From mountain to forest

Our winter group moves our reindeer over the mountain Uldevis every spring and autumn.

Karin´s dad Apmut-Ivar Kuljok jojkar about the mountain Ultevis.

(Search for his name on the list and listen)

In November the board of the Sámi village decides that the collection of the reindeer shall begin. Our winter group takes part in this task. It means ...

collecting the reindeer of the Sámi village during weeks/days into a construction for sorting out the reindeer herds. Our Sámi village has this place at the mountain edge in the mountain near forest. Kuorpak is the name of the place.

It takes many hours of snowmobiling and stops overnight in the mountain area before the reindeer are collected. 

We seldom have the possibility to call or use internet as there is no coverage. It can be hard not to have contact with your family at home when you are working with the reindeer. At the time when approximately half the reindeer are collected they are driven into vast grazing corrals near the construction for sorting out the reindeer. After that the important part of sorting them out can begin.

At this stage all the present family members give a helping hand. Now everyone is needed, old and young alike.
Besides finding your own reindeer you have to pick out reindeer for slaughtering and for sale. The reindeer are to be counted and treated against parasites. It is a lot of work and you want to get it done quickly so that the reindeer can go back to grazing.
When all the reindeer are sorted the winter groups are formed. Sometimes the grazing is good but it happens fairly often that it is destroyed by all the raining and cold which in turn establishes an ice crust on the ground. At such occasions it is common that the winter group is divided into smaller groups for making it easier to mind the reindeer and make sure that they are fed. This also requires grazing corrals and pure and new snow.

After the sorting of the reindeer is finished our winter group moves the reindeer again over the mountain and down to the forest. It is extremely cold this time of year and the days are short. Sometimes we have to move the animals in the dark. The moving from the mountain to the forest depends a lot on the weather and the time needed varies from one day to a couple of days.

During the moving of the reindeer we put them in grazing corrals. We want them collected in the morning when the trip down to the forest continues. When down in the forest it is harder to keep them collected and it is a good thing to have clever dogs that bark and keep them going.

After some days of moving in the forest we are near the area where the reindeer can start grazing. the reindeer herders are tired after several weeks of work with the animals. Cold and darkness are part of the working conditions, but also lifting heavy things when the snowmobiles need repairing and when you are stuck in the snow. The happiness, when the reindeer herd eventually has reached grazing ground which makes them secure and strong, is quite evident.

Now the work consists of making sure that the reindeer are keeping well and are under control. It is done by driving snowmobile around the herd every day. Sometimes it means a sixty-mile drive daily. All this depends on snow conditions, the possibility of grazing and disturbances of predators.

Our group usually makes a schedule of working hours for each and everyone of us. This works well certain years. Then again another year it might be necessary for all the reindeer herders to work every day. It depends on the supply of food, how much snow it is in the area etc. It is difficult to predict the conditions in the wintertime when you are so dependant on wind and weather.