On the caribou trail

Hunting is a way of life in the Arctic. It's part of the Inuit culture and it helps save money when food is unaffordable.

Aboard Silent Sound, we've enjoyed many meals of wild meat, thanks to generous hunters. We've cooked grizzly bear, seal, musk ox, goose, fresh fish and caribou. While ashore, we've sampled whale meat and whale blubber.

Jacob and Silas Atkichok took us caribou hunting in their speedboat.

After a few hours of motoring along the coast, we finally saw some caribou at their family's traditional summer hunting ground.

We parked the boat and quietly started following them. Jacob and Silas went first, with the gun, while we followed with our cameras.

We had to sneak up on the small herd from behind a hill, careful not to frighten them away. Soon Jacob was close enough to get a clear shot, and he rested on the ground while taking aim ... bang! bang!