When did Caribou become a Premier Hunt

[Jwill]

Caribou hunting in Quebec closed in February 2018. The population took a terrible nose dive. It may never reopen. Climate change is the main cause listed by the Quebec government. I have travelled and hunted in northern Quebec extensively. The real cause of the population decline : Hydro Quebec flooding huge areas of tundra to create reservoirs to power hydro electric plants. They even reversed the flow of a major river !!! They effectively cut off the migrating caribou from wintering and calving grounds. I have toured some of the power plants east of James Bay. Impressive, But I would rather hunt caribou.

That was an interesting rabbit hole…10-22k caribou died in one migration event in ‘84 trying to cross the rivers! Sounds like the hydro plants were are least partially responsible.

 

[cne-elk]

Man I never thought about Caribou, but after this post on a forum page it looks pretty amazing think ill book a hunt......lol. Thanks for bringing my attention to it.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

The country for me was a real driver to get one, in particular mountain caribou. I probably saw about the same number of Stone Sheep as I did caribou.

Let's get real, you aren't going to find any country like that in the lower 48...not to the scale anyway.

Wow. Just wow.

 

[Nick87]

This thread makes me want to hunt caribou. Well maybe not the thread, but the pics do.

 

[Nick87]

This thread makes me want to hunt caribou. Well maybe not the thread, but the pics do.

Might have to be my "poor man's" yukon hunt.

 

[Dave N]

This thread makes me want to hunt caribou. Well maybe not the thread, but the pics do.

Yep. I had one booked many years ago but things went sideways with the group and we never went.

 

[huntin24/7]

I 'member when shed hunting and spring bear hunts were relatively unpopular... Now everyone and their dog, literally, wants to be out there shooting cubs and posting white-chalk sheds, like they're some sort of mega-all-around-hunting-beasts...

I used to enjoy taking the dog on a few low key walks in the spring to get some exercise and find a few sheds or regularly find a bonus shed or two hunting on the fall. The level of stupid shed hunting has become for so many has given me kind of a distaste for it.

 

[Bluffgruff]

Caribou- I am noticing the amount of guys pumped for a Caribou only hunt. I have spent quite a bit of time in Caribou country and hunted Caribou. Both Canada and Alaska. I always considered them the easy better then nothing, enjoying the region, kill and put meat in the freezer. Just my perception over the last 30 years. In Newfoundland I have walked close enough to almost touch them. In Alaska many times they have walked thru camp even between my lawn chair and tent as I sat there. We have screwed around acting dumb with our hands above our heads making dumb noises and they came closer to investigate. I often joked it was like shooting your neighbors cow. If they are there they are there. I get a bow stalk would add some complexity especially in open tundra. As numbers seam to have dwindled and cost of hunts sky rocketed I see this now considered a premier hunt. I have buddies from work that are super excited about hunting them. More so then moose which I offered to take them with me on. Instead focusing on Caribou. I revised my typical moose hunt to stay most of the time in Caribou country this year. Its Alaska so either way looking forward to going. But when did this transition happen to it becoming more of a targeted species then meat in the freezer or the side hustle of another hunt. Maybe just me but its what I perceive to have developed. Still will be a great time

Since 1996, we've lost a significant portions of 2 major herds in Quebec, and 3-4 in Alaska, accounting for losses of nonresidents US hunter opportunity that are quite noticeable. Supply and demand now dictates that these hunts are "scarce" in comparison. I may go on on $2-4k DIY non-fly-in hunt, but most people aren't going to do that. The outfitted market then dictates prices and value. Some people in 2024 paid $20k to hunt the best part of the herd that I paid $3k to hunt.

 

[Rainer]

Because Caribou herds are in steep decline. Quebec's herd seemed to have disappeared over night and herd numbers are plummeting across the north. With global warming and more industrial activity up north. I bet in 15-20 years their won't be any Caribou left.

 

[2rocky]

I think the logistics of travel to hunting areas, combined with being across one or a couple international borders, combined with the potential to see large numbers of migrating animals makes caribou hunting score high on the "adventure" scale while still being relatively affordable and accessible. It checks a lot of boxes including "inches of antler per $" and "numbers of animals seen/$". They look unique, and you can't get anything like it in Texas on a high fence operation. Folks who don't hunt them often don't really know what is relatively "Big" and they look impressive on the wall nearly regardless of size.

 

[MTGomer]

I don’t know, but I’m going to try to kill a big one with a bow this summer and I’m super excited.

Part of why they have gotten expensive that I find unfortunate is because of the North American super 29 or whatever the hell it’s called. Lot of guys kill the various Caribou species as part of a checklist for that, that otherwise would not care about hunting a caribou
I’ve seen that multiple times.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

Its probably because 1, its so much harder to get to go on any other hunt than it used to be. 2, its so unattainable for most hunters. 3, its one of the most affordable easiest entry far north adventure hunt

 

[X13]

I'd given myself a $15k total budget for my wife and I to do a fly-in Alaska caribou hunt in 2027. The transporters that I talked to in 2020 have nearly tripled their prices in that time frame. I no longer think its feasible to pull it off at that price point

 

[Nick87]

Its probably because 1, its so much harder to get to go on any other hunt than it used to be. 2, its so unattainable for most hunters. 3, its one of the most affordable easiest entry far north adventure hunt

Agreed.

 

[buffybr]

Caribou hunting in Quebec closed in February 2018. The population took a terrible nose dive. It may never reopen. Climate change is the main cause listed by the Quebec government...

Like others have posted, social media has shown many hunters that there is a whole world of big game animals beyond your backyard whitetail deer. Organizations like Grand Slam Club Ovis with their Super Ten and North American 29 awards have sparked a lot of interest in hunting more than your local home animals.

I shot my first caribou in 1980 in Alaska after a friend who had shot a B&C bull there organized a DIY hunt there for several of us. I shot my second caribou in Canada's Northwest Territory in 1999 as a bonus animal to my Dall ram hunt there. That was a cancellation hunt where my Dall ram, Mountain caribou and Wolverine cost me less than $10K.

After that hunt the North American 29 thing opened my mind to the different sub species of caribou (and other animals), and I booked a fall combination Arctic hunt for a Muskox and a Central Canadian Barren Ground Caribou.

Several of my friends had hunted caribou in Quebec in the '80s and I had wanted to hunt there, but didn't until 2017. I hunted with Leaf River Outfitters in one of their fly in camps on the next to last hunt of that year. We had a great hunt and two of us came home with B&C bulls.

My guide and I discussed Quebec's closure of caribou hunting to nonresidents and that whole thing doesn't make any sense to me. Yes the caribou numbers have declined, so the nonresident quota had been reduced, but the native people are still allowed to kill as many caribou as they want. My guide told me of one native that killed 15 caribou just to feed his dogs. My hunt put somewhere of $10K into the economy so that I could experience the hunt and bring home the antlers. I filled out the paperwork and donated my caribou meat to my guide.