Quebec Winter Caribou Hunting

[TPhunter]

Congrats jerfrey...Nice bunch of bou there!!!

[Fortkiboom]

We left Mirage the 25th at midnight and were dodging caribou all the way out to kilometer 200. When we came in on the 22nd the caribou were anywhere from KM450 and up. We hunted around KM500 and limited out with no problem.While we were there they were crossing LA1. We got a lot of nice pictures up at the dam and some real big caribou had made it that far. Everyone was shooting caribou all along Transtaiga road and had been since the season opened. According to the guides the herd is strung out for 140 kilometers and a lot of them will hang up for awhile at Km390. There were none in 22a when we came thru on the 22nd but there were plenty on the way out. Real tough to avoid hitting them with the truck. Very slow ride out. I would say that 60 to 75% of the caribou hunters were pulling trailers and had no problems. We did run across a aluminum triple axle trailer with the small tires with two broken axles. Actually the guy said the welds let go. He unloaded the trailer, removed the sxles and was going to try and get it into Radisson for welding. Don't know how he made out.It appears that the heavier duty trailers had no problems even though the road is pretty rough. If your going up its a 8 hour ride to the Mirage from KM381. Make sure you fill up with gas at KM381. Gas at the mirage was up to $1.47 a litre. We were spending approximately $90.00 a day for gas to get us to the hunting area and back. The caribou are a lot closer now and anyone going uplater in the season shouldn't have a problem. One guide did lose a snowmobile and caribou on thin icebut that was the exception.Mirage is a top notch Lodge.

[JonBarleycorn]

ORIGINAL: Fortkiboom

Very slow ride out. I would say that 60 to 75% of the caribou hunters were pulling trailers and had no problems. We did run across a aluminum triple axle trailer with the small tires with two broken axles. Actually the guy said the welds let go. He unloaded the trailer, removed the sxles and was going to try and get it into Radisson for welding. Don't know how he made out.It appears that the heavier duty trailers had no problems even though the road is pretty rough.

I concur on the trailers. We took a dual axle bobcat trailer and had no problemwith itcarrying three ATV's. The straps did have to be checked periodically, however.

[whip5]

Just got back from Nouchimi. Everyone in our camp limited out and we brought back 12 bous. They were all between 476 and 512 when we were hunting. The day we left we had them behind the outpost camp at km 305 though. Probably the easiest hunt I have ever been on....more of a shoot really. 5,800 miles on the pickup got kinda tiring, but the conditions wereok compared to what you guys made it sound like. By the way, I did sleep in the truck and it was16 degrees below (-16 F).....T-shirt and shorts all the way Toughen up fellas...lol

[Rodmax]

anyone else got pics of this migration, like the one Fire3517 posted?? I am planning on getting there in the next 3 years. but I am addicted to this forumand I love seeing the pics!!!
Congratulations to all who have succeded this season and good luck to those who are going!!!
Later ,Rodney.

[cwcjr119]

Congrats to all that have been successful this year. It's a much better pattern than last year.

Regarding the snow in the carcass debate, when I first went in 04, I observed some locals doing it and I asked them about it. They said that it helped to cool the inside faster because the hair is so well insulated from the outside. If the inside doesnt cool wellthe meat will stay warm longer and spoil faster. I'm no authority but we did it in 04 and 06 with our bou and it surely did no harm. The one carcass from 04 that didn't get the snow treatment stayed warm all the way home and actually did seem to have a little "off" flavor but the meat was still good.

We took a 5x10 enclosed trailer both times that was left in camp while hunting, it worked well for us. But It seems that most of the veterans have a pickup with a platform built on top of the bedrails that will handle the weight of several animals and storing their gear underneath.In 06 we had a 4 hunters in a suburban. We left room for 1 to be able to sleep in the back. One could lay out in the backseat, and pilot and co-pilot in front. We arrived at camp the middle of night before the hunt and were able to sleep in parking lot until we could get our room in the morning. We used a hitch hauler basket while hunting.

P.S. still looking for someone that is in, to rotate years with at Mirage

Tag outs to all, CW

[cwcjr119]

pic test

[cwcjr119]

2006

[cwcjr119]

2006

[TPhunter]

Cool pics!!!...We're leaving in a few hours...all my stuff is packed, setting by the door waiting for my ride...