Caribou are the Nomads of the Arctic. Their annual migration only halts for calving in the spring and to conserve energy surviving the long, dark Arctic winters. Caribou congregate on the Coastal Plain in early spring to raise their young. There is strength in numbers. The predators get many calves but can't get them all. After calving, these wanders disperse and seek out high ridges and leftover snowfields to minimize the onslaught of biting flies and mosquitoes. Late summer brings the urge to travel. The Caribou of the Arctic point their noses south and head for the passes of the Brooks Range. The journey south starts slowly as small herds converge and become larger, picking up the pace as the first frost blankets the tundra. August and September find great herds of caribou, sometimes numbering in the thousands rushing south funneled through the narrow passes Brooks Range in search of their wintering grounds in the Taiga to the south. It is in these passes that we pursue the great wanderers. At times the most difficult of the hunt is getting an animal to step clear of a herd of several hundred or more. Other times it is cutting off a heard that may be moving 5 miles per hour or more; a leisurely pace for an animal that rarely stops moving.