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Bill and I were optimistic as we motored to the end of the lake. Jimmy suggested that we try a bit further back from the end of the lake rather than in the trees. This setup allowed us to see the caribou swimming toward us and give us time to set up for a shot. This sounded like a great plan as yesterday we were caught with our pants down a few times.

We found a good entrance trail on the bank where caribou would come out of the lake and head for the hills. We were set up and in position by 7:30 AM. By late morning we had seen very few caribou. A small group of cows and immature bulls swam the lake but little else. When Jimmy came to check on us, he told us about another place he had found which was tore up with caribou trails. We decided to give that a try.

The spot Jimmy found looked great. We cut down some small spruce trees and set up a new ambush spot. This spot looked perfect as all trails converged at the juncture of the swamp behind us. We sat for hours in the rain and cold and saw a total of 4 caribou. Two cows, a calf and one small bull.

Cold, wet and disappointed we headed back to camp. Once there we found that the others had seen dramatically less caribou than the day before. This was not good. We expected the caribou to be building in numbers, not decreasing. Tomorrow would be a decision point for us.