Quebec Caribou

I'd dreamt of doing a Quebec caribou hunt for years, but had always put it off. Hunting the wild northern tundra, with it's huge migrating herds of caribou, was an adventure that was high on my bucket list. And then those plans were accelerated earlier this year, when the government of Quebec announced that caribou hunting would be closed, to all except the native tribes, after the conclusion of the 2017 hunting season. Considering that the Quebec-Labrador sub-species of caribou cannot be hunted in any other country, state, or province, I made the decision to search for an opening to do this hunt in it's final year. Provincial law mandates that non-residents may only hunt via the services of an outfitter. So after contacting Jack Hume Adventures, a well-known and highly-regarded Quebec outfitter, in the late spring I was able to get signed up when a cancellation became available. My hunt would take place Sept 15-21.

Getting up to the far north country where the caribou roam is an adventure in itself. I first drove the 15 hours to Montreal, and from there took a twin turbo prop flight with 31 other guys to Lac Pau, about 800 miles up into northern Quebec. Located there at the outpost village of Caniapiscau is the base camp headquarters for JHA. From there, we were split into small groups and sent off to various satellite camps to the north. My group of 7 hunters took an Otter single engine aircraft to Camp Coursolles, about 120 miles north.



View from the air:



Camp Coursolles:

I was the only bowhunter in our group of 7 guys. All the others intended to use a rifle. But once settled in to Camp Coursolles, I was glad to find that the terrain was good for bowhunting. Not just open tundra, but instead there were willows, tamarack, evergreens, and rolling terrain features suitable for stalking. All those yellow trees you see are tamaracks, which were getting their fall colors.

The main lake at this camp stretches for about 7 miles and the caribou were often seen swimming.

Here's a nice bull making a water crossing.

Most of the caribou we saw were bulls. And they're almost always on the move.

I got lucky on day 4 and was able to take this bull. His velvet was freshly shed and the rack still showed blood residue from the velvet. I was able to make a stalk to within about 22 yards, while he was preoccupied with thrashing a 12-foot tamarack tree.

At the shot, he didn't realize he was hit, and resumed tearing up the tree for a little while, before finally staggering off and expiring about 10 yards away.

Everyone else did well too, and tagged out with their rifles. It's not shown in this pic, but the guy in the middle (Steve) also took a bear on the first afternoon, after the bear had wandered into camp and tried to make off with a plastic gas can. I had a bear tag also, but there were no other bears seen all week.

It's a real shame this hunt is being stopped. Based on the amount of caribou we saw in just our very small area, they seemed quite plentiful.

Hopefully there will be some better science applied to their management, and the hunt can resume in the future.

Fortunately for anyone wanting to hunt some of the other species of caribou, there's still good hunting in the wild north country of Manitoba, Nunavut, Greenland, Alaska, Newfoundland, BC, NWT, and Yukon.

Congrats. Looked like you had a great time.

How does Caribou taste or have you not eaten any of it yet?

Why are they doing away with the hunts for?

Congrats Stick.... Looks like it was a awesome trip. Great pics, Thanks for sharing a great hunt with us.

How were the conditions while you were there ?

That's awesome. Congrats on a great trip.

Thanks guys.

Bryan, yes the meat is excellent. We had roast and backstrap in camp, and I would say it's almost beef-like in taste and texture. I brought home all of the meat from my animal and also got donated another guy's since he was from California, and he didn't want to pay the butchering fees and extra baggage fees to get it home. As far as why the hunt is being stopped....the Leaf River herd has been counted and supposedly dropped from 350,000 animals a few years ago, down to about 200,000 animals now. Even though sport hunting only takes less than 1% of the population, the hunt has been stopped "for the foreseeable future". That could very well mean for the rest of our lives unless someone pursues some type of legal action. But this action is being back by the First Nation peoples, who "might" also stop their hunt, which has been unlimited and unregulated in the past.

maddogmech, weather was cool to cold with night time temps down near freezing. Daytime up in the 50's. Overcast most of the time, with drizzly rain off and on about every day. Very windy most days too, with wind picking up in the afternoon. Luckily my stalk was down in the timber and out of most of the wind. Another bowhunter from a different camp told me had a couple shot chances ruined by the high winds. Water is everywhere, and I was glad I brought my knee-high Muck boots to get around in the bogs. But what a shocking difference to arrive back to Indiana to the crazy hot temps and a serious drought!

Great write up, thanks for sharing.

Great pics and Story......Was any of caribou killed by the group close to a B&C score?

Brew, probably not. It takes a 375 net score to make B&C. I'm guessing mine will probably fall in the 340-350 range, so it should easily make the P&Y minimum of 300 inches. The bull second from the right in the group pic was slightly bigger yet, but probably will fall short of B&C due to only one brow palm. Interesting how caribou racks are so very different from animal to animal. The overall frame size varies drastically. Some bulls have great fronts, but usually with weak tops. The ones with big palmated tops usually have smaller fronts. It's rare to find one that has everything.....a huge & wide frame, tall & heavily palmated tops, wide double brow palms (shovels), and big bez with lots of points. All of that is what it takes to make the all-time B&C book. The guides told us that the biggest, oldest bulls are usually the last ones to come through on the migration, in very late Sept and into October, once the rut begins. There's one last group of 5 hunters that will be going next week, which is considered to be a trophy hunt with the best chance at a monster.

Stick thanks for sharing I enjoy your stories and pictures makes me a little jealous but I think its cool reading your stories and plenty of pictures which is what I need lol. Congrats on a successful hunt and trip

I think that in a few years I will be doing a caribou hunt in AK....once I am retired and can make a decent trip out of it. I have long lusted after a pair of caribou mukluks and would love to get a pair made out of the hide. Great animal!!