Caribou hunting questions
 

My brother and I are thinking about scheduling a guided 1:1 or 1:2 caribou rifle hunt for next year (2004) but have a number of questions for you experts:

1. Where are the best places to go to find the largest herds and/or the biggest bulls? I have heard great things about Ontario, but wanted to be sure

2. How much (U.S.) can you expect to pay for a quality fully-guided hunt - not talking about the absolute top of the line, but a good quality hunting experience (roughin it and hunting hard) with good scoring opportunities, experienced guides, etc.

3. A number of outfitter websites I have checked out say that if you schedule your 2003 hunt before the end of this month, you get the 2002 rates. Do rates generally go up each year like they suggest without being tied to some increase in operating expens

4. finally, any outfitters anyone would recommend?

any other info I am not thinking of right now is also appreciated.

thanks in advance!

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

I don't know much about Caribou hunting but I do know that Ontario has no open season on the caribou that we do have we only have woodland Caribou and no season yet

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

The herd in the NW arctic in Alaska is very plentiful and last time I checked, limits were high. Also, alot of people go to NE Canada, Quebec/labrador ,I believe. I am not positive on the price, but I think 3000-3500 bucks is avg.

Plus, you gotta pay to get there and buy all the licenses.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Quebec Canada. largest Caribou. Most outfitters price is FROM Montreal to the hunting camp. I have been twice on the 1x3 outpost. Comfortable tent camps-warm-dry with guide for 1 on 3 & a camp cook. you just hunt & they do the chores-they caped our Caribou & quartered out meet also. You will have over $3000 in your trip figure $4000 with the trip I took. Book as late as possible "usually" in Sept..
Bowhunting North America Videos has a informational video 1-563-243-7877 for $12.50.
I got skunked my 1st trip-saw 1 cow with a calf in a week of hunting. 2nd trip my son took 2 nice bulls with Rifle & I took a P&Y Bull with a bow-could have taken a 2nd with rifle but kept trying to get the 2nd with my bow. "Everything" is included in these trips from Montreal including tags for 2 Caribou. You pay extra to bring out 2nd rack if you have one & they split your smallest.
I won't reccommend anyone as it changes every year-you usually see tons or very few, thats why I say go in late Sept..

always thankful

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

I'm pretty sure Newfoundland has the only huntable herds of Woodland caribou in Canada(North America?). So if you want a woodland caribou Newfoundland is the place to be. Do a web search for "newfoundland outfitters" or "newfoundland big game hunting" for outfitter names. Being a Newfie myself I never intend to use an outfitter so I am not aware of general prices. Caribou is not your only option in Newfoundland. There are also moose, black bear, small game hunting and fishing. Many outfitters offer combination hunts.

Hope this is of some use to you. Another option to consider anyway.

L8r.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Thanks for all your replies. I have found several outfitters working out of quebec, labrador and newfoundland that seem to offer what I am after. Looks like the prime hunting season for bulls is in early September. Is this true? What about later in the fall? Is it still worth the trip then or does success drop off? Also, I have heard a lot about the number of flies, mosquitoes, etc. being a potential problem. Any truth to this? Never had a problem with flies here in colorado - guess were a bit spoiled

thanks again

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

I'm a Booking Agent, so am not sure if it's appropriate to "pitch my wares" on this forum. Members feel free to e-mail me. Woodland Caribou in Newfoundland, Quebec/Labrador have Caribou, also Alaska/NWT. The other gent was right - hunts run 3000-4000 USUALLY, but some cheaper hunts are sure available, if you know where to look. Maybe some of the moderators can give me some Guidance in recommending Outfitters on the forum, when I'm a booking agent. Good luck!

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

I hunted Newfoundland early Oct of 2001. Had a great time and we all tagged out. In fact, I am headed back this year either the last week of Oct or the first week of Nov. No bugs at that time of the year. You tend to see more animals also. The stags (also called bulls in Quebec, NWT, and AK) tend to weigh less because they have gone through the rut in mid Oct. You don't want to shoot a stag in the rut (mid Oct) because they can be so strong that they are not edible. Also, Newfoundland isn't subject to the migration like other areas. Although they do "migrate" from the north to the south side of the island, you WILL get into some animals. Many moose and bear as well.

I believe the Woodland caribou has one of the largest bodies of the sub-species of caribou, but they also have the smallest antlers. Guided hunts for one animal are in the $2,400 to $3,200 range in NF. Licenses are very expensive in NF, but are usually included in the price.

Send me an email if you would like the email address of the outfitter I went through. Here is a picture of my stag taken with a blackpowder TC Encore at 95 yards. I'm sure you would enjoy a caribou hunt.


Good luck . . . Rob

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Rob in VT,

I'm glad to hear you had an enjoyable, successful caribou hunt in Newfoundland. I took a stag in 2001 and another in 2002. They were both decent sized animals and they had both dropped their antlers before I ran into them.<img src=icon_smile_angry.gif border=0 align=middle>

To be honest I really don't care about antlers, I'm all about the eats. Infact just today I made a bag of jerky and had a steak for supper. Tomorrow I might have a feed of sausagues. Good stuff!

You are correct about not taking a stag during the rut. They are supposed to be really nasty if killed during this time. I wait until the second week of November to start caribou hunting to give the stags a chance to recover a little.

Good luck in your upcoming hunt. I'm hoping to draw another caribou license this year too.

L8r,
DaNewf.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

BILLY, I'm from Colorado also, I hunted with Safari Nordik in 2001 got 2 nice bulls and could have had a booner if I'd have held out. I made a friend with one of the guides and can hook you up with him if you would like.
TODD
email me if you want the info

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Caribou is the finest meat I have ever tasted. I like it better than elk or moose. The people of Newfoundland are the nicest I have ever met. Can't wait to go back this year to see some of my new friends!

DaNewf, when do stags usually drop their antlers?

. . . Rob

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RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Rob in VT,

From what I've heard bull caribou (especially the big ones) start to lose their antlers as soon as the rut is over, late October. I did a quick internet search to see what I could find. I found a couple of sites confirming that mature bull caribou start losing there antlers directly after the rut and by January most of them are antlerless. Cows amd immature bulls often retain their antlers until late winter/early spring.

In an earlier post I said I thought Newfoundland had the only huntable herds of woodland caribou in Canada/US. I still haven't been able to confirm this but I didn't realize how bad a shape woodland caribou are in outside of NF. There is only one herd left in the US. They are endangered in western Canada and threatened or managed in eastern provinces. But NF has between 60,000 and 70,000 animals and I'm almost garaunteed to draw a license every year I apply for one. Sometimes you don't know how good you got it.

L8r.

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RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

can you eat caribou? Is it good?

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Did a winter hunt in Quebec, the first week in Dec. 2001. Saw 700 animals the first day and at least 50% of bulls still had Antlers. Just remember, don't shoot too soon you won't run out of Caribou. The 2 main herds are estimated to be around a million animals, and in 1999 sport hunters only took about 17,000. Everyone we saw tagged out on 2 animals and there were some very large bulls on the back of trucks. I shot two medium size bulls cause you get caught up in the shooting and I didn't pull the trigger until I let at least 150 bulls run by. The largest bull was taken at 7:45 am the first day and the second largest was at 4:00 pm on the last day, both better than 4 ft. wide.The meat is VERY good, don't give any of it away.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Northern Manitoba has some great hunting. I hunted with an outfitter in 98 and shot a 350 class animal. I called to get all the info but fellow wasn't there. When i can I will get and post contact information. MB has now changed and has two tags for the area.
I never looked but there should be a list of outfitters on the MB government tourism web site. The guy I hunted with was Ted Jowett. He is out of Winnipeg.
His camp is 16 miles from the NWT border and if i'm remembering correct the herd is 450,000 animals.
On another note, MB has a season on the Penn Island herd,come from Ontario, that are woodland. MB gives 75 licenses for non-treaty to hunt. Treaty need no license. I don't think that there are any tags for non-Canadians to obtain one.
The northern herd is barren ground.
When i have more info i will pass on.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

I was just curios because meat off of a big buck is real tuff, so I didn't know if meat off of something that big would be good or too tuff.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Further to my earlier reply I hunted up the outfitter I hunted with in Manitoba. Info is:
Ted Jowett 204-667-3094 Winnipeg Manitoba
His hunts are $3395.00US Airfare from Thompson, MB
His camp shot the largest non-resident Caribou for the Manitoba in 2002. Scored 399 7/8.
Worth talking to this guy.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Nattybumpo--------What outfitter did you use? I tried to book with Mirage but they are full for 2003.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

We booked with Nouchimi Outfitters of Quebec, they have a website and their phone number is 819-854-5092. They may have some openings because when we went the cut off date was in April. They have all kinds of hunt's availible, from a DIY to fully guided. $648-$3500.
We did the DIY hunt and we all tagged out, but if this is your choice bring a snowmobile or one of those 6 wheel ATV to haul them out they weight about 350 lbs and the snow can be very deep.

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Thanks, NattyBumpo

RE: Caribou hunting questions
 

Take a look into http://www.webberslodges.com I hunted with them in 1999. Their hunts are out of northern manitoba as well. Awesome hunt. In a group of six guys, we took four bulls that were 350 class. Two that were 330's. And the other bulls were all above 300. And our timing for the hunt was a little off. Check them out though.