Bowhunting.net
Hunt Trophy Caribou in 2006
By Roy Goodwin
Apr 4, 2006, 04:38
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| A nice Mountain caribou taken in NWT in 2003 |
I’ve hunted caribou with the bow almost every season since
1986. Hunting these majestic animals in
the barren grounds of the far north is one of my favorite things to do. Caribou make fine eating, which is another
reason to keep going back. There are
five sub-species of caribou recognized by the Pope & Young Club, and my
personal goal is to collect them all, still another reason to keep going back! But perhaps the main reason I have gone so
many times is in an effort to find the ideal caribou camp for my bowhunting
clients. (For complete details on the camp, hunts, and
Charter Memberships visit the Tag-A-Long web site.)
I personally believe that a good caribou operation is one of
the most important things a hunt consultant can offer his clients. Not just because so many people want to
harvest a caribou for their collection, but because this is one of the species
a bowhunter should go for early in their trophy hunting career. I have a lot of people come to me every year
looking for elk hunts. I can’t blame
them, elk are fantastic animals, but I tell most of these people they should not
go on an elk hunt. Most people get a
white tail deer, and perhaps a black bear, and the next thing they want to
chase is elk…..they aren’t ready! Here’s
the thing: Trophy elk hunting is tough, and good hunts are expensive. To make matters worse, on a real good hunt
you’re more than likely only going to get one shot. So you spend $4,000.00-$7.000.00 for a good
trophy elk hunt, and sometime in the middle of the 7-10 day hunt you get close
enough to get an arrow off at the bull of your dreams. But, that animal is three times bigger than
anything you’ve ever seen before close up, and he’s screaming at you! Nineteen out of twenty guys will miss him
completely at less than twenty yards!
The reason is simple, he wasn’t prepared.
Caribou, on the other hand, represent good training for the
less experienced bowhunter. For
starters, a real good caribou hunt is about the same cost as a marginal elk
hunt. Caribou are easier to get a shot
at, and most important of all, on a good caribou hunt you’ll get multiple
opportunities. This way, you get to
screw up a couple times, and get the bugs out of your system, get over the
“buck fever”, get used to seeing animals with huge racks up close, and finally
get your game together and get the job done.
Don’t get me wrong, not every inexperienced bowhunter will shoot a
trophy caribou on his first hunt, but the odds are many times better with
caribou than with elk.
Of course once I give this advice to a new client, he’ll
either listen, and then want a good caribou hunt, or he’ll think I’m nuts and
good somewhere else and try to get involved in an elk hunt. Usually after a couple unsuccessful elk hunts
he’ll come back, but what a waste of time and money! To really help clients I need to have a
caribou hunt that offers multiple opportunities at trophy class animals, and to
do that you need a great area where the animals get very little pressure. I’ve been chasing that dream for twenty
years, and found it only a few times.
The problem isn’t just finding the right situation, it is maintaining
it!
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| Roy's 2005 woodland caribou taken at 15 yards while fighting with another stag during the October rut. |
I went on my first caribou hunt back in ’86. It was up in Quebec for the Quebec/Labrador sub
species. I was one of five guys that
lucked into the first week of the first season at what became the most famous
bowhunting caribou camp of the eighties, Delay River. It was awesome. The migration route came right by camp, the
terrain was perfect, and the manager understood bowhunting. All five of us tagged out with two record
book animals each by noon
the second day! For the next three days
we watched animals walk by at under twenty yards by the thousands. The next year I went back for ten days with a
film crew and made a movie on the hunt/camp that went over real big. So big, in fact, that the camp was booked
three years in advance in no time and I couldn’t get my clients in. A couple years later the manager left on bad
terms, the migration path moved, and the hunts went down the toilet. I know this because I was asked back a couple
times trying to help get the client base pumped back up, and didn’t get a shot
on either trip! So much for that camp.
In ’89 I was approached by someone operating out of Fort Chimo
that was interested in attracting bowhunters.
He asked what it would take to get me to help promote a bowhunting camp,
and I told him. I laid out everything
that would be needed for the camp to be a success, and together we poured over
topo maps looking for the right area to set up a new camp. That fall my wife and I went up to film some of
his other camps and to hunt a little as the basis for a story to help promote
the new camp. His equipment was good and
we saw a ton of animals. After
finalizing the details, including prime dates, and the full equipment list for
the new camp, Christine and I headed home confident we had our new bowhunting
only caribou camp. The next fall I sent
36 clients and three film crews to the new camp. It was a disaster! The outfitter didn’t do half what he
promised, including moving the clients to a different area if there were no
caribou at this location. The boats
couldn’t handle the river, and the motors were too small. The guides would only work six hour days, and
wouldn’t go more than two miles up or down stream for fear of not making it
back. Basically the guy lied about
“everything”; including the camp being bowhunting only (my third group flew out
when the group of rifle hunters arrived!).
Scratch that one!
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| Roy took this B&C Woodland in early September of 2000 by spot and stalk hunting prior to the rut. |
Next I tried a bowhunting only camp in NWT for central
Canadian caribou, and took five clients with me. The camp was a little rough, but not bad, and
there were lots of good animals to be found with some hard work. The trouble is the guides couldn’t be
convinced not to chase animals and kill them in the water. We fought about it all week, and I was
convinced when I left that I hadn’t made a dent in teaching them the need to
hunt “fair chase” if you want to promote a quality bowhunting operation. I never sent another client to that camp, but
have talked to others that have gone to this camp since, and nothing had
changed. Another one off the list!
I tried Alaska
once, but was very disappointed and have yet to find a camp that interests me
enough to try again, but I’ll keep looking.
I’ve also tried the mountain caribou of NWT a couple times (during Dall
sheep hunts), and after several tries found a good place to send clients for
that sub-species. Those hunts are on the
“pricy” side however due the extra fly-in costs, so they are more for the
caribou “specialist” looking to complete his caribou slam than the
inexperienced bowhunter looking for his first real monster rack.
About seven years ago a good friend called to say he was
going to Newfoundland
to check out a brand new bowhunting only camp and wanted me to join him. I had been twice before for woodland caribou
and was seriously disappointed each time.
I still wanted a good woodland personally, and still needed a good camp
for clients, so we went. I almost
cancelled the trip three times due to poor communications and vague answers,
but finally went more to join my friend than anything else. The hunt was great! The camp was very good, and the staff was
terrific. I’ve been back four more times
and have sent over forty clients. Only
two clients failed to get their stags, and both missed numerous
opportunities. But there have been
problems. Communications with the camp
management have varied from tough to terrible.
Getting trophies shipped has proven very difficult. And, this winter I was notified that new management
was taking over and turning it into a rifle camp. There goes another great bowhunting situation
for caribou!
While I’ll not be able to represent this camp any longer, it
sure has been both fun and educational these past seven years. We found that, on the south coast of Newfoundland it is mild
enough in October so you can bowhunt caribou in the peak of the rut with
reasonable weather. We also found that
during the rut it is very easy to find trophy class stags, and then to approach
them with-in bow range. This makes for some
of the best bowhunting there is, as long as the animals are not overly
pressured. We also learned a lot about
hunting Canadian moose and spot and stalk hunting fall black bears. There is plenty of each to be had in Newfoundland!
About the same time I found out that the camp we’ve been
using is falling apart, I found another camp in the same general area that was
for sale at a reasonable price. Due to a
combination of being sick of looking for good camps only to have them go sour
after a couple years, and my love for hunting these animals during the rut, I
had to buy the camp. I know, it sounds
foolish, but I’ve tried everything else to find, and then control, a decent
caribou camp for my bowhunting clients, and nothing has worked. At least nothing has worked long term. With my own camp I can be sure there will be
no gun hunting, and no shooting animals in the water. I’ll only book clients during the prime
weeks, even if it means the first four weeks of the season will pass with the
camp closed. We’ll strictly limit the
number of both moose and bear tags so those few clients that get those tags
will have a high percentage of success on trophy class animals. We’ll use good bowhunting guides, and give
them a bonus if their clients shoot record book animals. The camp is in great shape, and first class
all the way. The area has not been
hunted in four years and the terrain is ideal for bowhunting. Finally, I have a good chance to develop and maintain
the best of the best when it comes to trophy bowhunting camps.
We’ll only book caribou hunters, and only the last two weeks
of September and first three weeks of October.
The number of clients in camp will be strictly limited, as will the
total number of clients taken per season.
The first hunt will be the third week of September and will be for
caribou only (although clients will be able to get in some great fishing once
they have their caribou down). The
caribou are in the pre-rut at this time and receptive to calling and
flagging. The meat is very good and the
caribou are hard horned. The animals
will be completely undisturbed as this will be the first week of the season for
this camp.
The last week of September will be reserved for our Charter
Members (maximum of five). These lucky
guys will get to hunt caribou and moose in the pre-rut. The cows are vocal this week, and the bulls
are on the move and easy to call. The
caribou meat is still excellent and yet the stags are out rounding up does in
preparation for the rut.
The first week of October things start to change all around
us. The stags will start to spar and
fight as they build their personal groups of does for the rut which is only a
week or so away. The bears are hitting
the berry fields real hard, and the moose are getting protective of the cows
they have gathered. By the next two
weeks the caribou rut is in full tilt, and you can’t eat the meat. The caribou are very easy to spot and stalk
at this time, so picking out a very big one and harvesting him is a real
possibility. It’s harder to call the
bulls away from the cows, but if you find them they are easier to get up on.
Now all I have to do is round up a few serious trophy
bowhunters that are interested in getting in on the ground floor of something
special. We have a number of openings
for caribou this fall, and a limited number of both caribou/moose and
caribou/bear combination hunts. The
hunts are competitively priced for 1X1 guided trophy hunts, and include first
class lodging and your tags. We also
have a very limited number of Charter Memberships available.
For complete details on the camp, hunts, and
Charter Memberships visit the Tag-A-Long web site.
Good hunting,
Roy Goodwin
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