2014 Caribou Hunt

[greywolf]

I have an opportunity to go on a caribou hunt this year at Munroe Lake Lodge in northern Manitoba. Any feedback would be appreciated. PM is okay.

[Springer]

Is that the outfit Ryan Kohler went with? I have an opportunity , well a trip to Northern BC for Mountain Caribou..Have fun Mark, hope it works out for you.

[greywolf]

Thx Phil,
I believe he went to The Lodge At Little Duck.

[Tatonka]

Yes, Ryan went with The Lodge at Little Duck....as did I last year. I talked to Ryan before I booked my hunt.

When I was looking at the different outfitters before I booked with the Lodge at Little Duck, I contacted Monroe Lake Lodge.... Very positive feedback from the references I checked, but they were full last year. I have no doubt that they would do a great job. Their Caribou Camp is about 15 miles north of the Lodge at Little Duck, so I would assume the hunting would be very similar. I haven't seen photos of the facilities at their Caribou Camp, so I can't comment on that. One thing to know is that they only allow one rack to be flown out intact...the second rack is split... The Lodge at Little Duck lets you bring both racks back intact. The Lodge at Little Duck is second to none as far as I'm concerned....very nice facility.. Beautiful lodge,they have a chef, waitress, open bar, Satellite TV, nice rooms, etc., But if you have a chance to go with Monroe Lake this year, I'd take it......

[greywolf]

Thanks Tatonka,
I suspect Munroe's Caribou camp is a bit more rustic in comparison to Little Ducks, and is reflected in their prices.
I was informed of the splitting of one rack for the flight out, and will rely on my taxidermist to correct it once were home. (2 tags).
The dates available for this years hunt work for my schedule, I don't need any more reasons to convice myself to go, and it is on my bucket list. :)

I have also had dialogue through PM's with a fellow from Manitoba who is quite familiar with hunting northern manitoba Caribou, he gave it the thumbs up as well.

I just read your post from your trip last year, NICE.

[turbo mulcher]

Go for it Mark, I sure had fun on my Mountain Boo hunt years ago.

[H380]

Jealous of your chance to go , hope you have a great trip and keep us informed of your success .

[Booner Sniper]

I have heard good things about Monroe Lake, I'm from MB and have known guys that have gone up there. With the Caribou it's all about what the migration is doing up there. You will see resident animals, but it depends on where the heards are in relation to moving or not. I'm sure you will have a good hunt. I would go for it. We went with CanSubArctic when we went, we were right on the Nunavit border

[Ultimate Predator]

Never been there but had a chance in 1998 to hunt NWT one of the funest bowhunts I've ever been on one big bull 375 " and a rag horn had to set up camp and build an outhouse 3 days huntin 2 days fishing 1500 $ bucks wish that deal came along again

[Tatonka]

Question: What dates will you be going? I was there Sept 11-16. The caribou didn't appear to be in migration mode, but there were a lot of caribou around (hundreds)...small groups scattered everywhere, but they didn't appear to be moving... They were pretty much just feeding and laying around, which made it nice for spot and stalk. I don't know what the final stats were for all of the caribou camps (I believe there are 6 in Northern Manitoba that take non-residents), but I believe most if not all of them went 100% last year. There were 5 hunters there the week I hunted and we all took big bulls.....no one killed anything small. Manitoba only issues 250 resident and 250 non-resident tags from what I understand, so with a herd estimated at over 400,000 it's pretty much like hunting an untouched herd. We still hear a lot about Quebec and Alaska as the places to go to hunt caribou, but very few talk about Manitoba...Manitoba and Nunavut are very well kept secrets.... Pretty much a slam dunk for taking big bulls. Having been there, I wouldn't even consider a caribou hunt anywhere else unless I was on a quest for the different subspecies, which I'm not.

The weather was decent when I was there.... lower 30's F. at night and mid 50's during the afternoon. No bugs, but earlier I guess they can be brutal. We had two days that were pretty windy.

I spoke with on group who hunted there the last week of the season a couple of years ago and they struck out....never saw a caribou...the migration was over and when the migration starts, the resident caribou head south also. I don't believe that happened last year, but it could so I'd not plan a hunt for the last week.

[greywolf]

Sept 5 - 10, just confirmed this morning, and payment in full with 2 tags..

Been hunting for 36 years and now I find out that there is no grandfathering to get a license in Manitoba. I guess I will be taking the hunter training course...lol.

Tatonka,
I suspect it is better to be abit early vs abit late, hopefully my dates will work out.

thx everyone.

[Tatonka]

I didn't have to take a Hunter Safety Course to get my Hunter Safety Certificate... Like you, I've been hunting for over 50 years now and had never taken a hunter safety course (they hadn't been invented when I started hunting!). I contacted the Manitoba F&G Dept. about it and they accepted a copy of my current driver's license, a copy of my Montana Hunting License, and my birth certificate and they sent me a Hunter's Safety Certificate. I believe I sent them a copy of the contract with the outfitter also... It didn't take much time and it wasn't a problem at all. They were very helpful.

Your dates will work out just fine......I suspect most of the bulls will still be in velvet... When I was there the following week, many were still in velvet, but some were starting to shed it... You'll see a lot of bulls. Listen to your guide...they all look big and you're going to want to shoot the first good one you see, but the guides know what they're doing... If they say not to shoot, believe them! They want you to go home with a couple of really good bulls.... The week I was there some hunters shot a couple small bulls the week before I got there. They were loading up to leave as we were unloading, so I saw all the bulls they killed. All 5 of them killed two bulls each the first day of their hunt... Later I heard the guides talking and they were a little upset that the hunters wouldn't listen to them....they'd tried to talk them out of shooting, but the hunters couldn't hold off I guess.

[Booner Sniper]

There is an exemption clause here, that if you held a valid hunting license prior to sometime in the 60's then you can apply for the exemption. I will look it up and let you know what the date is for sure.

We hunted Sept 5 - 11 when we went, we shot the 4 biggest bulls in camp but hunted hard and put on a lot of miles on the boat and hiking through the muskeg. My buddy shot one that went 372 net, my biggest went 325, MB provincial book min is 310.

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab286/reid21/P9061099.jpg (http://s872.photobucket.com/user/reid21/media/P9061099.jpg.html)

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab286/reid21/P9081162.jpg (http://s872.photobucket.com/user/reid21/media/P9081162.jpg.html)

[Whitetail77]

We booked with The Lodge at Little Duck late last year. Had it down to a few and Tatonka tipped the scales for us to book with David Fisher. Looking forward to our trip this September. We are the 2nd week booked and expect 30% hard horn and 70% velvet based on our discussions with the lodge. The first week is suppose to be mostly velvet. Good luck

[fog]

Ahhh yes - them were the days when I would get "approved" by the local good old Inuk's club and then able to harvest 15 Bou's per year. They called it a
GHL Special. Mind you I was keeping two [nuns] lady school teachers and the 4 gal's at the local Health Center supplied with Bou meat and Char.
I was such a nice man back then --- lol.

[sixpoint1]

Hi guys, I have been curious about this trip for a while. I am wondering if anyone from Alberta who has gone on this trip would mind giving me an estimate of what the final cost looks like?

[35 whelen]

Heres a few from little duck lake from the 90s ,great area to hunt boos lots of small trees and cover to hunt .MANITOBA is a sleeper place for boos and moose good luck.

[greywolf]

Hi guys, I have been curious about this trip for a while. I am wondering if anyone from Alberta who has gone on this trip would mind giving me an estimate of what the final cost looks like?

PM sent on pricing.

[Tatonka]

Hi guys, I have been curious about this trip for a while. I am wondering if anyone from Alberta who has gone on this trip would mind giving me an estimate of what the final cost looks like?

I drove...probably about the same distance for me as it would be for someone from Alberta (17 hour drive from here to Thompson). If you shoot two bulls, figure on close to $10,000 when it's all said and done (gas, motels, cost of the hunt, tips, incidentals, etc.). Of course if you get 3 or 4 guys to go and share the gas and motel expenses it would be a little less. Most of the outfitters there are within a few hundred dollars of each other as far as the cost of the hunt. As the demand for these hunts increases, which I'm sure it will, the cost will be increasing also.... The old Supply and Demand equation.

[sixpoint1]

Thanks for the info guys, greatly appreciated.

[gatorhunter]

Sept 5 - 10, just confirmed this morning, and payment in full with 2 tags..

Been hunting for 36 years and now I find out that there is no grandfathering to get a license in Manitoba. I guess I will be taking the hunter training course...lol.

Tatonka,
I suspect it is better to be abit early vs abit late, hopefully my dates will work out.

thx everyone.Follow the directions on page 58 of the Manitoba Hunting Guide identified in this link.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/wildlife/hunting/pdfs/FINALHunting_Guide2013_WEB.pdf