2019 Caribou Hunt.

[Springer]

Its been a couple months but kets see what i can remember to share this years You hunt...
I hadn't been in the Cassiars since 2014 with my Older brother on a Hunt where we took a couple Velvet Bulls. This time a new area and with my Youngest son Blaze. He was able to book a couple weeks off work and i was headed into a 40 day plant turnaround , knowing this year may be slim hunting opportunities.

Well the day finally came, we drove from home to Valemount where we picked up our licences and met with our BC Hosts. Eventually Ken who we had never met would meet up with us on route .

We got as far as Prince George on day 1 then carried on to Dease Lake for day 2.
The weather forecast was not looking friendly. With lots of rain and already a big dump of snow that had previous hunters stranded in the backcountry.

From Meziadin Junction on we saw lots of Black Bears and a couple Grizzlies feeding on the shoulder of the highway....For some reason they like this spot where i assume the Mowers cut the grass and the right type of grass or whatever brings them out..

[Springer]

We drove as fast as we could to shorten the trip only to be grounded the next 4 days paying for expensive hotel rooms.....Rain Rain and more rain with low clouds. Low enough that the pilots could not fly in and pick up Hunters trying to get out. Sure it sucked for us but i felt for them fellas. We made the best of it and visited a local lake that Brags to have up to 8lb Brook trout in it. I never held an 8lb'r myself but did have one break my 10lb test line.





Ken was the most patient and caught the most fish on this trip......made for some tasty meals over the fire thats for sure.

It wasn't cheap to eat up there so we brought the camp stove and groceries into the hotel room plus used the BBQ provided outside the hotel.

Day 4 of being stranded and we were almost ready to call it quits with the crappy forecast when we got a call from BC Yukon air.......He fellas grab your gear were getting a window to fly you in , be here at 11:30 , we may have to turn around but were gonna try.

Trucks were loaded and off we went with fingers crossed....

[livinthedream]

Keep er" coming!

[Springer]

I was chosen for the first flight with my Host and all of the base camp gear.
As we took off in the rain and most of the flight in i thought of how everything was going to be soaked , cold nights and how to keep us and camp dry.
We circled our chosen lake a couple times and i looked through the window for horsetrails or a base camp....Nope we will have to make a new one.

We unloaded the plane and covered our gear with a tarp, We helped keep the tail end of the plane off the edge of the rock lined lake for the female Kiwi pilot to point the plane into the wind and take off.

In no time at all the plane was disappearing into the distant Kawdy Plateau and we were bushwhacking through the willows to a group of Balsam trees in hopes of a flat spot and windbreak.
The whole time im waiting to hear the plane make its way back with the other 3 Hunters on the next lake over as they would head into the alpine in hopes of locating some Goats, Stone Sheep and maybe a Caribou.

A couple hours went by and sure enough here comes the plane we watched it circle then land a few KMs over. Those guys put on their rain gear and packs and headed for the cloudy alpine in the rain.
It was tough for me not looking over my sons Safety even though he is 28 yrs old. I knew he was in the best of hands with his host who i have hunted with numerous times....
We had the luxury of wood to burn to keep warm they didn't. Blaze had just bought the lite Outdoors tipi tent and this was the maiden voyage.
We made the camp as comfortable and dry as we could in the conditions and set up the bigger tents for the day the other 3 would be back down to our camp which was 32 km from them.

[Springer]

We spotted a Cow Caribou and her calf the next morning swimming across the lake..It was raining and low cloud so we never ventured to far. We hit the ridge behind camp and climbed up it to be able to glass the lakes edge and the willow covered valley floor. We made the best of it and eventually headed back to camp crossing paths with a Cow and calf Moose.
We spotted a Bull across the lake later that afternoon but he wouldn't grow that 5th point up top even though he was very palmated up top.





The good news is we had lots of groceries to eat and some luxury items like a couple helinox chairs to sit on and lots of hot drinks to keep us warm.
We eventually rigged up a water filling station where the tarp put the rain into a 5 gal bucket i brought..

[Springer]

The the next few days were the same with occasionally having Blue sky show up only to disappear. Having three garmin in reach communication devices with us helped alleviate my worry knowing how Blaze was making out up in the clouds.
They were stranded for 3 days in their tiny tents , All 3 had KUIU gear and were making out OK , just bored as hell.

When the clouds finally lifted up top Blaze said he got out of his tent for a much needed stretch and there was a Group of 50 Stone sheep , Ewes and Lambs and Squeaker Rams..... Sorry no pics were taken to share on here.
They loaded camp and hiked further away to the Goat Mountains... They located lots of Nannies and Kids and Young Billies. The only decent horned Billy looked pretty scraggly in the cape department so he lives on.
They also spotted a Cranker Bull Caribou and made the decision not to kill him for the 32 km pack back to base camp where we were.

[astepanuk]

Love the story can’t wait to get back up their next year.

[CasterBlaster]

Cool photos.

[Alwaysinrut]

Great story, thanks for sharing!

[NayNay]

Awesome story as always Phil. Congrats on your hunt once again!

[Ronaround]

good story>
you guys Love your KUIU wear...

[GregT]

Wow. That looks like an amazing trip. !

[Springer]

OK where was i ...
The boys are up in the alpine and were in the valley floor camped just off Zipperlip Lake.WE got a couple days Blue sky and cloud so it sure helped for Glassing...Thing was we weren't seeing many Critters...But some how My Host Found another Bull on the Lake, He was legal but not the one i came for .....We covered some more country and burned some boot leather..








The scenery in the Cassiars is very therapeutic...Just can't get enough.. One thing that really worked in our favour was the prior snowstorm and cold weather , The bugs were almost non existent ..





With the couple days of decent weather we hoped the Guys would have had a chance to locate a Goat or Ram to come back and show off with...
Tomorrow may be the day they come back to main camp, There will be some story sharing im sure..

[Springer]

We had tired legs the next day, from climbing and walking through the uneven marshland..So we hung around camp, After all that was just as good of a place as any to cross paths with a Caribou...
It sure helped to have the Helinox chairs to sit in and glass from...The spotting scope was always set up and ready to locate should we see something across the lake.
It was Mid day, Around 3:00 and I Hear " Caribou Bull" !! , where where i said, Across the lake way on the lefthand side.
Once he was zoomed in on the spotter and checking him out , I says ya that One will do , He's not Huge but bigger than the other 2 i already have at home on the wall.

The Packraft is inflated , packs and a rifle and a plan made to paddle across the lake get out of sight then come around where we should be able to close the distance on him..

If i was to promote one item on this trip this durable inflatable would be it..
We scooted across the lake pretty quietly , Tied off and grabbed the rifle..
Were taking our time and i look back towards camp to see how far we had gone.
Well wouldn't ya know it theres the 3 amigos rolling into camp and i don't see any horns or antlers on their packs...
They have no idea where we are at either at this point , But their hungry and theres lots of food back at base camp...

We close the distance to 240 yds , except we can only see the tops of his antlers, he's laying down but not going anywhere either.
We play this game for at least half an hour until he gets up and gives me a broadside shot.
He soaked a couple chunks of 140 grn from my 270 WSM then hit the dirt...
Yeeha , finally our luck has changed.

We hike a couple yards back to the raft....Im still vibrating, Lets paddle over there and check this guy out...
It wasn't long and we were offloading on the opposite shore....
He can't be far.......Theres an Antler i yell, My Host says get over there and hold that head up lets see what we got.





I kept saying on the rainy days that brought many Rainbows ,that there was going be a pot of gold in the shape of a Caribou one of these times at the end 0f
one of those rainbows and sure enough....



We knew the fellas would have heard the shooting but had no idea where we were..

WE took our pics then started field dressing the Bull and peeling the velvet the rest of the way off....The sun was dropping so we made the decision to leave him propped open and take back just the Antlers and tenderloins tonight...

Now lets see how we fit 2 hunters plus their packs and a rack into the inflatable "Pack Raft"..



We took a selfie and were on our way back to camp....



The wind picked up pretty good on the way back and for quite awhile paddling forward we were still in the same spot for 15 mins. Eventually we started to move , again my Host paddling this unit, then it started to spit , i suggested he grab his jacket that was conveniently on top of his pack, just as he got his arms in the sleeves down came a quick Hailstorm..
It started to calm down as we hit shore back by main camp. We unloaded our half soaked selves and gear.
A quick bushwhack back up the hill to camp and home sweet home..



Drinks were drank and a Big supper cooked up. They were very grateful for their larger tent and Cots to sleep on.....Tomorrow we will head back for the meat and maybe fit in some fishing..

[Springer]

It was good to have the boys back in camp with us ...We headed back across the lake and quartered up the Bull and stuffed every last piece of meat we could into cheesecloth bags to hang in the shady Balsam stand of trees on the game pole.

Last nights Tenderloins were delicious cooked over that smoky fire...But tonight were having Lake trout and Kielbasa...Man oh Man was that good done with the right amount of spices.

[Springer]

IT was almost time to head for home again. The plane would be back the next day. Blaze and i hiked our asses off but never saw anything worthy of shooting , Accompanied by our hosts we just covered some more great country...



Now this last meal was very interesting ..We had marinated backstraps and the Femur bones which we cooked over the hot coals. The marrow was mixed with some spices then smeared over the steaks...I was kinda weirded out by it but i was licking my plate when i was done..Fantastic stuff.





I give thanks once again to my Hosts and to British Columbia for allowing us to come and hunt in your backyard.....

The next morning came early and so did the plane. The garmin message said we will be there in an hour and that was a half hour ago they sent it.....Out of the sleeping bags and the packing began...The plane came in 20 mins later ...this was our window to get loaded and get home.

If anyone is wondering , Caribou at this time of year is excellent eating. We had big coolers back at the truck, They were filled with ice then meat for the ride home....

Cant wait to do this again and hopefully my son will be able to pull the trigger next time..

The End......

[JTRED]

Really great write-up, excellent pictures, and to be successful. Congratulations. That is one trip I plan on doing in the very near future.

[Pixel Shooter]

Two thumbs up. Thoroughly enjoyed the write up and pics 😊. Congrats on a great outing and hunt

[300magman]

Great story, thanks for taking the time to write this up!

[Springer]

Thanks everyone...
This is how A.O should be , sharing of our adventures ...

[waldedw]

Cool.............really Cool, Thanks for sharing

[Bock Fever]

Congrats Springer! Looks like it was a hell of an adventure.

[beerhunter]

That was just awesome. I hope to do that trip one day. My CORE instructor when I was a kid growing up in BC told me about this hunt in the Cassiars. This is amazing. Thanks for sharing such an incredible experience.

[Evan83]

Awesome Story. I love hearing about these BC bou hunts. Just curious what time of year you were up there and if you think thats the best time to go based on experience?

[Springer]

I have only been to the Cassiars 3 times so im no expert.
I like the Late August time frame.September would be great to when their hard antlered and maybe moving more going into the rut. However i have heard once their rutting their very poor eating..