Caribou Advice

[bentstick_55]

I'd like to hear from some of you who have hunted Caribou. Who did you use? What was you're experience, good or bad? Main camp or outpost camp?

One of my main questions is can you get the meat actually cut and packaged prior to the flight home?

[BTH]

This is a good question. My buddy just called and asked if I wanted to join him and another buddy on a Caribou hunt. So, ditto on Bentstick's questions!

[Mr.Chuck]

I hunted in Quebec for caribou and it was great.  In the main camp,  our meat was cut up and box for us, then dry iced for the flight home.  This was an extra but well worth it.    

[joe skipp]

You have a PM......

[bentstick_55]

Mr. Chuck, you have a PM

[zwickeyman]

7 of us stick shooters went last September. Mackay Lake with Gary Jeab at True North Safaris in the N.W.T. Incredible hunt, the lodging, the guides, thefood, lots of Bou. Spectacular, hunt of a lifetime. We each got a bull with 6 qualifing for the book. I highly reccomend Gary Jeabs outfit at Mackay Lake. I probably passed up shots inside of 25 yards of at least 20 bulls.

[AkDan]

well as far as cutting a bull up, it wont take much longer then a whitetail.  Well it shouldnt anyways.  

Do yourself a favor, DO NOT go during the rut!!!  To late in the season and those beautiful animals are worthless tablefare.   I'm sure someone has or will mention how horrible caribou tastes...when in all reality a quality bull will taste just as good as any nice fat corn feed whitetail.

[bentstick_55]

Going 8/13-8/22/09 Jack Hume Adventures main camp. Eight days for the price of 6.

[Biggie Hoffman]

My trip to McKay Lake was on the other end of the spectrum from Zwickeyman. I would not recommed Gary to anyone I like :-(

To answer the question though, every outfitter isdifferent. In Labrador, we had meat cut and wrapped before we left. In the Territories, everyhing was quartered up and frozen. I've been to two places in Quebec, neither offered meat service but I knkow others that do. Check with your outfitter and ask specific questions.

[Greyfox54]

I went with Safarinordik a few years back and had a great hunt . Shot 2 real nice bulls and 5 ptarmigan . They have several camps and didn't decide on where we would be going until the night before and they had the latest reports on herd movement . They also agreed to move us if no Caribou were seen in a few days , an option that is rare . As seems to be typical in a caribou camp you have compound shooters and riflemen in the same camp with you but areas hunted never overlapped so you didn't even hear a shot or see anyone else when hunting . And the fishing was good too .Oh yeah , the meat was cut and wrapped before we left .

[Don Thomas]

it's a very broad question, because caribou hunting varies so much across the North. there is a big difference between a typical Quebec hunt and one in Alaska. An unguided do-it-yourself AK hunt will give you a feel for the wilderness you will never get in someone else's cabin. Caribou are a great game animal, very amenable to stalking into trad bow ranges when conditions are right. Personally, I have not been impressed with the Quebec hunt, although I am heading back to Labrador this year. Still, if I were just going once, I would head to AK on my own and learn something about myself in the wilderness. Don

[shapeshifter]

don- i did just that with scott nicholson (aka jumper) last year. we did a float moose hunt in september and a caribou hunt in november (both non-guided). absolutely the bests hunts i have ever had and was lucky enough to take a nice boo with my recurve. one thing i can recommend is that although the tundra looks like you could fly across it in a wide open sprint, THINK AGAIN! the tundra is full of tussiks (large growing clumps of compacted grass. the only way i can describe it is like walking on basketballs. though the country is relatively flat compared to what my elk stomping grounds look like in north idaho, i would say it is every bit as physically taxing to walk through as the very steepest mountains that i hike. my recommendation would be in the best physical shape you can be in if you are going to hunt the tundra before the snows have hit. i had gotten into "elk hunting shape" months prior to these hunts and the tundra still would have me pooped by the end of the day.

good luck on your hunt!
gino

[Don Thomas]

You're right about AK terrain. But not all tundra is created equal, and after some experience you get to know the difference. The wet, lowland stuff is very deceptive and can be a nightmare. I once had to save a friend from drowning when he went down on his face in a bog with half a caribou on his back. When I'm scouting from the air, i look for the low ridges covered with yellow lichen and broken shale. You can cruise for miles on that stuff. Don

[ChuckC]

Don.. without giving away the whole thing, can you give any advice on where to start if we try a do it yourself Alaska Boo hunt ?  Also, can one be combined realisticly with a moose hunt.  We are talking expreienced hunters.. but.. non-residents here.
ChuckC

[BMN]

Don't forget to look into Newfoundland. When I was looking into a caribou hunt several years ago I didn't want to risk the possibility of "missing the migration" and looking at a bunch of empty tundra for a week. The woodland caribou of Newfoundland are not subject to mass migrations and the opportunity to hunt them is almost guaranteed. You're not guaranteed an animal by any means but you should see animals every day. You won't see the huge herds or the massive head gear but if you put in the time you should see plenty of caribou. I had an absolutely wonderful experience in Newfoundland and would recommend it to any one.
 

[Reg Darling]

I'm not an expert by any means, but Quebec is a craps shoot--when it's good it's incredible, but when it's bad it's dismal.