My Caribou story...

[buffybr]

I went on my first Caribou hunt in 1980. One of my friends had hunted in Alaska the previous year and had shot a beautiful B&C bull. He was putting together a hunt, and at the last minute, one of the guys couldn't go, and they invited me.

Back then you didn't need to show an ID to fly, and I flew as the guy that dropped out. We drove to Seattle from our home in Montana, then flew commercial to Anchorage, then to King Salmon, then a float plane dropped us off at a small lake somewhere out on the tundra.

The next morning while we were fixing breakfast, we spotted 2 bulls walking around the end of the lake. The guy that organized the trip and I were the only ones that had put on out hip boots, so the two of us went after those bulls. He shot first and dropped the smaller bull, then I shot and got the other one.

By the end of the week we all had a bull. We got waxed salmon boxes in King Salmon and were able to bring all of the meat and antlers home with us on the plane. I used my .30 Gibbs with a 180 gr Nosler Partition for my bull.

 

[buffybr]

I didn't hunt caribou again until 19 years later in 1999 when an outfitter friend of mine called me about a cancellation Dall sheep hunt in the MacKenzie mountains of Canada's NW Territory. It was primarily a sheep hunt, but we had the option to also buy a Mountain caribou tag, a wolf tag, and a wolverine tag. I bought all 4 tags.

I drove from my home in Montana to Edmonton, AB, then flew commercial to Norman Wells, than a float plane to the base camp. The first afternoon in the base camp we were all stanting around talking when the Outfitter asked which one of us bought a wolf tag. I said it was me and he said grab your gun, there's a wolf coming around the lake.

I got my rifle and followed one of the guides into the brush. We hadn't gone 100 yards when we ran into the wolf. He was only about 30 yds in front of us, but the guide was in front of my blocking any shot. That was the only wolf that I saw in that hunt.

The outfitter had both horseback hunts and backpack hunts. I went on a backpack hunt where a Super Cub flew my guide and me from base camp to a mountain top about a mile from where we made our spike camp. The next morning we climbed the mountain behind our camp and spotted several rams on the back side of it.

I immediately saw the ram that I wanted, so we stalked to 206 yards from them, and a 117 gr Sierra GameKing bullet from my .257 Ackley dropped him in his tracks. We spent the rest of the day packing the meat and head back to our spike camp. Both horns of my Dall ram were just 1/8" short of 40".

The next day we packed our camp and my ram down the valley where the Super Cub would pick us up. Half way down the valley we stopped for a break, and a wollverine was walking up the valley toward us. Another 117 gr Sierra bullet from my .257 Ackley put him down. The bullet that I shot my ram with went completely through him, leaving about a 1" exit hole. The bullet that hit my wolvering put at least a fist size hole through him. My taxidermist did a wonderful job sewing him up.

We rested a day in base camp, then the Super Cub took us to an area where my guide saw both caribou and wolves the previous hunt.

The first day out of that spike camy we walked several miles to a lake where my guide had seen the wolves. We didn't see any wolves, but one bull caribou that my guide said he would shoot, but I turned him down hoping for something bigger.

We then spotted a half dozen caribou cows on a snowbank above us, then a monster bull. My guide thought the bull would go up to the cows, but the next time we saw him he was almost a mile down the valley. We couldn't catch up to him. We didn't see any other caribou that day.

The next morning while we were fixing breakfast, the bull that I had turned down the day before walked within 100 yards of our camp. I didn't pass on him that day.

Back at base camp they sponged turpentine on the velvet antlers, and back at home, my taxidermist had them freeze dried and it perserved the velvet.

 

[buffybr]

By now I was pretty well hooked on caribou, and in 2004 I saw an opportunity to hunt both Central Canadian Barron Ground caribou and a Musk ox in the fall when the weather wasn't so brutal.

I again drove to Edmonton, then flew commercial to Inuvik where the MacKenzie River flows into the Arctic Ocean. From there we flew in a Twin Otter to out base camp on Bekere Lake. There were two other Montana hunters and a young hunter from Wisconsin in camp. We were each allowed 2 caribou on that hunt.

Our guides were a father and son Eskimos. The father was abut my age and the young Wisc and I hunted with him. The first day out, the two other hunters and I all killed small bulls. The next day my group was sitting on the top of a hill glassing, and I spotted a good bull in the valley below us. I asked my guide if I could go after him and he said OK and stayed on the top of the hill with the young hunter.

I intercepted that bull in the sparse timber down the hill and debated a long time about shooting him. He had great tops, back points, a single shovel, and long, but weak bez points. I finally decided to take him. On this hunt I was using my Rem 700 in 7 mm RM, and one 160 gr Accubond put him right down.

His shovel still had some velvet on it, and my taxidermist took that off and stained the antlers.

After I field dressed him I started to go up to get my guide, and to mark the way I hung squares of TP on tree branches. I didn't go very far when I ran out of TP, so I went back to my caribou and started to blow a pollice type whistle to try to get my guides attention. It didn't so I built a fire, and when my guide saw the smoke he came down to me.

I asked him if he heard my whistle, and he said he did but he thought it was some kind of strange bird.

I helped my guide skin and quarter him, and as we were doing that he cut off a chunk of fat and offered it to my saying "Candy?" I think that they would rather eat the fat than the meat.

It ended up that all 4 of us hunters got our two bulls, and each of us got bulls that met the minimum B&C score to make the"Book".

Caribou season had opened first, and after we all got our 2 caribou, we started looking for my Musk ox. We spotted a small herd of Musk ox the first evening, then found them again the next morning. Again I used my 7 mm RM for my Musk ox, and he turned out to be a dandy that easily qualified for the B&C Record Book.

I had him skinned our for a full mount.

When I got back to the Inuvik airport I had my aluminium rifle case, a duffle bag with my cloths and the Musk ox skull, a cooler with 50 pounds of Musk ox and Caribou meat, and a 3'x3'x3' cardboard box containing the complete Musk ox hide and the two Caribou shoulder capes, and the two full sets of Caribou antlers nested together..

The girls at the airline check-in couldn't lift the box with the hides and asked me to put it on the conveyer. She then said that she would have to charge me an extra $25 for all of my check-in baggage.

 

[Ramem7mm]

Awesome story!

 

[buffybr]

In the '80s or '90s several of my friends had gone on caribou hunts in Quebec. I had always wanted to hunt there, but never got around to do it. Then I heard that Quebec was going to close their caribou hunting to non-residents and at the ISE Sports Show in January of 2017, I saw a Quebec outfitter and he affirmed that 2017 was to be the last year for non-resident caribou hunting, so I immediately booked a hunt.

I think that my hunt was in the last week of the season. I booked with Leaf River Outfitters. I flew from Denver to Montreal, then to Lac Pau (?) where we flew to camp in a 1954 Otter float plane. They had a great camp there with a small cabin for each 2 hunters, a shower cabin and a cook and eating cabin.

We were supposed to have 1 guide for each 2 hunters, but one guide was sick so we had 3 hunters/guide.

Before that hunt none of us knew each other, and as my group started across the lake in a motored freighter canoe, the guide asked if we had decided who would shoot first. One of the other hunters suggested that the oldest hunter would get the first shot. Finally, old age paid off and I got to shoot first.

We saw a lot of caribou that first morning, but since I had previously shot 3 different species of caribou I was picky and turned them all down.

We took a lunch break out of the wind on the backside of a hill, and one of the other hunters spotted some bulls about a half mile from us. I glassed them and thought one looked real good, so we took off after them.

I was hunting with my Rem 700 7 mm RM with 160 gr Accubond bullets again, and my shot hit the biggest bull, but they kept running for another couple hundred yards, then stopped. I got up to less than 100 yds from them and I could see that my bull was hurt bad, so I laid down behind a boulder and waited for the other hunters to catch up.

One of the other hunters took a shot at the next biggest bull, but missed, and when he looked down to chamber another shell, those other 2 bulls had changed places, and he then shot the wrong one. He was pretty bummed. I then finished off my bull.

I told our guide that I would take care of my bull so he could take care of the other one.

I was very happy with my bull!

He had double shovels, great bez's, good tops, but only one back point. I think that he turned out to be one of the highest B&C scoring bulls to come out of the Leaf River herd that year. And I was very honored to have him invited to the B&C 19th Awards Ceremony held at the Bass Pro Wonders of Wildlife Museum in Springfield, MO in 2019.

The next day I tagged along with the other hunter in our group, and he also shot a B&C bull.


In 2019 I thought that I would try for the 5th North American caribou so I booked a hunt that fall in Newfoundland for moose and caribou.

In the week that I was there, we didn't see any caribou, and the 3 bull moose that we saw all had smaller antlers than the 2 Shiras bull moose that I had shot many years ago here in Montana, so I came home from that trip with tag soup.

 

[TWHrunner]

Do you have a photo of all your antlers in one place from the different trips over the years?

 

[Balderdash]

Thanks for the write up. Good hunting!

 

[buffybr]

Do you have a photo of all your antlers in one place from the different trips over the years?

 

[rayporter]

i would like to meet you on a mountain and share a campfire!

 

[buffybr]

All of my mule and whitetail deer, elk, mt goat, 3 bighorn sheep, and the 2 Shiras moose I did on DIY (and most solo) hunts on public land and each only cost me a Montana resident tag and a tank of gas. Most were less than $100.

 

[TurkeyReaper69]

Thank you for sharing your stories... I really enjoyed. Hopefully someday Quebec will open to NR again. And nice trophy room!

 

[elkguide]

What an amazing "museum" you have. You certainly have lived an amazing hunting life.
Thanks for sharing and taking us along.

 

[TWHrunner]

Incredible photos of your trophies. What great adventures you’ve been blessed with. Congratulations.

 

[gerry35]

Thanks for sharing, some amazing mounts you have there. All your caribou (and other animals you took) are beautiful, I'm always amazed how big the mountain caribou are every time I see them. Need to get another one soon. Hope you can add the woodland caribou from Newfoundland some day.

 

[Adamsfj]

Thank you for sharing your Hunts and Photos. Inspires me to get out there and get it done!!

 

[BC Alpine Hunter]

That was one of the most enjoyable stories I have read in a while. Great job documenting all your hunts with photos and remembering the details of each day. Thank you for taking the time to share that with us. Congrats on all the exceptional animals you have taken. Great memories.

 

[Tim in Wa.]

Awesome !vthanks for sharing that
Tim

 

[VernAK]

I'm trying to think of the brand of hip boots you wear in first pic. They ceased production in the late 80s and we've never had a hip boot that good since.
Back then a lot of our hunting was done in hip boots with a rain coat that came down over the hip boot tops....no goretex then.

 

[Clarktar]

All of my mule and whitetail deer, elk, mt goat, 3 bighorn sheep, and the 2 Shiras moose I did on DIY (and most solo) hunts on public land and each only cost me a Montana resident tag and a tank of gas. Most were less than $100.

3 Big Horn resident tags in Montana?!!!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[buffybr]

3 Big Horn resident tags in Montana?!!!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

The Unlimited Tag Units just north of Yellowstone NP.

Back then the tags were $25 for residents, OTC, you could buy one if you weren't successfull in the Drawing, and if you killed a ram you didn't have to wait 7 years to apply again.

The sheep season opened in early September and lasted until the last Sunday in November. Some units wouldn't fill the quota.

Grizzly tags were also OTC and $25.

Those were the good old days! And we didn't know how how good we had it.

I bought an Unlimited Sheep tag for at least 8 years, hunted in at least 4 Units, and most years I only hunted the first weekend.