Hunting with Mike

As I said in my blog a couple days ago the caribou hunt I went on was a wonderful experience. The weather cooperated, the camp was great, the scenery magnificent, plenty of game, good fellowship, and the food was off the charts.

Now on this particular hunt we opted for just a camp helper (Andy,) and were self-guided. This means we did our own cooking, among other thing, and this saved us money on the cost for the hunt. The cooking chores were divided equally among us, and our food was flown in as part of our baggage. Our initial plan was to eat fish and caribou backstraps for our main meals, and what a good plan that was!

On our first full day of hunting Bill Bondy shot a caribou close to camp. The next day was my turn with supper, and to my surprise Andy had caught several 2-3 pound brookies. Anyone who has ever caught a brook trout knows that is a very big “brookie.” We found out later that it was not unusual for fishermen to take 6 pounders out of these uncharted waters-”WOW!” Bills backstraps were on the menu for my evening along with huge cold lake brook trout, and canned white potatoes and green beans. The cold water by the dock kept our pop chilled, and we had some powdered juice mixes as well.

After a hard days hunt everyone was always famished by the time supper rolled around. I wanted to have a nice meal waiting for the guys when they got in so I came back to camp a little early to get a head start on it. Besides I was feeling pretty good, as that morning I had nailed a nice Pope-and-Young bull, and two of the other guys had connected also.

Maybe it was because everyone was so hungry, or maybe it was just the time and place, but that meal was one of the best we had ever eaten. The caribou was tender and sweet, with just the right seasoning, and the flaky slabs of butter cooked brook trout were truly gourmet. The potatoes and green beans added just the right touch to rounding off this tundra delight. Even as I write this my mouth waters, as I recall that special moment shared by a group of very special hunters.

Mike

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 9:32 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.