Alaska News

When Nelchina caribou and trigger-happy Alaska drivers intersect

PAXSON -- The lead cow sniffed cautiously at the asphalt and glanced south down the highway before jerking her head up and bolting across the highway in front of an oncoming truck. The driver of the big four-wheel-drive rig hit his brakes and skidded to a stop on the snowy roadway as hunters with rifles jumped from the cab. A small herd following the old cow raced across the road intent on resuming its eastward march.

None of the hunters from the truck shot as the caribou continued streaming from the woods in single file. Other rigs approaching from the north also stopped quickly on the shoulder of the Richardson Highway. One hunter had no compunction about shooting down the highway and quickly dropped a small bull on the edge of the asphalt.

The remaining caribou turned back into the trees. In a moment, it was if they were never there. The dead caribou and some scuffed tracks were all that remained of the interrupted migration.

More vehicles stopped to look. My wife and I eased our way through the traffic and continued southward. In the next half-hour we saw several small groups of caribou working their inexorable way eastward.

Opening-day success

A fair amount of hunting traffic used the roadway on opening day of the winter Nelchina caribou season, which can extend through March 31 but typically closes much earlier once a quota of animals is reached. I counted 60 trucks between Paxson and the bottom of Hogan Hill. Most of them had no ATVs, evidently counting on getting an animal close to the road. There is good snow from Eureka north, so dragging a caribou out will be easy enough.

Hunters along the Richardson Highway had fairly good success opening day, but by the following afternoon, the caribou were a bit spookier. Herds still crossed -- but in a bigger hurry. Paxson Lake is still open, but with hunters along the highway shoreline, most of the caribou opted to turn south rather than swimming the lake, as is the norm.

The caribou along the Denali Highway were quite scattered with very few within federal hunt areas that are open. But hunters working along the Denali seemed more patient than those along the Richardson. Many had small sleds. In the open country, the caribou were also more comfortable. They were able to see and move around hunters and traffic to a greater extent.

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A late-season caribou hunt can change migration paths and patterns when there is a lot of pressure in a limited area. Age-old patterns may not just be temporarily interrupted; they may be changed for years to come. None of us like to see that, but the reality is that there is no real solution. Hunters have always ambushed caribou at their historic crossing places whether they used spears or rifles.

Most hunters we saw handled themselves well. There will always be a few who shoot from the highway, but they are a tiny minority. I have hunted the Nelchina herd as long as I can recall, and the hunters of today, as a rule, are less knowledgeable than those of 40 or 50 years ago. However, I believe they're also more courteous and appreciative of the animals they hunt.

Those who participate in this late-season hunt should have a fair measure of success. Caribou are moving over a wide area. The temperatures are pleasant enough, and the snow is not deep enough to be an obstruction -- though there's enough snow to make it a bit of a hassle for ATVs. Still, there is not enough for a snowmobile to be effective in most locations.

40,000 caribou

Without much machinery on the ground, walking hunters who work close to the roads will have an excellent chance of shooting game. Once they have crossed the gantlet of highway hunters, the caribou will have a relatively easy time of it -- if there is such a thing for a caribou.

As the shots erupted back at the highway, the cow ran her herd into the thick black spruce. After a few hundred yards she slowed and the 30 or so caribou in the group bunched for a few minutes and then began to scatter slightly to feed. Did they miss the small bull left by the side of the road? Maybe. Over the eons, the tested survival technique of these large-herd prey animals is to give up a few for the sake the sake of many. A couple hundred animals out of a herd of nearly 40,000 will not be missed.

Respect what you take and use your game wisely. Do this and we will have successful hunting for many years.

John Schandelmeier is a lifelong Alaskan who lives with his family near Paxson. He is a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and two-time winner of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

John Schandelmeier

Outdoor opinion columnist John Schandelmeier is a lifelong Alaskan who lives with his family near Paxson. He is a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and two-time winner of the Yukon Quest.

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