My first BOU hunt

[3seasons]

This a quick rundown of my first caribou hunt with my Dad. GOD was good to us.

Thursday: Day 1 8/21/08

We left Montreal on a four hour flight to a little village off of the Hudson Bay called Umiujaq. When we arrived at Umiujaq we were greeted by some local Inuit’s, it was neat to learn a little about the way they live. While waiting for the next plain to arrive to take us to our camp we saw a cow caribou between the airport and the village. Looked to be a good sign of things yet to come we hoped. The twin otter bush plane arrived around 6pm and started unloading the previous week’s hunters and gear. We got excited for a moment when they pulled out a nice rack from the back of the plane. The excitement was short lived once we realized it was a rack that was found during the week. The hunters getting off of the plane had only seen a cow and a calf after a week of hunting, not what we wanted to hear. We were all a little bummed out but still very excited about the upcoming weeks hunt. Like I told my dad all it takes is a day to make a difference. When

we got to the camp it was hot and the bugs were bad so we just ate and hung out around the camp getting everything ready for the next week. There were 9 hunters in camp; 7 bow hunters and 2 gun hunters. This was the layout 3 from Mississippi, 3 from Wisconsin, 2 from Georgia, and 1 from Nevada. I could not have picked a better group of strangers to spend a week in the outdoors with.

Friday: Day 2 8/22/08

We woke up to sunshine and some heat. It was hot and the wind was picking up. We at breakfast and got the days plans from Lu. He said that we were going to watch the weather because the wind was picking way up. We wound up fishing all day. We caught some brook trout and some of the other guys caught a lake trout or two. It was so windy that you could throw a spoon straight up and the wind would take it 60+ yards out in the water and then spool your real if you did not stop the string. But the bugs weren’t bad.

Saturday: Day 3 8/23/08

We woke up to a rainy dreary day (picture perfect for caribou hunting) only problem was it was still warm. After breakfast we all went out in the boats because we had heard from another camp that they had seen a few Caribou. After an hour or so boat ride one of the hunters spotted a bull laying on the side of an island, they were going to try to get to the other side of the island to try a stalk when we saw some Caribou sky lined on the next island over. Both boats went to that island and we spread out on the first Caribou of the season. Everyone was nervous but anxious. The bugs were bad but as long as you had a head net and gloves they didn’t bother you to bad.

My dad and I were on one ridge and we could see my dads best friend ( I call him my uncle) on the next ridge over. Was he ever in the right spot we looked up his ridge and here they came probably 100 to 150 Caribou walking straight to him. Well he shot and they ran and then another group came and he shot and they ran. This happened 3 times until finally he ran out of arrows. He went out and gathered his arrows and sat down in a small group of trees where he as able to connect on a nice Bou at 25yds. Finally (me and my dad were rolling while watching this. It was great). Well the Caribou left him and came towards us. We were ready but they went a little wide of or post. We moved around a little and waited for the next group. When the next group was within 15 yards of me I started to draw my bow and got busted by a cow at 4 yards.(never saw her until she stepped out behind some brush) The caribou spooked and ran up the hill about 50 yds but were all

bunched up from my view so I didn’t have a shot. My dad did and took it. He smoked a nice Bou at 65yds. A little far but he was confident in the shot. While we were looking for his arrow another group was quickly coming up on us so we got down in the bushes and waited. They ran up on us up to about 20yds. When I was able to pick out one with nice tops and he cleared the other Caribou I took the shot and connected of my first Bou. It was an unreal feeling. That day we were able to take 9 nice Bou and could have all shot out but we all held out. There was a group of about 500 Bulls at least 90% Bulls that ran within 15yds of us it was great but they ran to fast to get a good shot.

My Dad had to swim out in the lake to get his bou.

Me my dad and my uncle with our first BOU's

Sunday: Day 4 8/24/08

We woke up to rain and cooler temps. Finally the cold front we were hoping to get had arrived. The weather was bad so Lu and Rodney decided to take us out to some nearby islands around camp. We would hunt there until the weather settled. We saw a lot of caribou that day a couple of nice bulls to. One looked just like an elk. His antlers were unique. We bedded him and another nice bull down with about 50 other caribou on top of a hill. We got in the perfect position so that when they left there bedding area they would walk past our position. It worked out perfect except for the two we wanted split off from the heard and went the other direction. Figures. All 50+ caribou walked within 15yds of my position and my dad had a few within 2yds. It was awesome. It started raining so hard that it was like a hurricane. There were white caps in the lake and huge swells. We thought we would have to stay out there but Lu came and got us back to camp.

Only one bull was taken that day.

Monday: Day 5 8/25/08

We woke up to weather comparable to the day before. A lot of wind and rain. After breakfast we set out in the boats and wound up dodging a storm in a cove off of an island. We hiked up to the highest point to see if we could spot any caribou. We could see two bull feeding below but they were small. Then we saw some swimming our way. This is when it got good again. All 8 of us spread out most stayed near the shore line where they could see the caribou coming, my dad me and my uncle went back to a bottle neck we found while looking from high up on the ridge. It worked out great every caribou that hit the island came within 30yds of our position. We were able to size them up and had plenty of time to get a shot. I was able to take what I call a nontypical looking caribou. He’s not the biggest but he is very different he stood out among the others. My dad was able to take a huge bull that was rough scored at 358 P&Y It was the largest of our group. That

day was awesome we took 7 bulls that day and the only guy who didn’t take one let a lot walk looking for a book animal. We had a blast and the weather cleared off for some great pics.

Dads 358 P&Y

Me my dad and uncle seconds BOU's

Tuesday and Wednesday: Day 6&7 8/26,27/08

We took it easy fishing and just reliving the early days hunts with new friends. It was great. We caught some nice trout and on guy caught 2 that went over 3 lbs.

I probably left out a lot but this will give yall an idea of our hunt.

We only had one small minor negative thing happen which I’m not going to get into but other than that it was a hunt of a lifetime.

Just want to say that Lu, Rodney, and Jamel were awesome the food was crazy good like nothing you could ever imagine. Lu went out of his way to put us MS boys on some great BOU. Thanks TUTTULIK for a great hunt .

[Switchback29A1]

Thats awesome..congrads man.

[Straight Shooter]

That is awesome and I know you will charish that hunt forever. Congratulations!

[Dakota]

What a hunt! Congrats!

Dakota

[jbeck]

Awsome, thank you for sharing those pics. That looks like a great hunt.

[BowJoe]

I think RT needs to be getting a hold of you for your great story. What an awesome hunt and the pictures and story were told so well. Congratulations on such a wonderful experience and I'm sure the Bulls were just a side note to how great a time you really had.

[toddyboman]

WOW Awesome story and pics! Sounds like a GREAT TRIP!!

[Leo]

The most telling thing about this story is it's title, "My FIRST Bou Hunt".

By calling it the FIRST you admit you definitely want to do it again.

I can see why

[wtnhunt]

Congratulations to you, your dad, and your uncle. Looks like you all had a great time and took some really nice caribou.

[fly]

Sounds like you and the fella's at your camp that week had a great hunt. Congrats!

Too bad for the group before you that scored a blank. Did they use the same outfitter as you? It's scarry thinking you could shell out 4-5 grand and not even see a bull.

I know hunting doesn't = harvest every time, but think about how you'd be feeling if you had selected the week prior?

Great pictures by the way, thanks for sharing.

[3seasons]

Leo, I will have to save up for a few years but I will defiantly go back again. It is a trip that all bow hunters should try.

Flyerla, The guys were in the same camp as us the week prior. This was the second year in a row (Same week last year) for them. They did not see and animal last year. (last year was a very strange year for all the outfitters) They said they are done with Caribou and going back to elk hunting from now on.

You can imagine how we all felt when they stepped off of the plane and told us that they had not done anything. Talk about a kick in the stomach.

[3seasons]

Well I don’t know how I overlooked writing about the equipment we used on our hunt.

I shoot a Mathews Drenalin set at 66lbs shooting a Gold Tip Hunter XT 5575 at 281fps. Tipped with a 100gr. Muzzy MX-3 broadhead (which stood up to the rocks quite well) and custom wrap with blazer vanes.

My dad shoots a Mathews Outback set at 65lbs shooting a Gold Tip Hunter XT 5575 at 268fps. Tipped with a 100 gr. Cabalas LazerSupreme broadhead. He did shoot feathers until he saw how the blazers did in the wind. He will be changing over before bow season starts.

My Uncle shoots an old PSE Nova and some log aluminum arrows I think they are 2414’s. He shoots a thunderhead also.

The rifle was my Rem. Model 7 7mm-08 with a 140gr hornady soft point. The shot was 375yds.

[Bowtech_archer07]

That sounds like an awesome trip. Would love to take a trip to caribou hunt someday, and it would be awesome to go up there with my dad and hunt. Hopefully it will happen.

Congrats on an awesome hunt and some awesome bulls!!

[yooperkenny]

Congrats to your crew on a great hunt - God was indeed good to you all!

We did a caribou hunt in Northern Quebec too - but it was early last December and the temp was 17 below when we left the truck the first morning! But we saw thousands of caribou - truly something every hunter should experience.

One thing that's very different I'm sure you'll agree - getting them gutted out ASAP after they're down because they bloat fast. It has to do with the lichens they eat. I made the mistake of puncturing my second bou's stomach and a green "oatmeal volcano" spurted about 18 inches high for a full 30 seconds. Nasty.

In spite of that, their meat is delicious. We talked to some locals up there and they rate caribou meat as the best, followed by moose then whitetail. Everyone we've shared it with was very impressed and went back for seconds.

We're on our last few packs of caribou steaks and burger - I might have to go back!

[dougp]

Great story and pics.

Thanks for sharing.