I've been wanting to go after caribou for a while now but I don'want to pay big dollars for a guided hunt, I just wanna hitch up my little trailer and head into a decent area maybe with a quad if I can find one to fit the budget. Where is a decent place to look? I figure that it would be good to start researching now as to get my plan 8n place well before hunting season starts so all I have do is grab my gear and go. What I am looking for is hard horned caribou, as I would like to make a european mount, and maybe find a few sheds to make knife handles with. Can anybody point me in the right direction?
DIY Caribou hunt.
- Thread starter Cole
- Start date
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Well you'll only be able to hunt BC of course, but the Muskwa-Ketchika is ripe with Caribou. Drive up the Alaska highway through Fort Nelson and a few hours past, when you have to slow down for Caribou on the road be prepared to find somewhere to pull off, and quad in. Buy a backroads map book, there are some old mine roads up in 7-52 and surrounding area that will get you a good ways in. From there it's hard to miss Caribou. Make sure you know what you're doing this is a remote and unforgiving area, no shortage of Grizzlies looking for gut piles. Definitely a hunt you'd do with a partner.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Been there plenty, used to live in Fort Nelson. Answer is all of the above, it's a huge area, largely mountainous. The Caribou are literally on the highway up there, but in legal shooting areas away from the road you can still spend time looking for them. Buy a backroads map book of Northern BC at Canadian tire, zero in on the area you want to try, then buy a topo map and learn how to read elevation contours (you may well already know). Have fun and let us know how it goes.
I loved hunting Caribou. Years ago we had 800K + animals in the George River Herd but there has been a moratorium on caribou hunting the last four years now because the herd is at less the 12 500 animals now. Very tasty, healthy & lean meat.
Lots of great memories with my Dad & best friends hunting these fine animals. I must have killed a few hundred over the years for myself, friends and family (licenses were transferable) and I am eagerly awaiting for them to bounce back so I can bring my boys on a caribou hunt too.
Lots of great memories with my Dad & best friends hunting these fine animals. I must have killed a few hundred over the years for myself, friends and family (licenses were transferable) and I am eagerly awaiting for them to bounce back so I can bring my boys on a caribou hunt too.
You could also keep going on the Alaska Hwy until you reach Jake's Corner in the Yukon 50 miles short of Whitehorse then turn south to Atlin B.C. Thousands of miles of mining roads around that area and plenty of caribou, moose, stone sheep, blackies and grizzlies. Lots of open mountain sides and high willow flats, but the caribou aren't called mountain caribou for no reason, keep your eyes on the ridges as that's where you'll see them, usually right on top. We always see caribou when sheep hunting, they share the same habitat and will even graze together sometimes. I have done a lot of flying around the Atlin area and there are lots of caribou and moose and like I said thousands of miles of roads and trails.
I can't comment on BC caribou, but here in Newfoundland our woodland caribou are out of the velvet by early/mid September. The brown colour is actually dirt and natural "stain" from vegetation rubbed off on the antler as they scrub the velvet off after they're done growing them.
A loooong time ago I drove the dirt Alaska Highway to Jakes corner and hunted caribou for a week around Atlin, all my myself.
I had a Honda 90 trail bike to get around with and an old time gentleman who was born in Atlin giving my advice on where to hunt and directing me to at least two different cabins I could stay in.
I saw a hundred caribou altogether, but not my dream head, so on last day I shot a very mediocre guy.
Here is one of the cabins I stayed in. I set the camera up to take my picture, having coffe after a morning hunt.
I had a Honda 90 trail bike to get around with and an old time gentleman who was born in Atlin giving my advice on where to hunt and directing me to at least two different cabins I could stay in.
I saw a hundred caribou altogether, but not my dream head, so on last day I shot a very mediocre guy.
Here is one of the cabins I stayed in. I set the camera up to take my picture, having coffe after a morning hunt.
buckbrushoutdoors
Regular
- Location
- fort saskatchewan AB/Edson AB
Telegraph creek can be good. South of all in is a good bet. Here is mine off one of the platues on a flight in hunt we did a few years back.
I had a couple of those Honda 90 Trail bikes when I was young... Orange in colour and looked like a pregnant Mo-Ped... I have no idea how many miles I clocked on those, hunting grouse on grown in logging roads, accessing speckle trout streams, hauling in bear bait (maybe I shouldn't mention that one with you...). I even have a picture of me hauling a bear out of the bush with it sitting on the back seat like a passenger, front legs over my shoulders.
Awesome guys! I really appreciate all the info. I tried caribou meat once along time ago and I liked it and am really looking forward to putting one in the freezer this year. Nice pics CFBMI, H4831,BRUSHBUCKOUTDOORS !! Your pics give me an idea of the terrain and conditions I will be facing. This is kinda weird though, its spring and I wanna go caribou hunting!! I will just have to make do with gophers until the fall rolls around!!
