Brent and I arrived in Norman Wells, NWT September 2oth 2007 at 11:20 am.  Stan Stevens greeted us at the airport; we quickly made our way to the Mackenzie Valley Hotel to store our hard gun cases and extra gear that was not needed for the hunt.  We then took a short drive to Stan’s dock where his Hilo Currier was docked.  The weather was iffy so Stan was in a hurry to board the plane and make our way to camp.  We loaded our duffels and guns and we were ready for the 45 minute flight to camp.  I sat in the co-pilot seat and Brent sat behind us on our duffle bags.  I put on the ear muffs as the engine started. I was a little nervous of how I would do on this flight, as I have never been on a plane that small.  We started down the lake and before we knew it we were in the air.  The scenery was magnificent.  We saw moose and caribou from the air, which really got us pumped for the hunt.  We started the descent into McClure Lake where I could see camp below. As the plane touched down on the lake, we came closer to the dock where I could see our guide Scotty Boyd and his loyal dog, Moose, ready to meet us.   Stan tied up to the dock and Scotty helped unload our gear.  He showed us to our cabin and we started to get settled in.  It was about 3pm and we would not start our hunt until tomorrow so Scotty made us a hot lunch of moose tenderloin and rice, and boy did that hit the spot!  Brent and I took the rest of the day to prepare our gear for the next day's hunt.  We shot our rifles to check for accuracy, and loaded our frame packs for the next day.

We woke up at our leisure about 7am, started our gas heater and lay in bed until 8am.  This was nice because our cabin was bone cold and this would give it time to heat it up before I actually got out of bed.  There was no rush to get going; it did not get light until 8am. Since it had been snowing pretty hard all night, we did not have to rush out.

The visibility was not the best this morning. Scotty prepared bacon, eggs, and his famous “peach pancakes” and hot coffee.  That was the best breakfast I had ever had!   We started on a nice path right outside of camp that was pretty easy to hike on, but it petered out within a few hundred yards of the lake.  We had to forge our own trail in the snow.  I found that to be hard. We crossed a shallow stream and headed straight up the mountain.  We wanted to crest the hill and walk on the bench to get a better vantage point to glass for 'bou.  The snow got heavier and the wind was whipping.  Our faces were tender from the elements.  We hiked for three and a half hours glassing as we went, hoping to walk up on a herd of caribou.  Because of the low visibility and the windchill, we decided to make our way back to camp to get warm.  The weather was starting to sock in really bad, and our chances of seeing the caribou were heading south.  We made it back to camp and ate moose loin and pasta.  That afternoon we took naps and rested our weary bones for the next day. 

Day three we woke up to a hearty breakfast, packed our packs and headed for the mountain again in search of caribou.  The weather wasn’t much better; it was actually colder, but the snow had subsided.  Today our plan was to hike up behind camp and find a good spot to sit and glass.  It was a short but steep climb.   We glassed and glassed, then eventually moved to another spot. After about another two hours we headed back to camp for a hot lunch and some rest.  The visibility was still not very good - we needed it to completely clear out.  Later that afternoon, Scotty hiked back up to that high spot hoping to see a herd of 'bou, but no luck.  At 5pm Brent, Scotty and I wanted to give it another try to see what could be there. As we were hiking up we heard the buzz of the plane, then saw Stan land on the lake below us. Scotty ran back down to meet him and get the update.  Brent and I headed up the mountain.  I stopped halfway for some pictures, and Brent made his way to the top.  Brent called down to me saying “I’ve spotted a grizzly bear”!!  I hurried my way up to him and he pointed to the bear that was about one and a half miles away.  It was really neat to see such an awesome animal like that!  We glassed him for about 10 minutes and then he faded off into the distance.  We glassed until dusk, and then headed back to camp for supper.  Our spirits were still high; we just needed to be patient and believe we would see caribou soon.

Well, I hardly slept at all last night, I was so cold. It got down to 15 degrees and our cabin was freezing.  Brent woke up at five o’clock and lit the fire.  Soon came a hot cup of coffee to warm me up.  We made our way to the cook cabin for breakfast. The pipes were still frozen in the shower tent; 4 days with out a shower, and somehow I was OK with that.  We hiked up behind the cabin and settled in for a long day of glassing.  The sky was finally clear, as the clouds had left us.   Brent walked over to glass another drainage, and spotted a grizzly bear. I was beckoned to come and see, but somehow I couldn’t see where the bear was. While Brent was trying to direct my eyes to the bear I must have been looking up the ravine and I saw two Dall sheep escaping the grizzly.  It was so cool, they boiled over the top of the ravine and off the other side of the cliff and they were gone.  The griz was behind them but not close enough.  He stopped on the edge of the cliff and looked over and decided that the chase stopped there. 

Soon after that action we spotted four caribou: two calves and two cows.  We glassed the far ridge and spotted 36 caribou coming from the very top of the mountain down into the valley.  Finally, caribou in our sights!   They were miles and miles from us, so we just kept our eyes in that direction hoping they would make their way to us.  They disappeared and we never saw them again.  Stan flew in to check on us, and give us the update of the other hunters at the Mountain Lake camp.  Three out of four hunters had tagged out, so tomorrow he would be back to pick us up and move us if we have not gotten our bulls. 

Soon after we went to bed, Scotty came to our cabin to wake us up to see the Northern lights.  That was the most spectacular sight that I have ever seen!  The sky was streaming with green glowing ribbons of light. 

We woke to yet another crisp morning, this would be the last day at McClure Lake, and we hunted for half of the day before we heard the roar of the plane's engine coming over the mountain.  We hustled down the mountain and back to our cabin to quickly pack up and move to Mountain Lake camp. 

We took the 30 minute flight to the next camp and Glenn was there at the pier to help unload our gear and get us settled into camp.  Stan instructed us to pack a small bag with only enough stuff to spend one, maybe two nights out on the mountain.  We were going to leave base camp and spike out for the remainder of our hunt to get our bulls.  We flew to Caribou Pass where we would be dropped off with Scotty and Moose to finish our hunt.  We landed and within seconds Stan was turning the plane around and he was off.  We walked over to the 3 man tent that was already set up for us, organized our packs, and had dinner.  Looking at that tent, it was going to be close quarters that night!  It was snowing and freezing cold. I was not looking forward to that night in the tent. I had never spiked out before and I knew I was going to shake all night!  I crawled in first, got down to my long underwear crawled into my 15 degree bag with two heat packs stuffed inside and I slid into my bag.  Then Brent hurried into his sleeping bag, and finally Scotty was last getting into the tent.  I was sandwiched between Scotty and Brent.  On Brent’s right side was my 300 RSAUM and on Scotty’s left side was Brent’s 7mmRUM loaded and ready for any grizzlies that might come into camp.  Moose was tied on the outside of the tent and slept on his pack for warmth.  Scotty told us that if a grizzly were to come into camp, Moose would let us know by barking.  (That way at least we would know it was coming!)  Surprisingly I was able to stay warm all night, Scotty wrapped a horse blanket around me, along with my hat, wool socks, and one heat pack on my kidneys and one in the foot box of my bag.  I cinched my bag closed, with only my nose peaking out to breathe!  Scotty would snore occasionally, and Brent just tossed and turned all night. It was hard to sleep out there in the freezing Mackenzie Mountains.  I don’t know what time it was in the middle of the night, but Moose started to growl and he let out one pitiful bark.  I was so tired and sore; I didn’t even care if a grizzly was trying to get into the tent with us because I had no physical energy to stop him!  Scotty whispered “Moose be quiet” and that was it.  Moose settled down and we all fell back to sleep.  Soon it was light and it was a new day to hunt.

I quickly got my hunting clothes on and got out of the tent. Brent was right behind me. Scotty was already heating up water for some hot chocolate and oatmeal.  It was snowing as usual and bitter cold.  I couldn’t wait for hot oatmeal. As I was trying to enjoy breakfast, Scotty walked to the landing strip to glass the far mountains, hoping to spot a herd of caribou making their way to the Pass.  As I was just finishing my oatmeal, I saw Scotty running back towards us, I knew we were going to be in the 'bou quick!  Brent guzzled back his hot chocolate, and I only got a half a cup in me and we were off!  We followed Scotty uphill behind camp towards the mountain range off in the distance.  We wanted to intersect the Caribou, getting to a good spot to set up and wait until they would walk past our position.   We tried to get on a game path to make our hike somewhat easier through the willows.  We looked down in the beaten path and Scotty pointed out fresh grizzly tracks in the newly fallen snow. He said that the grizzly couldn’t be more than two minutes in front of us!   Scotty knew that there was a caribou carcass about 1000 yards away that a wolf or a grizzly would want to feast on.  The grizzly was walking towards the herd of caribou, and Scotty knew that once the herd saw the grizzly they would divert their path and swing higher out of the valley floor and towards the base of the mountain.  We changed our direction and headed up hill closer to the base of the mountain hoping the caribou would do the same thing.  We walked as far as we could before the willows were knee height. Scotty threw his pack down so I was able to rest my gun on top and get steady.  Brent sat beside me so he could range the caribou and Scotty sat right behind me to help judge the size of the bulls.  About two minutes had gone by and we could see the caribou, they were starting to side hill the mountain, coming towards us.  They were a little farther up the mountain than we had hoped.   Brent was trying to get their range and Scotty was trying to pick out the biggest one.  I was looking through my binoculars and boy was it hard to pick one out.  There were about five good bulls to choose from. We finally got one picked out.  They stalled out on a large rock outcropping and bunched together. It was hard to keep the bull I had in mind separated from the others.  We finally got a range of about 400 yards.  That was going to be a long shot for me.  We knew the caribou were not coming any closer, so I said to myself, “you can do it”!  I knew the trajectory of my gun; I settled the crosshairs on the big bull and was waiting for him to turn broadside.  It seemed like several minutes before he finally gave me the shot I needed.  I said “Scotty, I’m going to take him” and he said “shoot-em.”  I pulled the trigger and when the gun recoiled I didn’t see what had happened.  Scotty was full of joy and said “great shot, he’s down!”  Brent was right there slapping me on the back and saying great job!  I hugged Brent and Scotty; we untied Moose and were on our way to recover my bull! 

It took a while to negotiate the terrain to get to my fallen bull. We walked up to him, and there he lay in the freshly fallen snow.  What a beautiful animal.  We took lots of pictures and started to prepare the animal to pack out.  Moose was able to pack both hind quarters, I packed out the antlers, Scotty packed the front shoulders and cape and Brent packed the ribs and tenderloins.  At least we didn’t have a very long walk back to the landing strip!  That evening Stan flew in to check on us and I had to make a quick decision, do I spend one more night on the mountain or do I leave Brent and Scotty and head back to base camp?  I was torn, I wanted so bad to get out of that cold valley and be in base camp which was warm and comfortable.  But at the same time I did not want to abandon Brent and possibly miss out on his hunt.  I ultimately decided to leave Brent and fly back to base.  I felt guilty right away as I flew away from my husband, leaving him behind, but I needed to get warm and I knew that he would be OK by himself!  As Stan and I took off we almost immediately flew over a huge migrating herd of caribou heading Brent’s way, I prayed they would make it to them and Brent would get his chance.  I got to base camp where a huge Thanksgiving style meal was being served Boy I felt so bad eating that food, knowing Brent was probably eating granola, and hot chocolate.  I was very tired by now, so after dinner I retreated to my cabin, where the wood stove had been stoked and I retired for the night. 

The next morning, I knew that the hunt was over and we would be chartered back to Norman Wells. I sure hoped that Brent had gotten a chance at a bull last night.  About 9am Stan left to pick up Brent and Scotty and sure enough, they returned with a huge set of antlers and lots of meat!  Brent had gotten his chance last night, and he connected at 300 yards.  He was elated!  Our hunt was a success!  We had hunted hard all week and it paid off in the end, with two beautiful caribou to take home to Virginia.  One thing that I understand is: I now know why they are called Mountain Caribou, it was tough hiking, it was not a slam dunk type of hunt!  You have to be in excellent shape and with a good mental attitude you will be successful.  This is a hunt that I will always remember: the remoteness, the pristine environment, and all of the wonderful memories I will have the rest of my life.