Fly in caribou hunt alert
09-21-2009, 01:00 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 50
Fly in caribou hunt alert
This is a detailed account of my hunt with Jack Hume Adventures. I can say that it was a trip of a lifetime and there were very many good things that happened. It was not a guaranteed hunt, nor would I want one, but all did not go as expected either. The purpose of this is for someone booking a hunt to have a heads up on things you might not think of.
Shortly after booking and getting a contract I was contacted by Richard or Amanda Hume that they were trying to compress their schedule and would I be willing to change dates. I had no issue with this and they threw in a bear license, fishing licenses, and knocked a couple hundred dollars off what I owed. A week before the trip I contacted them asking about if they had located caribou and they named 2 camps that had caribou.
Upon arriving in Montreal we met the other hunters in our group and had our orientation. We were being sent to Camp Amanda which was not one of the 2 camps mentioned the week before, but it was supposed to be the best camp of 2008. Upon arriving in Schefferville I met Richard who said there was a huge herd of caribou about 15 miles from camp and they could be there anytime. No issues on the flights and we met our guide and cook when we got to camp. Our guide and cook were both wonderful.
For the first 4 days of camp no one saw a caribou. My son and I saw a wolf on day 2. On day 5 I saw a cow and a calf and my brother saw a small bull which ran past the other father/son combo at a distance. My son and the last hunter still had not seen a bou. That night they said that they were going to move us to another camp if the caribou did not arrive the next day, however we would only be allowed to shoot one caribou, which is something I had not noticed when reading brochures or websites and will touch on later.
On day 6 at 10:00AM Richard contacted the guide to see if the caribou had moved in which they had not. They said they were in the process then of setting up the other camp and that we would be moved the next day. That day my son filled our bear license for the first kill of the camp. We also saw one calf that day. (my brother, my son and I, no one else saw anything)
Early on day 7 they informed us they would pick us up at 2:00 pm. However, by noon there was 50 mph winds and they said they could not fly. The day before had been beautiful and we could have hunted while they set up camp had anyone bothered to check a weather report, or maybe this was how they planned it. My son and I saw a cow and a calf that day.
On day 8 the wind had subsided some, but they said they could not fly due to snow in Schefferville. At this point I told my son that the next day when the hunt was over, they would find a way to pick us up under similar weather conditions. At 8:30 that morning the other son I mentioned previously killed a respectable bull and by evening had limited out with a cow and his dad got a cow. My brother shot a cow that day, and my son and I saw nothing. When news of the bull got radioed back to headquarters our move was history.
On day 9 which was our day to pull out we were hunting by 5am. My brother got his second cow, my son and i got one each. Just before quitting time the other father got a bull similar to his son's. Even the guide said no one comes up to shoot a cow, you can get one of them in a pasture for way less than $5000. My son and I and the one other hunter had not even seen a bull and he did not even have the chance to pull a trigger on a cow. Upon arriving back at Schefferville Richard went directly to the other father and son and told them he was glad it worked out for them. He told the rest of us to go up and register our caribou and when the one hunter said he had none, Richard took him aside. He later told me that he was told they would "work with him" if he rebooked. We did fill out surveys which I did not give him good marks due to never getting moved, but as of yet have never heard back. I learned on the way back to Montreal that 2 camps had caribou, with one camp killing 9 bulls and a cow for 5 guys. 2 camps also got moved with each hunter killing the one allowed bull. The other camp had kills, but I never heard how many. Upon arriving back at Montreal I was astonished at how few nice horns there were. Many were far less nice than the ones we took at Kisk on our winter hunt and some hunters even kept cow horns.
Now I would like to touch on the 10 reasons listed to book a hunt with Jack Hume Adventures.
1. Experience: in our case it was the guiding and cooking that showed experience!
2. High ratio of spare camps: meaningless if they have no caribou. The camp they moved people to and promised us was in Labrador and not even one of Hume's own camps.
3. Access to both herds: Not in our case, the Leaf River Herd was too far north yet to help out.
4. Customer satisfaction: Let's not go there in our case!
5. Mobility, Richard Hume has his own plane and is a pilot: The cook told us that he is not licensed to haul passengers, only cargo. I told her to pack me in a box and have him take me to the caribou! Also, no mention here of only shooting one animal if they have to move you.
6. Success over 90%: Even counting cows which is not what we were after we were at 75% and less than 20% on bulls. The people that got moved were at 50%. With these numbers, it would seem difficult to pull out 90+% this year.
7. Owner operated: No argument on this one.
8. Safety Cessna available for emergencies: Perhaps Richard is allowed to haul passengers in an emergency?
9. Fair chase hunts: Again no argument, it may have been more fair for the caribou than for us!
10. Competitive Price: As long as you get what you paid for!
Shortly after booking and getting a contract I was contacted by Richard or Amanda Hume that they were trying to compress their schedule and would I be willing to change dates. I had no issue with this and they threw in a bear license, fishing licenses, and knocked a couple hundred dollars off what I owed. A week before the trip I contacted them asking about if they had located caribou and they named 2 camps that had caribou.
Upon arriving in Montreal we met the other hunters in our group and had our orientation. We were being sent to Camp Amanda which was not one of the 2 camps mentioned the week before, but it was supposed to be the best camp of 2008. Upon arriving in Schefferville I met Richard who said there was a huge herd of caribou about 15 miles from camp and they could be there anytime. No issues on the flights and we met our guide and cook when we got to camp. Our guide and cook were both wonderful.
For the first 4 days of camp no one saw a caribou. My son and I saw a wolf on day 2. On day 5 I saw a cow and a calf and my brother saw a small bull which ran past the other father/son combo at a distance. My son and the last hunter still had not seen a bou. That night they said that they were going to move us to another camp if the caribou did not arrive the next day, however we would only be allowed to shoot one caribou, which is something I had not noticed when reading brochures or websites and will touch on later.
On day 6 at 10:00AM Richard contacted the guide to see if the caribou had moved in which they had not. They said they were in the process then of setting up the other camp and that we would be moved the next day. That day my son filled our bear license for the first kill of the camp. We also saw one calf that day. (my brother, my son and I, no one else saw anything)
Early on day 7 they informed us they would pick us up at 2:00 pm. However, by noon there was 50 mph winds and they said they could not fly. The day before had been beautiful and we could have hunted while they set up camp had anyone bothered to check a weather report, or maybe this was how they planned it. My son and I saw a cow and a calf that day.
On day 8 the wind had subsided some, but they said they could not fly due to snow in Schefferville. At this point I told my son that the next day when the hunt was over, they would find a way to pick us up under similar weather conditions. At 8:30 that morning the other son I mentioned previously killed a respectable bull and by evening had limited out with a cow and his dad got a cow. My brother shot a cow that day, and my son and I saw nothing. When news of the bull got radioed back to headquarters our move was history.
On day 9 which was our day to pull out we were hunting by 5am. My brother got his second cow, my son and i got one each. Just before quitting time the other father got a bull similar to his son's. Even the guide said no one comes up to shoot a cow, you can get one of them in a pasture for way less than $5000. My son and I and the one other hunter had not even seen a bull and he did not even have the chance to pull a trigger on a cow. Upon arriving back at Schefferville Richard went directly to the other father and son and told them he was glad it worked out for them. He told the rest of us to go up and register our caribou and when the one hunter said he had none, Richard took him aside. He later told me that he was told they would "work with him" if he rebooked. We did fill out surveys which I did not give him good marks due to never getting moved, but as of yet have never heard back. I learned on the way back to Montreal that 2 camps had caribou, with one camp killing 9 bulls and a cow for 5 guys. 2 camps also got moved with each hunter killing the one allowed bull. The other camp had kills, but I never heard how many. Upon arriving back at Montreal I was astonished at how few nice horns there were. Many were far less nice than the ones we took at Kisk on our winter hunt and some hunters even kept cow horns.
Now I would like to touch on the 10 reasons listed to book a hunt with Jack Hume Adventures.
1. Experience: in our case it was the guiding and cooking that showed experience!
2. High ratio of spare camps: meaningless if they have no caribou. The camp they moved people to and promised us was in Labrador and not even one of Hume's own camps.
3. Access to both herds: Not in our case, the Leaf River Herd was too far north yet to help out.
4. Customer satisfaction: Let's not go there in our case!
5. Mobility, Richard Hume has his own plane and is a pilot: The cook told us that he is not licensed to haul passengers, only cargo. I told her to pack me in a box and have him take me to the caribou! Also, no mention here of only shooting one animal if they have to move you.
6. Success over 90%: Even counting cows which is not what we were after we were at 75% and less than 20% on bulls. The people that got moved were at 50%. With these numbers, it would seem difficult to pull out 90+% this year.
7. Owner operated: No argument on this one.
8. Safety Cessna available for emergencies: Perhaps Richard is allowed to haul passengers in an emergency?
9. Fair chase hunts: Again no argument, it may have been more fair for the caribou than for us!
10. Competitive Price: As long as you get what you paid for!
09-21-2009, 03:14 PM
#2
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 679
i just came back from my caribou hunt the 16 of sept. i also flew out of MONTREAL but landed in CANIAPISCAU [eplo-sylva] ..this was my 6th hunt with them ..we were at camp november and saw nothing for 4 day's before they moved us to camp simone ..in 2007 we were at camp november and we saw about 250 bulls this year nothing ...at camp simone we only had 2 days of hunting left but we all tagged out. i noticed from past experience that the caribou did not come down they still have lots of food up north ..also al of the bulls antlers were still covered with velvet usually at this time of the year the antlers are free of velvet..out of the 25 camps only 4 camps had caribou near them ,we were lucky that they moved us...we saw a lot of cows very few bulls ...
Last edited by heinz57; 09-21-2009 at 03:16 PM. Reason: insert pic
