Surprise Caribou Hunt

Executive chef Randy King shares an adventure he won't soon forget during an Alaskan Caribou hunt a couple years back.

Randy "This last fall we ended up going to Alaska and decided we were going to chase after caribou along what is called the Dalton Highway. This highway ranges from Fairbanks clear up to Dead Horse which is basically half of Alaska long and it is a dirt road on most of it. We ended up going down this highway and decided to pull off. You had to hike 5 miles off the highway to be able to hunt with a gun. We hiked our 5 miles and set camp and I decided to go out hunting for caribou that night. I crossed this little creek bed and got up on the side of a hill and looked down and saw that there was a little bit of rustling where I came out. Out of their shoots this the VW Beetle sized grizzly bear and this cub that is roughly the size of a Jetta. When the female stood up I was roughly up to her armpits. It was an amazing sight and it was only 100 yards away. She didn't see me but I promptly left. The cool part about it was that we were both hunting the same pack of caribou."

Randy, I don't blame you. It sounds like you did the right thing.