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Jim Shockey

Amazing Atka Island Reindeer

Editor’s note: This article is reprinted from Jim Shockey’s personal blog which appears at www.jimshockey.com This is his abbreviated diary account of this recent adventure. I’m standing on the island of Atka, halfway between Alaska and Siberia, off the Aleutian Island chain. North of me is the Bering Sea and south is the Pacific Ocean. We left Anchorage this morning on a charter plane and landed in Dutch Harbor, where all of the “Deadliest Catch” boats dump all their catch. Amazing country. It's blowing hard, about 40 miles per hour. We were lucky to get in on the airplane today. The island, there are no trees at all, just grass and big, giant hills. I'm really excited about this hunt. These are basically European caribou that were transplanted here in 1922. They were classified as caribou up until 1980 when the natives were given control of the island, then they were called reindeer again. I haven't seen any yet, but tomorrow we’re headed out to hunt. This will be my first hunt with my new T/C Endeavor muzzleloader. Can't wait to get out there and see one of these caribou. The biggest bulls have racks that score over 500 points ... which is huge! First Day of the Hunt … We didn't get anything the first day of the hunt, but I saw probably 500 reindeer. We hunted all day hard. It is absolutely gorgeous, spectacular country—grass hills and mountains and volcanoes. And the caribou or reindeer have massive huge antlers. I saw at least three, probably four, that would go over 400 points. We could get close enough, but I couldn't judge them quick enough to get a shot. They’re a bit skittish. The reindeer are not tame, they do get hunted by the Inuit here, but I saw at least 100 bulls today and just about had a great big monster. Lots of eagles, saw a pure white arctic fox. The guys up here are excellent. All around great hunting experience on the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean. It's amazing. The Next Day ... Fantastic day today. We went out early this morning. Went up to where we saw the bulls yesterday morning. We spotted that bull that I tried to get yesterday, but couldn't quite get on. Today we spotted him. We crawled up a mountain underneath a volcano, crossed over and got above him. Got about 400 yards and we were there for five hours; made four attempts to stalk in on them as they were feeding, and every time I called it off and backed out of there. I was just trying to be really patient. There was another one too that was really a good bull, tons of junk around his bez and shovels. Finally they made a mistake, and we got in behind a rock crawling on our hands and knees most of the way. We got close enough, 150 yards, and he started walking away, so at 170 he finally turned, and I made the shot perfect. Eagles all over today. Red sockeye salmon in the lake that we went along with the quads, saw a blue fox color phase of arctic fox and a pure white arctic fox. Tons of reindeer again. I think this is probably one of the top three hunts in North America. Anyone who ever gets the chance should come out and experience it; just the place is so remote and all the reindeer ... it really is a spectacular hunt, and perfect for a T/C Endeavor muzzleloader. Monstrous animals. I mean they're way bigger caribou. We had king crab for dinner tonight. I pigged out! It was a fabulous day. The stars are out. I have another tag, so we will keep hunting ... Editor’s note: Jim took two huge reindeer on this hunt, the larger one scoring more than 500 SCI points. He enjoyed this adventure so much that he has obtained exclusive outfitting rights to Umnak Island for reindeer. In 2009 we will be taking a very select group of 12 hunters to enjoy this spectacular adventure, with plans for further expansion in 2010 and beyond. If you are interested in taking part in this hunt, please contact Dan Goodenow, VP of Sales and New Business Development, at 248-613-7549 or dgoodenow@jimshockey.com