White maned bou?

[TimberDoodle]

This may be a dumb question, but is there any general rule of thumb as to when caribou manes turn white (e.g. normally by the first week in September)? To me, the hard-horned white-maned animals seem to make a much more exceptional trophy than the all grey velvet bulls.

 

[Stid2677]

The white mane is winter hair, the hard horn starts end of Aug first few weeks of sept. They get winter fur by Oct or so, but they are not fit to eat then as they are in rut and drink cow urine. So if you want to eat it, you would want to wait until later in the winter.

 

[TimberDoodle]

Thanks Stid. I was wondering if the inedibility thing (& increasing likelihood of bad weather) would be hurdles in pursuing the white-maned bulls...

 

[Yellowknife]

The window to harvest a really big big, white maned, hard horned bull that is actually palatable is extremely narrow. All the really nice white maned bulls I've shot have been in December or later, and by Dec 1, many of the really nice heavy bulls have dropped horns. Late November you might get lucky and find one that checks all the boxes, but that's about it, at least in interior Alaska.

A set of Sept horns and a December cape married together might be the easiest way to get there truthfully. My wife got an absolute beauty of a white maned old bull on Dec 1 a few years ago that had unfortunately already dropped. I really should have caped it, as I imagine it would have had value to somebody, but we were just meat hunting at the time and it didn't cross my mind.

Yk

 

[adventure907]

I think the last week of the season, (third week september) is when the capes are the prettiest. I prefer the cape with the white mane, yet the face and rest of the body is still dark. I don't find the winter coats when they are mostly white to be that attractive. I was lucky a few years back and took a great caribou, his cape is about perfect for my tastes...

 

[TimberDoodle]

That is a beauty of a bull adventure907. I agree that the white mane with dark on the remainder of the cape makes for s striking trophy. Does anyone have pics of a winter cape for comparison?

 

[Becca]

Luke got this bull on Sept 20th a few years back...



Neither of us planned to keep the cape, until we we skinning it out and realized neither of us could stand to put any holes in it. The mane was too pretty. We ended up mounting it with another set of slightly larger antlers we had...

 

[adventure907]

Beautiful cape on that bull Becca!!! I like how it appears that it was just in the early stages of turning white, with some grey speckling mixed in the mane. For reference, my bull was taken on September 18th.

 

[TimberDoodle]

Fantastic looking animal as well, Becca!

Would it be approximately right that the season typically ends from the 20th-30th depending on unit, with the bulls being rutty & inedible around the month of October? Has anyone ever run into a rutty bull before the season closed?

 

[Becca]

Fantastic looking animal as well, Becca!

Would it be approximately right that the season typically ends from the 20th-30th depending on unit, with the bulls being rutty & inedible around the month of October? Has anyone ever run into a rutty bull before the season closed?

I don't have the regs in front of me, but I think the dates vary some from unit to unit. The resident only Tier 1 tag closes Sept 21 through late Oct (I believe Oct 20 but I am not positive) to help avoid the rut, most drawing tags close for good at the end of September and don't reopen at all. Most of the caribou I have shot or helped others with have been in mid August through late September, and I don't recall ever encountering a bull that was rutty tasting. Caribou is probably the strongest "gamey" taste of any game meat I have tried, and some are more strong tasting than others, but I have never had any that was foul smelling or tasting (although I have heard horror stories). Since we usually have some other meat I like better as steak or roast (blacktail deer, dall sheep or moose), I typically have caribou meat (except back straps and tenderloins) turned into ground or cured sausage. It makes excellent salami, hotdogs and polish.


We helped a friend fill his tag in late October 2012 after the season reopened, and he took this nice bull:


I cooked up the tenderloins later that night for dinner, and it was great eating.

 

[Ray]

Has anyone ever run into a rutty bull before the season closed?

I have had friends that have. Many years ago a buddy took a large bull in early September that was chasing cows. He still had a few velvet strips hanging off the tips of the antlers. My buddy thought that the bull was just being a grumpy old bull. His meat reeked and after a lot of attempts to spice it up he tossed it. The rest were taken right at the end of the first split season. All of them were pushing cows around.

The bull in my avatar was taken on the next to last day of the September season. He was obviously the herd bull and was doing his own thing, but he was not pushing around any of the cows like the smaller bulls. He tasted "caribouy" but not rutty at all. Great breakfast sausage and good loin steaks.

Here he is half dressed in his summer coat. Once half of him was bagged I could drag him out of the water to some higher swamp.

This is what you want to shoot if you are meat hunting. Young dumb bull in velvet. Yum!

 

[luke moffat]

I have had friends that have. Many years ago a buddy took a large bull in early September that was chasing cows. He still had a few velvet strips hanging off the tips of the antlers. My buddy thought that the bull was just being a grumpy old bull. His meat reeked and after a lot of attempts to spice it up he tossed it. The rest were taken right at the end of the first split season. All of them were pushing cows around.

The bull in my avatar was taken on the next to last day of the September season. He was obviously the herd bull and was doing his own thing, but he was not pushing around any of the cows like the smaller bulls. He tasted "caribouy" but not rutty at all. Great breakfast sausage and good loin steaks.

Here he is half dressed in his summer coat. Once half of him was bagged I could drag him out of the water to some higher swamp.

This is what you want to shoot if you are meat hunting. Young dumb bull in velvet. Yum!

Unless we draw a tag, most of our caribou are shot in OTC areas usually last week in August is when we target them....still in velvet and plenty good eating.

 

[jwb300]

Great pics. Anyone got any pics of full winter capes that are all white?

Cheers,
JWB300