Alaska Caribou Story

[Pygmy]

Hopefully this is an appropriate post for this forum...

It is a post that placed on another forum a few years ago after my last DIY caribou hunt in Alaska..

A forum member had mentioned that killing a caribou was like killing a cow...

SURE it CAN be, if you hit the migration just right, but after 5 hunts in Alaska, 3 hunts in northern Quebec, and a hunt in NWT, it does not always happen that way...

Is killing a caribou like killing a cow...??..

I can't remember how many times I have heard that statement.. It is nearly always made by somebody who has made 1 caribou hunt and hit the migration right, or somebody that has never hunted caribou and has watched too many caribou hunting videos...

I would have LOVED to have had had a couple of those jokers follow in my footsteps ( or try to) on my Alaska caribou hunt the first week of this year ( 2001)...

The hunting was tough, the animals were scattered, and the country was big...The caribou were tough to get even within 300 yards of,probably because of the numerous wolves and grizzlies in the area..  Four of us us filled seven  tags in six days of hunting, but we really had to work for them and the bulls we killed were not wallhangers, since we were seeing mostly cows and young bulls..To give you the flavor of the hunt, I'll recount the story of my stalk on my second bull while it is still fresh in my mind..

It was our final day of hunting and I still had a tag to fill...In the morning I hiked to a ridge behind our camp where I could glass several miles of surrounding tundra..It was spitting rain and there was patchy fog lying in the valleys..

After about a half hour of glassing I saw a herd skyline themselves coming over a hill about a mile away..I glassed them and spotted several bulls that were potential shooters..Judging from the direction they were moving, I guessed that I MIGHT be able to execute a stalk and get within rifle range IF they slowed down to feed in the valley that they had just entered..About this time a hard steady rain and a dense fogbank moved in..I hoped the fog would stay long enough to cover my appraoach..I had about two miles to go over rough, hummock-covered tundra to get into position, and I had to do it as fast as my sawed-off little legs would do it..

I took off directly into the the driving rain.. I walked as fast as I could,and soon I was as wet inside my rain gear as I was on the outside..By the time I covered a mile I was soaked...At one point I felt the urge to empty my bladder and I SERIOUSLY considered peeing in my pants just for the brief, warm feeling it would give me..

Eventually I got to a spot that I FELT might be the right spot...I did not want to bump the herd in the fog and I could only see about 50 yards..

So I just stood there in the fog and the rain, wet and starting to chill...

The fog gradually lifted.. A short distance away I saw a couple of white spots..I soon realized that it was the remains of a caribou I had killed a couple days earlier...I walked over to inspect it...Nearly every scrap was cleaned up...Some predator had eaten the remains..a GRIZZLY perhaps..??..I thought about the big sow and two cubs my partner had seen, and the HUGE boar I had seen, and bolted a round into the chamber of my 9.3 x 62..

Gradually the fog lifted..I could eventually make out, about 500 yards uphill from me, a group of 6 caribou lying down..One was a bull..Not a BIG bull, but considering that it was the last day, a definite shooter..Unfortunately, there was NO  cover between me and them to make a stalk...I knew I could never get within range of them across that open ground..So I just STOOD there in the rain...For an HOUR...Once, the fog closed in briefly and I ran about 100 yards toward the caribou

before it  cleared out and I had to stop..But I was still too far for a shot...I knew that they would not see me as long as I stood relatively motionless, so I had no choice but to stand there..

After what seemed like an eternity..Somewhere between one and two hours, They started to stand up and get ready to move..I lowered myself slowly to my knees and got my pack out in front of me to rest my rifle on... I wiped the rain from the lenses of my 4X Leupold.. Trouble was, by this time, I was thoroughly soaked and chilled, and I was SHIVERING too hard to make a shot...As the caribou milled around trying to make up thier minds which way to go, I frantically did isometric exercises trying to warm enough to stop shivering...Fortunately, they were in no big hurry, and by they started down the hill toward my position, I had the shivers under control...

On they came... LORD it was sweet, after a two mile forced march and then standing and finally LYING soaked in the tundra, when the bull came to within 150 yards and stopped broadside....

The crosshairs settled on his ribs and I touched the set trigger...

....BOOOOM....

The bull almost looked like he exploded as water sprayed from his hide when the heavy 250 grain Barnes X bullet hit him high in the ribs...

He had an instant gravity attack..Straight down...

It was one of the most satisfying stalks I have ever made on a game animal...He was small, as caribou go, but as fine a trophy as I have ever taken, due to the circumstances under which I took him...

Like shooting a COW..??.. Boy would I ever have liked to have one of those guys along on THAT stalk...

[Dinsdale]

Good stuff!

Well done on all accounts hunting and the story.

Glad you posted

[catskillkid]

Great story, Pygmy

Nice to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon

Do you have any more?

Catskillkid

[Bballhunter11]

I agree with you whole heartedly Pygmy, hit the migration and you can have your pick in the parking lot of the lodge haha. 3 friends of mine and i went on a DIY hunt in Quebec in 2004 in late winter. Long story short we were not in the migration, we rode snowmobiles from sun up to sun down for days without spotting anything and on the last day we saw 1 lone caribou and one of my friends dropped it. Can be an easy hunt but this one was anything but easy

[Pygmy]

Ok, Blhunter..here's a brief synopsis of my 9 caribou hunts...

1...    1989...  DIY Alaska float hunt....My partner and I were seeing good numbers of nice bulls , but on day 3 of the hunt, we ran into two bull moose and had the bad luck of killing them both.. ??? ...By the time we got them back to the river ( a week) most of the caribou had cleared out..My Buddy ended up killing a nice bull caribou but I did not.. We had ENOUGH meat to deal with..

2...1991...  DIY Alaska drop hunt....  5 of us us killed 3 bull caribou and a black bear...I did not shoot anything..Passed on a few small bulls and cows..  Caribou were scattered...

3...1994... NWT guided hunt at Little Marten Lake.... First class guided hunt about 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle in NWT north of yellowknife.. My first guided hunt ( 2x1).. I saw from 200 to 1000 caribou per day.. 10 of us limited out on big bulls, including a couple of B&C heads.. Great fishing, also, for lake trout, northern pike and grayling..We had Inuit guides, who were a real HOOT... ;D ..

4...1996...  DIY Alaska drop hunt.. 5 of us killed a 55"moose, two cow caribou, one bull caribou and a black bear..I shot a cow caribou for meat...

5 ...1998... Quebec fly in guided hunt out of Kuujjuac ( sp..?..)

      11 of us hunted with Silak Adventures....

  They split us into two camps... One camp killed only 2 bulls.. The camp I was in only killed 1 bull in 3 days ,,They moved us the last day and dropped us into a huge concentration of caribou... We limited out in 24 hours and had some real big bulls.. Ended up with 13 caribou for 11 hunters..

6  ....1999...  DIY Super Cub drop out of Dillingham, Alaska... 4 guys hunted 10 days .. Saw appx 1000 caribou per day.. We all killed trophy bulls, but saw a couple of B&C monsters after we had tagged out.. Incredible hunt.. 8 nice bulls for 4 hunters.. Saw 13 grizzlies on that hunt... ??? ... ??? ... ??? .. Seeing one of those hairy Volkswagons makes you doubt that you are carrying a big enough gun...

7 ...2001... DIY Super cub drop out of Post Alsworth, Alaska...

        4 hunters..saw from 100 to 200 animals per day, but practically no big bulls..We  filled 7 of our 8 tags, but they were not wallhangers, just young meat bulls..

8...  2006... Northern Quebec... Hunted with Jack Hume Adventures out of Schefferville...Outfitted..Semi guided..We had a camp manager to help with the animals, ferry hunters round, etc. but basically hunted on our own..

  Six of us saw probably 50-300 animals per day, but a good percentage were adult bulls..We all killed 2 trophy bulls apiece, and one of our guys killed both of his with a bow..

9 ...  2008 ...  Northern Quebec, again with Jack Hume.. Saw from 20 to 50 animals per day, but most were small bulls and cows.. Most of us filled our tags for meat.. No real trophies shot on that trip, except one young fellow shot a HUGE black bear..

SO .. That is how it goes..Hunting is hunting..Sometimes you get into them BIG TIME and other times the pickings are slim...

I truly DO love the spot and stalk caribou hunting, however..I also consider caribou the BEST big game meat I have ever eaten.. Wish I could afford to hunt them every year..

[catskillkid]

Pygmy,

I guess you like your caribou, are you going back for more?

Catskillkid

[Bballhunter11]

Sounds like you have been on some GREAT trips Pygmy. If you are hunting with great guys sometimes u dont even mind not getting something one year if other people are. I know what you mean when u said both you and your buddy shot bull moose and had plenty to do for a while. I have shot a moose in New Hampshire and can only imagine that yours in Alaska were twice the size. Alaska is amazing country 

[Pygmy]

Pygmy,

I guess you like your caribou, are you going back for more?

Catskillkid

I am probably done caribou hunting, as much as I love it...I've killed a dozen or so of them and have  nice specimens of 3 different subspecies mounted...Caribou hunts are getting pricey, also...

Being on a fixed income, my bankroll can't support the hunts I once took...I'm doing the Newfie moose hunt this year, and hope to do another elk hunt  and maybe another muley hunt sometime in the future...I have a pile of Colorado preference points to burn up..

Breaks my heart, but I suspect I have seen the Alaska tundra for the last time.. If I get back up there, it will probably be a fishing trip..I have a buddy in Juneau who does a lot of halibut and salmon fishing...

BUT from what my buddies tell me, the Newfoundland Wilderness is pretty nice, also... ;D .....

[Pygmy]

Sounds like you have been on some GREAT trips Pygmy. If you are hunting with great guys sometimes u dont even mind not getting something one year if other people are. I know what you mean when u said both you and your buddy shot bull moose and had plenty to do for a while. I have shot a moose in New Hampshire and can only imagine that yours in Alaska were twice the size. Alaska is amazing country

Congrats on your NH moose.. ANY moose is a big animal...

I have been in on 4 moose kills.. 3 were big Alaskan bulls, and they are huge..It's a monumental task  taking care of one...

The other one was a young New Brunswick bull, probably only a little more than half the size of a big Alaska bull...STILL a big hunk of meat lying on the ground... I shot him in the middle of a hellhole clearcut..Fortunately  my guide ( who is a dairy farmer in NB) owned a huge 4WD tractor..His  hired man drove it right to the moose, over deadfalls, stumps and brush, hooked a chain to the beast and dragged  him out....Then he loaded it whole into the bed of a truck with his front end loader..  Now THAT is the way to take care of a moose.. In Alaska you have no choice but to cut them into pieces small enough to carry on a packframe and carry them on your back  to where a boat or an airplane can get to them...

In  Newfoundland helicopters are allowed to transport hunters, which is strictly forbidden in Alaska...Many of the outfits simply quarter the moose, bag it, and call in the chopper to airlift it out to civilization..

[Dinsdale]

Good stuff on all the Caribou hunts; you may well have hit its heyday in some of those locations. Herds are dropping numbers significantly in many locations.

I did 2 in Quebec and glad I did them when I had the chance.

[Pygmy]

Dinsdale..You hit the nail right on the head....

I hunted NWT in '94... Awesome numbers of big Central barren ground bulls..  As I understand it, the numbers have declined enough so they are no longer issuing NR tags...

I hunted the Mulchatna herd in AK in the late 90s..Another awesome herd that is no longer huntable for nonresidents..

I hunted northern Quebec in 98, 2006 and 2008...My last time there I could see the decline..They are now talking about limiting NR tags up there due to descreased numbers..

About the only caribou herd that is currently thriving is the Alaska western Arctic herd, and to a lesser extent, the 40 mile and Porcupine herds..

Good hunting still remains for mountain caribou in NWT, northern BC and the Yukon, but that has become a rich man's sport, like sheep hunting... Hunts start around 10 K...

Caribou are and have always been cyclic..Sport hunting really affects them very little, but there are political concerns involving native peoples and of course, the Fish & Wildlife people have to put the consevation of the resource above all else..