The Arctic Trail

On a bitter day in January, when the thermometer read 47 below zero and the arctic sun slanted low over the frozen landscape, Explorer Bud Helmericks took down his gun and camera and set out from his cabin on the shore of Lake Takahula, Alaska. He was looking for two things: fresh meat for the larder and fresh photographs for his collection. He got both. Not far from the cabin, he flushed a cow caribou and dropped her with a single shot under the heart: Then he positioned his flash camera near the caribou, set the timer and trudged off with the carcass in tow. The result was this remarkable self-portrait of the hunter and his game, alone in a wilderness of ice and snow.

PHOTO

BUD HELMERICKS