Reindeer Hunt

       I went hunting last week in school. The high school students went hunting. Hunting was an activity for Bering Sea Days. We hunted for reindeer. We were hunting in St. Paul Island Alaska.

       Bering Sea Days is a week of science. All kinds of science is going on like dissecting, studies about endangered species, climate change, hunting, etc. A lot of scientists would fly to St. Paul to teach us  about our island. The scientists also like to come over here because they like the nature of St. Paul. We have different types of animals on this island. We have the biggest population of seals, a lot of sea birds, and reindeer.

       We went on a high vantage point to find the reindeer. Once we found it, we went as close to them as possible by car. We had to walk, crawl, and crouch for a mile. We had to hold a backpack full of knives, warm clothing, and food. It takes a long time to get to the reindeer.

       Once we get close enough to the reindeer, which is about a hundred yards away, you look for a nice reindeer to get. There was about 350 reindeer in a circle. It is hard to just focus on one reindeer when they are all moving. It takes a while to kill one because they have to be a little farther out of the group.

       When the adult shot at the reindeer, he missed. He rattled the reindeer a little. When they got rattled, they moved about ten yards away from the shooter. There was a fawn that was out of the group and ran towards the group. The shooter shot it right below the ear.

       You want to get a fawn or a yearling instead of an aged reindeer. You want a fawn or a yearling because the meat wouldn't taste so gamey compared to the old reindeer. You have to think about that kind of stuff before you shoot at a reindeer. Also, you don't want the reindeer to get scared and run when you shoot. You don't want them to run because they would build lactic acid inside their body and spoil the meat.

       When the shooter killed the reindeer, we went over to cut it up. We cut from the butt hole to the neck. We did that so we can take the insides out like the stomach, lungs, intestines, and all that stuff. We had to be careful when we cut the stomach out because one poke with a knife will break the stomach open. That would spoil the meat. We also cut the head off.

       After we were done cutting up the reindeer, we put it in a tobagan and dragged it a mile to the road. We had to go over steep hills and sand. We finally made it to the road and took a van in-town. We were happy that we got a reindeer with this group because it is hard to get a reindeer with a big group.

       When we made it in-town, we hung the reindeer up by his legs in a shed. We had it hung up for three days. After the three days, we came back to the reindeer and rubbed vinegar all over the reindeer. We did this to clean the blood and fur off of the reindeer. After all of this, we cut off the fat. Then we cut the reindeer up in quarters.

       The next day, we cooked the reindeer in the school kitchen. We smoked the reindeer and made jerky. Also, we grounded up the reindeer and gave a burger size to everyone who hunted to cook the burger themselves at their houses. We gave out about 20 pounds of ground meat. The last thing that we did was sauté the heart. Our tummies were full of delicious reindeer after.