Reindeer Hunting
This coming weekend I’m going to be going out
reindeer hunting. I have been reindeer hunting since I was a little boy and I
enjoy it so much! I have been going on hunts with my uncle since I could walk
and I’m really thankful that for that. If he did not take me on the hunts then
I would not know what to do to keep myself occupied. My uncle has taught me the right ways to hunt
animals for subsistence.
I really can’t remember my first reindeer hunt
with my uncle, but I do remember when I shot my first reindeer. I was fourteen
years old and I had been shooting the gun at targets for a while. What I did
not know was that my uncle was training me to shoot my first reindeer. Fall of
2011, I was fourteen years old, when I shot my first reindeer. On Friday, after
my uncle gets off of work I asked if we can go reindeer hunting in the morning
and he said yes. Once I heard that I was really happy because I love going out
hunting. Usually before you go on a hunt, you want to make sure you have everything
packed the day before. I packed all the gear into our camouflage backpack and
made sure we had everything for tomorrow morning. In the camouflage backpack we
include knives, bullets, garbage bags, snacks, sharpeners, and water.
That Friday night I made sure I went to bed
early because I know that we have to wake up early. My uncle usually makes me
get up before nine o’clock so I can get dressed and have something to eat
before we hit the road to look for reindeer. I got up and I was super tired,
but as soon as I was down stairs I was good to go, because I
know that I’m going reindeer hunting. I looked in the
freezer for something to eat and I found some hot pockets so I had two. After
eating, I went and started getting dressed. I put on my under armor sweats and
a dry compression t-shirt to keep me dry if I were to sweat while hiking. I
usually put warm clothes on my upper body first then my lower body. I put a
sweater on and then a jacket. After the jacket I start putting snow pants and
hunting pants on my lower half. Now if you think about this, I am putting on a
lot of clothes but my uncle always says, “If you overdress than you can just
take off some of your layers if you get hot.”
After getting dressed I put the rifle in the
truck. Before you put the rifle anywhere you first want to make sure that the
rifle is empty. I made sure that the chamber of the rifle was empty and put it in
the back seat. I always put the gun in the case just to be on the safe side
because anything can happen. I mean the rifle can come apart and it might hurt
someone in the truck so that’s why I put it in the case. I put the camouflage
backpack right in front of the rife. I went back inside to make sure that we had
everything before we left. Once I did that, I then asked my uncle if he was
ready and he said yes.
We got outside and went in the middle of the
road to see what direction it was blowing. The winds were blowing pretty hard
and the winds were coming from the North. My uncle’s first thought was to check
Diamond Hill and see if we can see them from there. By the time we got to
Diamond Hill it was already 10 o’clock. We got up to Diamond Hill and we looked
towards Big Polovina but did not see anything. We looked towards Small Polovina
and still did not see anything. We began looking at Bogoslof and there they
were walking towards the flats. I was really happy, but my uncle was not sure
if we should make that hike in to get a reindeer. We waited for a while to see
what the animals were going to do. The reindeer herd was still on the move and
it did not look like they were going to stop.
My uncle and I got out of the truck, got the
rifle and started to walk. Since the wind was blowing out of the North that
meant we had to get behind the reindeer. You do not want to be in front of the
reindeer while the wind is blowing in their direction because the reindeer will
smell you and run in the opposite direction. We hiked a long ways and every
time I looked back, the truck was getting smaller and smaller. Then, finally,
my uncle and I saw the reindeer, but they were in
a difficult spot to get to. On the side of us
about three hundred yards was a huge rock that we can use to get within two
hundred yards from the herd. The reason why we were using this rock is so we
can hide from the reindeer, also to use the rock as a stand for the gun. I was
really excited that we were going to get one. We started making our way towards
the huge rock but we had to crawl to get there. The reason why we had to crawl
is because you don’t want the reindeer to see you. If the reindeer see you or
even smell you they are off running in the other direction. The terrain was
awful because there were huge rocks that sometimes you had to crawl over or
sometimes you would hit them with your knees. Getting hit in the knees to me
feels like you have been shot and you can’t yell or anything. All you got to do
is take a break and regroup.
We got to the huge rock and we settled down. We
looked on the side of the rock to see what the herd looked like and it was
still a go. We took about a five-minute break so my uncle can get his breathing
under control. He got his breathing under control but he handed me the rifle
and said you shot the reindeer. I looked at him with a confused look on my face
and he said, “You are ready, go shoot the reindeer.” I was happy but scared at
the same time. The huge rock had a middle spot in between so I crawled and put
the rifle towards the herd. I began to look in the scope to see what reindeer I
wanted to shoot. The reindeer my uncle usually shoots is the small one
because they taste less gamey. I looked for a nice small one and once I had my
cross hairs on the animal I shot. At first I thought I missed because I looked
in my scope and I did not see anything. My uncle said that he did not see
anything drop either but I was confident that I got something. My uncle and I
both sat up and as soon as that happened the reindeer starting running in the
opposite direction from us. We got around the area of where I thought I had shot
the small reindeer at, but the grasses were so tall that it was hard to find.
We looked and looked and then finally I found it! My first reindeer had been
hiding in the tall grasses were we could not see it. I was so excited with
happiness that I could not stop smiling. My uncle said good job and we began to
cut the reindeer.
By this time it was about twelve thirty and we
just finished cutting up the reindeer. After finishing cutting up the reindeer
we began to drag the reindeer back towards the truck. This took about an hour
and a half, which for me is a long time, but we managed to drag it out in one
piece. My uncle and I probably took about ten stops because it gets tiring
dragging a reindeer from practically the middle of the island out. You would
have thought that since this reindeer was this year’s reindeer that it would be
easy to drag out, but it was not. We had to go across rocky terrain and it was
just brutal. Once we got back to the truck and put the reindeer in the back, we
headed back to town. Once we got to my house, we off loaded and then put the
reindeer in the shed. My uncle’s and my job was not done yet, because we had to
make holes in the reindeer’s back legs so we can hang it up. After we got it
hoisted up in the air, we started to take the reindeer’s outer coat (fur) off.
Once the coat is off, we wash the animal in vinegar because it keeps the flies
off the meat. We let the reindeer hang in the shed for about three days. The
reason why we let the reindeer hang in the shed for three days is to let the
rest of the blood that is in the animal drain out. After the third day of
letting the reindeer hang, my uncle and I go out to the shed to cut the rest of
the animal. First, we cut the back legs off and then the front legs. Once those
parts are off we take the rib cage off, but we do not usually keep it because
there is not enough meat on them so we just trash it. Then, what I think is the
best part of the animal to eat is the back straps. We cut that off and bring
the meat inside so we can cut the meat into steaks sizes and roast sizes. We
then put the steak sizes and roast sizes on saran wrap and then into a plastic
bag. Once in the bag we put them into the freezer. Overall, I’m really thankful
that I have an awesome uncle who taught me how to hunt. My experience on
shooting my first reindeer was so amazing! No words can describe how I felt at
that moment.
