By Brooke Smith | Team GWG Ambassador

1642 Miles From Home

In June of 2019 I was on a spring bear hunt with a friend in Northern Idaho. On the second day of our hunt my friend stepped wrong and broke her leg. A rescue helicopter was the only option of getting her out and to medical attention. In those long hours of waiting for the rescue helicopter, I tried to keep my friend from going into shock, I prayed a lot and I made myself a promise that day. While my body would let me, I was going to do all of the things that I want todo now. My passion is hunting, so once we were flown to safety I began planning.

I knew that I really wanted to hunt caribou, so I started to do my research and was strongly considering doing a combo caribou and moose hunt in British Columbia. I asked my husband if he would want to join me on a hunt like this, I already knew his answer would be no. I asked a few other friends if they would want to go, but for understandable reasons I had no takers. So knowing that this would be a solo trip I needed to feel comfortable with what outfitter I chose. I reached out to some friends who are in southern BC and guide elk hunts to see if they had anyone that they would recommend. Without hesitation they told me about Dustin Roe and Backcountry BC and Beyond. I reached out to Dustin and several other outfitters to see what they all offered. Hands down Dustin and his wife Heather had the best customer service. Dustin sent me numerous pictures of animals taken that year from both BC and the Yukon so that I had a visualization of the different caliber of animals. The informational packet that they had answered all of the questions that I had, and any random questions that I had Heather wasquick to answer. This was it, this was the outfitter for me, so I booked the hunt.

October of 2024 was my hunt time. This would be a ten day horseback caribou and moose hunt with my rifle. This was a big deal for me, this truly would be my hunt of a lifetime. In the year leading up to the hunt I was dedicated to shooting at least once a week. I have struggled some with target panic or shooting anxiety, not so much with animals but more with targets and especially when people are watching me shoot. If I wasn’t successful in my hunt I didn’t want it to be because I had failed behind the gun. So I would go out and shoot from several different positions, ranges, times of the day, weather conditions just to be the most comfortable behind the gun that I could be. 350 yards had been my farthest yardage but 3 days before I left for my hunt I decided to shoot out to 400 just in case.

I gave myself 3 days to drive from Oregon to the Yukon where the base camp was. I am a planner, so I had reservations made ahead of time where I would stay each night. I had a three ring binder with all of my required information for crossing the border (that was my biggest anxiety about driving up). I had rented a uhaul trailer to tow behind my pickup and bought a chest freezer to put in the bed of my pickup. I didn’t want to appear overly confident, but wanted to be prepared if I was successful. I packed and repacked, went over the recommended gear list multiple times. Ready or not the time was here to head North.

The drive up went off without a hitch except for what I felt like was an extreme interrogation at the border. I saw some beautiful country and in 1642 miles I had a lot of time to think, pray and really think about what I was going to do. I probably felt every emotion that there was to feel.

Excitement, blessed to have this opportunity, scared of the unknown, pride that I overcame fear and was doing it solo, loneliness, homesick, happiness yep I felt all of the feels. I made it to the Yukon early in the afternoon on September 28th. I did a little sightseeing after I checked into my motel room. I reached out to Wendy, she is the basecamp manager to see what time I should arrive the next day at basecamp. Anytime after 11:00 she said. After a decent night's sleep I repacked all of my stuff and arrived at basecamp around 11:30. There was a pickup parked out front with 3 guys loading gear into the back. I sat in the pickup and just assessed the situation, I wasn’t sure what door to walk into or where to go. Pretty soon Dustin walked around the side of the building so I got out and introduced myself to him. He was very welcoming and needed to get those hunters to a plane so he introduced me to his dad who showed me around.

The entire crew at basecamp was great and made me feel very welcome. I had lots of questions about how things were going to go the next day when I flew out. I learned that Doran was going to be my guide, Jade was the wrangler and Bethany was going to film the hunt. Doran and Jade had been out since July, I would be their last hunter for the season. Bethany had gone on 7 other hunts and she would help trail the horses out at the end of my hunt. I knew of Doran through his wifes Instagram and by watching Backcountry BC and Beyond’s YouTube channel. I was pretty excited that I would have 2 other gals on my hunt with me. I also think that it made my husband feel a little more at ease. The rest of the day I tried to help doing tasks around camp and wanted to learn as much as I could about how things worked.

September 30th was the day Bethany and I would fly out sometime afternoon to our home away from home in BC for the next 10 days. We had the truck loaded up by 11:00 that morning and we waited, lunch time came and went and it was almost dinner time before we got the call that the plane was ready. We were driven to the lake where the pilot was rushing around because it was so late in the day. We got the plane loaded and I sat up front with him. I have never been in a float plane before so this was a new experience. Take off and landing were both very smooth, I was just in awe of how close to the mountains that we were. I don’t do well traveling because of motion sickness but I had no issues thank goodness. As we approached the lake to land I could see 9 horses tied near the shore, I also saw a little plume of smoke coming from a little pocket of trees near the lake.

We were doing what they call a hunter exchange, I was being dropped off and a hunter was being picked up. The hunter being picked up had a successful hunt and was taking home both a moose and a caribou. When I saw his trophies I thought to myself, if I have the opportunity at one animal I will be so happy but also knew that if I didn’t that this would still be an adventure of a lifetime. We all worked together to get the plane unloaded and reloaded. The plane left and there I was on a lake in Northern BC with 3 strangers who I was going to spend the next 10 days with. It was quiet except for the sound of the water lapping on the shore and the horses munching grass. Doran began explaining what needed to happen after we had a very quick introduction. We had a lot to do before it got dark on us.

We loaded the horses boxes with food and gear. Each box had to weigh the same as to keep the horse balanced. I tried to do what I could do to help, but the three of them worked like a welloiled machine so I really just tried to stay out of the way. I was introduced to my horse Rusty. Rusty reminds me of a kids horse, he is bomb proof, you can put anyone on him and he is stubborn, he is going to do what he wants, when he wants and doesn’t really care about what you want him to do. Rusty was tall, so tall that I couldn’t get on him without standing on something, maybe I could have without my pack on but this hunt would require a step of some sort and Doran’s help.

We made it to camp and Doran helped me get my tent set up. We slept in our own Hilleberg nylon tents scattered around camp. My spot was the farthest away from the main cooking shelter and near the kitchen fence for the horses. I inflated my sleeping mat and got my sleeping bag laid out, and tried to make my small sleeping space as functionable as possible with my gear. I made my way to the main shelter as I pulled back the tarp door. I could feel the heat from inside. There were a couple of lanterns lit and a fire burning in the wood stove. There was a table set up in the middle of the space with coolers and saddle boxes as benches. There was a wood counter made out of small logs on the top where the cook stove was and the bottom shelf was where the food was kept. It was late enough in the season that refrigeration wasn’t an issue but all of the meat was kept in a cooler to keep animals out of it. Doran told me that I could keep my gun and pack in the shelter at night if I wanted, so I went and brought those in and tried to get organized for the morning. During dinner we got to know each other a little better but they mostly talked to me about what to expect, and how things would work. We would hunt everyday no matter what Doran said. That was fine with me, that was why I was there. I retired to my tent shortly after dinner. It was just starting to snow so between sleeps I could hear the snow falling and sliding off of my tent throughout the night.

I was woken up by the sound of bells in the dark. Jade was the first up in the morning and she would bring the string of horses in and get them ready for the day. I heard Doran chopping wood and talking to Bethany and Jade. I unzipped from the warmth of my sleeping bag and added more layers to the ones that I slept in. I hit the roof of my tent to knock off the couple inches of snow that had piled up over night and made my way to the woodstove. Doran had coffee on and was cooking breakfast. Jade had made lunch for each of us the night before, so I just needed to add in whatever snacks that I wanted for the day. Doran gave us the plan for the day. Just after daylight we went out, put our food and water in the saddle bags, my gun in the scabbard and were ready. From camp you could just see a small corner of the lake that we had flown in on. From camp Jade spotted something in the lake. It was a caribou bull, I was like, could I really get an opportunity at a bull on the first day from camp? We watched him as he swam towards our shoreline and as he got closer it was obvious that he was not a legal bull, but it was fun to see him so early in the hunt.

We saddled up and headed out. The weather wasn’t great, it was cold, foggy and snowed off and on for the first two days of the hunt. I knew that there was a lot of time left to hunt and wasn’t worried at all. Jade stayed in camp each day to tend to the horses and go camp chores while Doran, Bethany and myself made our way through the bogs, brush and trees in search of either a moose or a caribou. I wasn’t picky, if I had an opportunity and either one I would be happy. On the third day of the hunt we hunted a different area, like the first two days it was acouple hour ride to our first glassing spot. By now I had figured out a pretty good glove combination that kept my hands pretty warm, I was figuring out the best way to ride up hills without smashing my bino harness on the saddle horn and I felt like I was able to help around camp a little bit more.

We climbed in elevation for this hunt, we were more in the alpines and above today. We tied our horses quite a ways away from our glassing spot. The sun came out and we could see for miles. It was big country, and to know that there were no roads anywhere close makes a person feel very small. We watched a float plane fly into a lake and pick up a hunter, we could see caribou miles away through the spotting scope, but nothing close by. We spent most of the day here and just before we left Doran wanted to go glass on the other side of the mountain. Bethany and I began to pack up our gear. Pretty soon Doran came running around the hill tapping his head (that was his sign that there was a shooter) he instructed me to grab my gun. I grabbed my gun and tripod and followed him around the hill. There were 2 bulls and a cow, one bull was a legal bull. He asked if I wanted him and of course I said yes. They were just over 300 yards away, so I got set up. I had a pretty bad case of the shakes to begin with and Doran could see that. He reminded me to breathe and pretty soon I was locked in on the bull. I waited for him to turn to the right and as soon as he did I squeezed the trigger, ejected that shell and reloaded. He was hit good but he gave me another opportunity so I shot again and he went down. Thank you Lord! Before squeezing the trigger I asked the lord to help me aim and stay focussed on my shot. I was so thankful and happy and a little emotional. We half hugged on the ground and recapped how the last 20 minutes had played out. Then the work began.

We hiked back to the horses and rode to where the caribou was. We skinned him and  quartered him up. We would leave him there for the night and come back with the horses in the morning. I was so excited and if I didn’t get a moose that was fine with me I couldn’t be any happier than I was right then. I sent my husband a message on the InReach, his reply was that he was so happy for me that he cried. That meant the world to me and also made me a little homesick. We rode back partially in the dark that night to camp. At one point on the ride back I was in lala land and fell off of Rusty. I slept a little better that night than I had been but was excited to go and get the meat the next morning.

Jade had all the horses ready to go on the morning of day 4. We were glad to see that nothing had gotten the meat overnight. We deboned the meat and divided it up between the boxes, loaded up the string and headed back to camp. We hadn’t seen a moose yet and Doran was going back and forth on whether we should move camps or not. He decided that we would move on day 5. The rest of day 4 he fleshed out the caribou hide and get it salted. While he did that we started to pack up the things that we would need to take to the new camp.

We got up early and started packing. We put all of the caribou meat and hyde in a steel barrel so that no bears would get into it. We packed up our tents and gear and loaded up on what food we thought that we would need. This camp that we were going to was just a pole a frame that we needed to take tarps to cover and there was a wood stove there. That was about it. It was about a 5 hour ride. This camp was beautiful, we could see mountains from this camp andthe sunset that first night was full of pink and orange colors in the sky. Jade and Bethany got the horses settled in while Doran and I got the main shelter set up. Doran had made reference a few times during this hunt that “we survive then we hunt” Today it sunk in the most. It was cold and the weather was starting to get nasty. We all needed to work together for food and shelter in order to survive out there, then we could hunt. That night before dark we watched a large group of Caribou in the distance feed off into the sunset. Before bed Doran told me that ideally I would need to kill on day 6 or the morning of day 7. We would lose a day traveling back to our first camp and if I did kill one it would take him a day to flesh it out. I told him that he just needed to get me into them then I would do my best.

The morning of day 6 was a good morning. It was crisp and cold but the sun was out and the predicted storm wasn’t there yet. Jade didn’t get much sleep that night because she had to move horses around in the middle of the night. So while we were hunting she was going to finish chores and get a nap. About 45 minutes into our ride Doran spots a bull moose and two cows. He quickly turned around and we took cover in some small alpine trees. We tied the horses up and moved on foot to get a closer look. He set up the spotter and we watched this bull. This was the first bull moose that I have ever seen in the wild. I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face while looking at him. Doran asked me if I wanted to go after him and I said “ Absolutely”. The weather was starting to change for now. The wind was in our favor but it was right on the border line of working against us. We made our way through the thick purple brush, trying to be as quiet as possible, we ranged him at 1,000 yards, 800 yards, 500 yards and then again at 480 yards. At this point we were pushing our luck. He was just feeding but his cows were making their way to the trees nearby. The wind was really picking up and changing direction a bit. I sat down on my pack and set up my tripod, I threw my gun on it and settled in. I turned my scope all the way up but I didn’t feel good about this shot. It was almost 100 yards farther than I have ever shot and I just didn’t feel stable. So I told Doran that it wasn’t right. We gathered up and kept moving forward, hoping to get around that 400 yard mark. At 450 yards the bull is looking right at us. If we were going to do something we needed to do it. We set up, I said a quick prayer and settled into my gun. I pulled away a couple times from my scope to take a deep breath and then settled back in. The entire time Doran was in my ear telling me that we were in no hurry but I knew that we were, the wind was starting to swirl and the bull was looking at us. Once I felt right I squeezed the trigger and watched the bullet hit the moose perfectly. He wheeled and ran, as soon as he stopped I pulled the trigger again on what was a hail mary shot. As I pulled the trigger he flipped over backwards and died.

I just sat there mostly in shock that I just pulled off a perfectly placed 450 yard shot on a bull moose in British Columbia. I thanked the Lord because without him none of this would have been possible. I thanked Doran and Bethany for all of their help and I just sat there. No yelling, no screaming with excitement, just emotions of pride and blessings. I couldn’t believe that I was actually taking home two beautiful animals.

Doran sent Jade a message to get the horses ready, needless to say she didn’t get a nap. We went back to camp, picked up the rest of the string and worked our way to the bull. It took a couple of hours to find a route through the marsh between camp and the bull. By the time wemade it to him the snow and winds had really picked up. After pictures we all went to work. Doran started caping him, Jade started working up the quarters and Bethany and I were deboning. Considering the size of the animal we had him worked up and loaded on the horses in under 5 hours. It was early evening when we got back to camp, we would head back to our original camp in the morning so we left all of the meat in the boxes for the night. It was cold and snowy so we weren’t worried about it spoiling. That night the weather gave us snow and sleet so everything was covered in ice the next morning.

We got up early to load up and head back to camp. I cooked breakfast while the others got the horses ready. By mid morning we were headed out. You could feel the relief in everyone that we had two punched tags and we had time to spare. As soon as we got back to camp we loaded up the caribou meat and hauled all of the meat down to the lake where the cub plane would come in and pick it up. He would have to make 2 trips since there was so much. Apparently the pilot had dubbed our camp as the estrogen camp, I was ok with that name. Afterall he was having to make two trips to pickup all of the meat from estrogen camp.

Day 8 was a lazy day in camp, except for Doran he spent several hours fleshing out the moose and getting the hide salted. I spent a lot of the day journaling and just taking it all in. These people have become my family in a way. When you share something this special with people, even strangers, they become a special part of your life. And these three people will always be very special to me.

Day 9 we packed up everything from camp. We would ride over a mountain summit to another lake and camp where we would fly out of on day 10. This was a long day on the horses, Rusty and I fell in a bog early in the day, fortunately I just gave him his head and he got out on his own. I did suffer a little bit of frostbite on my toes during that ride out but it has since gotten better. We arrived at the final camp of my trip and it was beautiful, it sat right on a lake shore, with big beautiful mountains all around it. There was a main cabin for cooking and gathering as well as hunters cabins, a guides cabin and a few out buildings. This was like a 5 star resort. My favorite thing about this camp was that my cabin had a woodstove. I built the biggest fire that night and just enjoyed the warmth, I even slept on top of my sleeping bag part of the night.

I was ready to go home but was also sad to leave this experience and these people who had shared in such a special thing with me. Doran would be flying out with me and Jade and Bethany would be trailing the horses out for the season. As the plane arrived we had work to do unloading supplies that they would need for the ride out and then loading all of the gear that needed to go back to base camp. Another storm was rolling in and it began to snow. We said our goodbyes and Doran and I got on the plane.

I can honestly say that I have never been so scared in my life. This was a rough ride, visibility was zero at times. When the pilot grabbed the dash as the plane fell and then cinched up his seat belt I felt like this could be serious. I began to pray and count, the praying for obvious reasons and the counting was to try and not throw up. Luckily we did have a tail wind so we made it back to the Yukon in about 30 minutes. We were greeted by Wendy and Rafi whohelped us get all of the gear loaded and take us back to basecamp. The next morning I would get my animals inspected and then head for home.

Everyone at camp jumped in to help me get everything loaded up and ready to go home. I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to work my trip home. I ended up driving straight through.I stopped around midnight that first night and slept for a couple of hours in a Walmart parking lot. It didn’t take long for me to get tired again so I slept a couple more hours at a rest stop. Then I ended up driving the rest of the way only stopping for fuel and bathroom breaks. It took me 36 hours to get home.

I don’t know if I will ever have an opportunity to do anything this memorable again. And if I don’t that is fine I am very blessed that I had this opportunity. I am so glad that I followed through with this dream of mine. If I wake up tomorrow and can’t hunt for some reason I will always havethese memories to look back on.

God is good - Go do the things that you want to do while your body will let you.