Mountain Caribou Hunting

By the time the Caribou rut peaks in the mountains of BC, the landscape has become layered with snow, the high mountain lakes start to ice around the edges, and backpack hunters are freezing in there tents wishing they brought the -18 bag instead of the -7 degree bag that was perfect just 2 weeks earlier. This is also the time of year when the caribou herd into large groups and mature bulls start fighting over the right to breed. And just like many other ungulates this makes for some awesome hunting! That is also where BC & B Prostaff Daren Bell and Marty Loring found themselves once again.

2009MountainCaribouAdventure080 About a 3hr hike from our base camp we find a large group of caribou, including a couple that we agreed were mature shooter bulls. As we made our way through a patch of sub alpine timber we heard a group of caribou coming toward us in a hurry! A couple of cows just about run us over followed by a bull who was in hot pursuite, desperately trying to herd the escaped cows back to his harem. As he ran by us at only 25yrds we quickly I.D the bull as one of the 2 potential shooters and Marty fired, dropping the bull in it’s tracks. Knowing there was at least one more good bull in the group we took a quick look at Marty’s bull then grabed our gear and headed towards where we last seen the rest of the herd. When we broke into the open alpine we were surounded by caribou. We watched them for quite some time trying to find the other shooter. We looked over a few that were close, including one bull that was very impressive with huge tops to go with his double shovels. He was already a high scoring bull but was young, and in a couple of years would be Boone & Crockett worthy, so we decided to pass on him. We were just about to call it a hunt when Marty spotted a different bull that was making his way down the mountain and putting the run on the other bulls in the group. While not a good scoring bull he was clearly old and past his prime with a beautifull cape and impressive main beams. We watched him chase his cows around for a while and enjoyed the show so much it was almost a shame to end it. However, we didn’t get dressed up for nothin, so a couple of quick shots from the Ruger and my bull was down

WARNING! Above treeline in October can be miserable so good gear is a must. The cheap tent that might of worked just fine for Aug Sheep could very well be flattened under a snow load or torn to pieces from a wind storm in the middle of the night. Here is a list some of the essential gear we use on our later season mountain hunts:

Tents: For tents we use almost exclusively Mountain Hardwear. Not because we are sponsored by them in anyway, but because they have never let us down and their customer service is great. At base camp we will usually have a Trango 2, a bombproof 4 season expedition tent for sleeping in, as well as a Kiva pyramid tent to store our gear and cook inside. When spiking out we pack a Skyledge 2.1. This tent is under 4lbs and will handle a light snow load. www.mountainhardwear.ca

Stove: The MSR Reactor is our go to late season stove. We find that it out performs all others at high altitudes when the temperature drops below freezing. It’s only good for boiling water however so we usually will have a MSR Dragonfly at base camp as well so when we get sick of freeze dried food we can treat ourselves to steaks etc… www.cascadedesigns.com/msr

Clothing: Our base layers consisted of Sitka Core pants and l/s shirts, followed by Sitka Traverse shirts for added warmth. For insulation we both had Sitka 90% jackets. For our outerwear we rocked the Sitka 90% pants and Marty used the Sitka Coldfront jacket. I chose the Sitka Celcius jacket. And yes we are big fans of Sitka Gear. www.sitkagear.com

Packs: Eberlestock Dragonfly J107’s. IMO the most versatile multi-day internal frame pack on the market. www.eberlestock.com

*I will be doing full reviews on most of this gear in the near future

I was sound asleep beside my spotting scope when fellow BC & B pro staffer Sheldon Souter woke me from my dream. “Caribou bull on the lake!” he half whispered, half shouted. I must be dreaming, after all we just returned from a grueling 2 day hike into a drainage that was known for giant mountain caribou and never laid eyes on a single bull. It would be just too good to be true to have one make its way down to the lake we had our base camp on. The bull was straight across the lake from us polishing up his rack on a pine tree. “Is he legal Darren?” Sheldon asked. In BC a legal Caribou bull must have at least six points up top, or 5 and a back sticker point. “Hells ya…” I replied…If by legal you mean 380+ inches of horn then ya, I thought to myself. Sheldon took a quick look through the spotter and I watched his eyes go wide. Only problem was he was 600 yards across the lake. I would love to have one of those 50lb, best of the west scud missile launcher style rifles right now instead of our short barrelled mountain rifles. What are the odds of us paddling our little aluminum boat all the way to the other side without him spooking off??? That was our only option so off we went on the longest, most stressful boat rides of our lives. It took forever but we finally made it. The bull was still too busy destroying trees on the edge of the lake to even notice us so Sheldon crawled up a small hill and found a rest, then patiently waited for the bull to turn broadside. The rest is in the books…. the record books.