RETURN TO NEWFOUNDLAND – Part Three, By Roy Goodwin

After all the travel the past few days, a good dinner, and a warm cabin, sleep came fast last night.  The weather was clear this morning and we were all dressed and at the breakfast table thirty minutes early.  The cooks (Anne and Gerard) were accommodating with a ready breakfast and plenty of hot coffee.  Once we all (five guides and five hunters) had breakfast we packed our lunches and paired up for the day’s hunt.  I will be hunting again with my old friend Andy and Mark will be guided all week by Andy’s brother Billy.  Corey, who was our cook four years ago, has graduated to full guide status and is guiding Kevin.  Ron will be guided by Lee, and Larry will be shown the country by Aubre.  Corey has the least experience but has been guiding bowhunters for three seasons now.  We are all in capable hands!

Allan Anglyn with two trophy stags he took the week before we arrived, guided by Corey

Andy and I took one of the camp boats and headed northwest about seven miles to access a large bottom country where a big bull moose was seen two weeks ago, and where we took a good stag three years back.  Mark and Billy took the other boat and headed north east about the same distance to a spot where Billy has had good luck finding both moose and caribou in the past.  The others all headed out on foot to cover the hills and bottoms easily accessible south of camp.  Larry was going to my favorite spot for moose, but we drew the boat, and such is the luck of the draw!

With clear skies and little wind, the boat ride was enjoyable this morning.  Shortly after heading “in country” on foot we saw a large cow moose.  Andy made a few calls which got her attention and she hung around for quite a while.  No bull showed up, so we pushed on.  Andy wanted to show me some new country we had never tramped together in the past which had good potential, so off we went.  We only covered a couple miles when we spotted a lone stag off to the south feeding around the edge of a small bog.  I forgot my spotting scope at home, and will be forced to do a lot more “foot work” on this trip as a result.  While getting closer to better assess the antler structure on this first stag, we found another stag heading in our basic direction.  Things were looking up!  A half hour later we were close enough to determine that neither stag met my “specifications”, although both would make Pope  & Young minimums.

 
Before I go further I should explain the running joke we have at camp.  As a serious trophy bowhunter I’m pretty fussy about what I’ll shoot.  I have gotten even more particular after taking four record book woodland stags from this camp!  Andy jokes that all the stags I pass up are left behind because “they don’t meet Roy’s specifications”!  I don’t remember where this all started, but all the guides have gotten into the act and we all have a lot of fun with it.

 
By the time we had decided to pass any opportunity to stalk these two stags, Andy spotted a large herd of caribou off to the south east.  They were too far to judge without a spotting scope, but given the number of animals we both felt certain there would be at least one good stag in the bunch.  We are hunting the rut after all, and all the big stags will have rounded up their harems in preparation for the breeding season.  Any group of three or more does will have at least one stag in tow this time of the year, and the larger groups will have several stags jockeying for position.  We were off!

It didn’t take us long to close the distance to 241 yards (Andy has a new range finder so we have constant range assessments!) where we found ourselves tucked in behind a six foot larch tree.  Most of the herd was bedded on a small hillside open in every direction for at least 150 yards.  The largest stag was milling around the bedded does keeping a couple small stags a safe distance from his “ladies”.  Two smaller stags were feeding and circling the does looking for an opening.  There were eleven caribou in this group when the big stag finally bedded among his girls.

Off to the south of this herd about 50 yards was another group of caribou bedded in the wide open.  This group had five does, a large stag, and one smaller stag.  All together we had almost twenty pairs of eyes watching every direction, and there was no cover between them and us, save that one skinny larch tree!  We sat glassing the herd trying to decide if either of the larger stags met our specifications.  I decided that the largest one would due if we got the opportunity, although I have taken larger.  Because my main focus was a good moose on this trip, and the potential to hunt bears on the ground, I didn’t want to be “too fussy” when it came to filling my caribou tag.  After all, I have taken several real nice woodland stags in the past!

Andy and I kicked ideas around about how to put the move on the largest stag while we ate a little lunch and watched the individual animals interact with one another.  We could wait them out and hope they would feed in our direction when they were ready, or we could try to go to them in their beds.  At first the “wait and see” concept sounded good, but once we realized that it could be several hours before they moved, we had second thoughts.  Besides, it was getting cold just sitting around in the open!  We decided that the best thing to try was Andy’s famous “Full Frontal Attack”.  What we do is just stand in the open together and gradually work our way toward the herd while acting like a stag coming to challenge the herd bull for his girlfriends.

Andy turns his vest around so the light side faces front, much like a stag’s white mane and cape.  He places his arms in the air, like antlers, and slowly rocks them from side to side as he walks slowly toward the target animal.  I follow him closely, so we look “almost” like one four legged animal, with an arrow nocked and ready.  Every few yards we stop, snort-grunt a challenge, and beat brush with an axe handle.  It helps to follow a general course directly toward the herd while zigzagging slightly from side to side to decrease the pressure you would put on the herd by a fast straight approach.  We got to with-in 101 yards of the herd before any of them got to their feet.

The does were the first ones up, and they started milling around seemingly uneasy by our approach.  We stopped to decrease the forward pressure and continued the challenge grunting.  Finally the biggest stag rose, mostly to keep his girls from wondering.  As we increased the challenge he went to a small bush and proceeded to rip it up with his antlers.  As he did we moved even closer, closing the gap to just under 80 yards.  The does moved off slightly to the south, actually joining the second group which was now also on their feet and watching.

As soon as the two groups of does came together the larger stag lost interest in us and got concerned with the potential of loosing his girlfriends to the other stag.  Antlers back and chest out, he approached the other stag spoiling for a fight.  We moved in even closer.  We were a mere 70 yards away when the two stags first locked antlers and the real fun began!  At the first sound of clashing antlers Andy started running.  Not one to miss the fun, I was right behind him.  The two stags were really going at it, and had both lost any interest in us or what we were doing.  Andy and I both ran right up to with-in twenty yards of the locked up stags in the wide open.  The does were running around in circles around both us and the fighting stags, unsure what was going to happen next and caught up in the drama that was unfolding.

Andy ranged the stags at 21 yards as I came to full draw.  The larger stag was to the right, broadside, and in the clear.  I put the twenty yard pin behind his shoulder and let the string loose.  About the same time the pushing match got more intense and Andy jumped to the left as the smaller stag pushed the larger one by him at less than 15 yards.  In the excitement, neither of us saw where the arrow hit, so I nocked another.  A fraction of a second later, and at full draw, I found myself dodging caribou as they pushed in my direction with the biggest now to the left of his opponent and both at less than 15 yards from me.  Before I could pick a spot they had both spun around again so the larger one was to the right.  Out of the corners of both eyes I could see other caribou running this way and that all at under twenty yards!  The excitement level was on the increase and Andy kept shouting, “Shoot again!”

Once again my twenty yard pin settled on a spot tucked close behind the front shoulder of the larger stag, and once again my fingers slipped off the string in automatic response to the proper sight picture.  This time I saw the bright yellow crested arrow disappear into the spot my mind’s eye was burning into the stag’s side.  Still the fight continued. 

It was if we were not there, and no arrows had been fired…..these stags were only concerned with who would win the battle for the dozen does.  Once again they spun around so the larger stag was to the left, but this time two large red spots had appeared on his side right behind the front shoulder.  I hadn’t missed with the first arrow after all!

 

Roy with 'first day' stag.

A few seconds more passed before the two stags broke apart.  The larger one turned away and walked off slowly about forty yards to our right and bedded in a small area of bog.  The smaller one, with chest thrown out and antlers held high, approached the herd of does like the king of the hill.  He knew he had won the battle, and didn’t realize he had done so with my assistance.  He only knew he wanted his prize and was going to claim it! 

Just for chuckles, I started snort-grunting another challenge to the winner.  He immediately turned and headed in my direction to teach me a thing or two.  This was more than Andy could stand and he broke out laughing loudly.  He then stated, “Man, do I have a lot of fun hunting with you Goodwin!” and proceeded to laugh even louder.  Not used to seeing laughing caribou, the stag decide that an attack might not be the wisest course of action, and he retreated to about forty yards to assess his next move.

Having had plenty of fun for one morning we decided to get our packs and have the rest of our lunch before the photo session and caping job began.  When we finished almost two hours later the herd of caribou was still with-in 150 yards and paying us no attention at all.  Although there was still plenty of daylight remaining, we decided to head back to camp and check on the rest of the team.  We got back a few hours before any of the others and were relaxing around camp with the antlers hanging on the front porch and the cape stretched out in the skinning shed when they arrived.  We all had fun telling tales both before and after dinner, as everyone had close encounters this, our first of six hunting days.

Mark was proud to have passed up two different stags at less than thirty yards, holding out for something bigger.  Kevin and Corey had heard a couple moose calling in thick timber but were not able to get them out into the open.  The others had all seen stags they would have shot, but each attempted stalk ended in failure with no shots taken.  They were all trying to sneak in on their quarry, acting like the predators we all are.  The caribou just won’t stand for that!  I tried to convince them to try the “Full Frontal Attack” tomorrow but I can see in their eyes that they think I’m pulling their legs.  Rain is forecast for tomorrow, but we’ll see what the morning brings and go from there.  Talk to you all then.

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