I have always lived in Alaska and hunting has beena part of my life since I was young. Moose and caribou make up 90 percent of themeat my family eats.

One fall morning we got up at 4 a.m. for a caribouhunt in a new area. My dad, his friend and I had loaded up the four-wheelers withgear and we drove in the dark through a tundra bog with deep water holes, thenheaded into a muddy valley. We went along a river for 10 miles through stands ofspruce and open areas of alders and willows.

We looked for a place wherewe might spot caribou and came to a good plateau to watch over the mountain. Inabout an hour we saw a string of caribou walking along the ridge five miles away.My dad and I discussed whether we should even try since they were so far away. Wewould need to make a 10-mile loop to get near them since it was too steep to gostraight up. We didn't think they'd still be there when we finally gotthere.

We decided to give it a try, though, so we circled around andheaded up the mountain. We left one four-wheeler at the base and put the otherone in low range and first gear, heading straight up. I had to sit on the frontand lean forward so that we wouldn't flip and tumble down the mountain. The wholeway up our tires were spinning and sliding on shale rock. When we neared the top,we proceeded on foot.

The caribou were still there in a bowl just over thetop. As soon as we saw them, we ducked down and began stalking them. We went asfar as we could on our hands and knees, and then crawled on our bellies for a fewhundred yards. We could go no farther without alarming the caribou, still 600yards away. We decided I should try to take a shot before we spooked them; Ipicked out the biggest bull. From that distance it is really hard to hold yourtarget, especially when it is moving. I put a round in the chamber and fired. Mydad saw the bullet hit the tundra just below the caribou. The caribou got spookedand began running in tight circles. They didn't see us or know where the shotcame from and eventually they settled down. We were then able to crawl closer.When we crested the rim of the bowl, I found the big one again and carefullysqueezed off another round. The caribou started circling and I thought I hadmissed again. Twenty seconds after I shot, the caribou fell over.

The restof the caribou kept running around until we got up and started walking towardthem. When they saw us, they all took off like the wind. The last we saw of them,they were gliding over the far edge of the mountain.