing up. The bull was at the back of the herd and I ranged him at 62. I drew and released but immediately saw my arrow going low. I knew it wasn’t a good hit and when I watched the herd of 35 run off. I cursed myself for shooting in that wind.

The rest of the day I spent chasing this bull for a follow up shot. I was close several times and finally just before the sun dropped behind the mountains I snuck within 80 yards of the bull and had smaller bulls and cows within 40 yards. I waited and waited, he stepped off to 96 instead of coming closer with the herd. I realized my opportunity to put the bull to rest was leaving me. I pumped myself up, relaxed and thumped him!

I was stoked on this bull and my ability – the practice at the lodge all summer had paid off.