- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
Now that is just funny!!Thanks for sharing the pics.
I see you are field dressing him on the ground. wouldn't it be easier to winch him up into a tree?
Cat
Ol' Wooly is down!!
- Thread starter longrifle
- Start date
Cat
- Location
- Peace River, Alberta
Muskox Hunt
I worked up in Sachs Harbour one fall and had the chance to go out on a muskox hunt with an elder for food. Very exciting and interesting how they form a circle to defend themselves.
The 270 Winchester was one thing they couldn't defend themselves against during our hunt.
Please excuse my friend Redfrog and his comment about the winching of the animal up a tree. Poor old frog is not to well traveled and his mind is begining to wonder. Poor bastard has lived too long on the prairies. Just try to ignore him.
Greg
I worked up in Sachs Harbour one fall and had the chance to go out on a muskox hunt with an elder for food. Very exciting and interesting how they form a circle to defend themselves.
The 270 Winchester was one thing they couldn't defend themselves against during our hunt.
Please excuse my friend Redfrog and his comment about the winching of the animal up a tree. Poor old frog is not to well traveled and his mind is begining to wonder. Poor bastard has lived too long on the prairies.
Just try to ignore him.Greg
Look out!! He's gone "coastal"!!
Sorry! Had to say it!
Republic of Alberta
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- ,location, location
death-junky
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Moose Jaw SK
wow cool what do they tast like? Ive herd you dont get much meat from them.
Hey folks,
Thanks for all the congrats!!
Ok, here goes, I'll try and answer all the questions...
Blargon, boomer and riden, I'm a game warden and I live and hunt out of Baker Lake.
Gate, funny you should mention the mitts, I refer to them as my chewie's!
Redfrog, we tried but the branch on the cedar tree broke so we figured we would just skin and butcher it on the snow It gets light at about 0630 and dark at 2030.
From my best estimate I would say that the 'on the hoof weight' would be around 600 lbs. They are built like a beef cow, except for the mighty hump and saddleback, which is more like a moose. I think we probably got around 250 lbs of boneless meat. From my experience with sport hunters I would say that my 'ox was a big bull, both in body and horn size. My hunting buddy kept saying, "Big, man!" and he takes two or three a year.
I did get a chance to put some meat on the 'que, and its charcoal for this kid! The meat is really good, granted a bit chewy, but you just have to marinate it a bit longer and it doesn't taste 'gamey' at all, not quite as coarse as moose meat...
gitrdun and mommabear, I'm considering getting a head mount done and then tanning the rest as the hair is super long at this time of year and it has a nice light patch on it's back.
Now, as for the hunt, well lets see...We managed to finally get out of town at about 08:45 as my buddies machine didn't want to start...We headed west across the river mouth and out onto the tundra towards the zone, approximately 45 km's away. We passed tons of caribou along the way, all the while scanning the horizon for a fleeting glimpse of a wolf or wolverine, but no dice. We stopped a number of times along the way to take in some of the vistas. There wasn't much snow so we had to follow various ravines and river bottoms. We arrived in muskox country and immediately spotted two animals running up the hill about two miles away, they went over the top. Since they were the only two we sighted we figured that we would try and get a closer look at them to see how big they were. We travelled up the hill through a draw and broke out on top, right into a boulder field, we circled to the west but ran into more boulders. We went for a quick hike and spotted them going over the next hill. We tore off back to the snowmobiles and circled around to the east and went to where we saw them go over the hill. There they were, about a mile away, looking back at us. We looked them over with the binos as best we could, between fogging etc and decided that one would make a damn fine first Muskox. We let them walk away and over another hill. We then moved over to a hill just to the east of their direction of travel and spotted them coming off a hill and onto a large flat, with a small ravine running off of one side and a rocky outcropping in the middle. They seemed to be heading towards the outcropping...I started walking around the hill and down into the small ravine, not really out of sight, which could have been unfortunate but this time I think it helped as the muskox kept watching me and didn't tear off across the hinterland. After I closed to within about 400 yards, they started to mill around and then headed right towards the rocks in the middle of the flat! I kept a steady pace heading right towards them, they climbed up onto the rocks and went back to back. I got to within 100 yards and considered shooting but by this time I figured that they weren't all that bright and I might as well see just how close I could get. I walked towards them, rifle at the ready, they just looked at me, snorting every once in awhile. I got to the edge of the rocks and it was clear which one I should shoot, as one was much larger than the other. I figured that 30 yards was close enough. The big bull turned to the left and give me a nice broadside shot and I took him through the lungs. I heard the bullet hit and saw some hair fly off the backside of the animal. All he did was turn around and take a couple of steps up onto a rock! I racked another round into the chamber and put the crosshair on the shoulder this time, and touched off round number two. This time the bull stumbled and almost went down, regained his footing and started bleeding profusely from the mouth and nose. A few seconds went by and finally his knees started to buckle, he slowly layed down on the rock and then fell over. Tough buggers indeed! It took about ten minutes before the other bull figured it was time to vacate the area. It was then picture time and then the work began, luckily the wind subsided while we were skinning and butchering. With that done we had a quick bite to eat and started packing everything up on to our qamutiiks. During this time the wind picked up and damn did it get cold, I zapped my fingers while tying everything down...The trip back was cold as we had to quarter into the wind all the way but it didn't matter, at least thinking back on it now it doesn't! All in all I couldn't have asked for a better trip.
'rifle
Thanks for all the congrats!!
Ok, here goes, I'll try and answer all the questions...
Blargon, boomer and riden, I'm a game warden and I live and hunt out of Baker Lake.
Gate, funny you should mention the mitts, I refer to them as my chewie's!
Redfrog, we tried but the branch on the cedar tree broke
so we figured we would just skin and butcher it on the snow It gets light at about 0630 and dark at 2030.From my best estimate I would say that the 'on the hoof weight' would be around 600 lbs. They are built like a beef cow, except for the mighty hump and saddleback, which is more like a moose. I think we probably got around 250 lbs of boneless meat. From my experience with sport hunters I would say that my 'ox was a big bull, both in body and horn size. My hunting buddy kept saying, "Big, man!" and he takes two or three a year.
I did get a chance to put some meat on the 'que, and its charcoal for this kid! The meat is really good, granted a bit chewy, but you just have to marinate it a bit longer and it doesn't taste 'gamey' at all, not quite as coarse as moose meat...
gitrdun and mommabear, I'm considering getting a head mount done and then tanning the rest as the hair is super long at this time of year and it has a nice light patch on it's back.
Now, as for the hunt, well lets see...We managed to finally get out of town at about 08:45 as my buddies machine didn't want to start...We headed west across the river mouth and out onto the tundra towards the zone, approximately 45 km's away. We passed tons of caribou along the way, all the while scanning the horizon for a fleeting glimpse of a wolf or wolverine, but no dice. We stopped a number of times along the way to take in some of the vistas. There wasn't much snow so we had to follow various ravines and river bottoms. We arrived in muskox country and immediately spotted two animals running up the hill about two miles away, they went over the top. Since they were the only two we sighted we figured that we would try and get a closer look at them to see how big they were. We travelled up the hill through a draw and broke out on top, right into a boulder field, we circled to the west but ran into more boulders. We went for a quick hike and spotted them going over the next hill. We tore off back to the snowmobiles and circled around to the east and went to where we saw them go over the hill. There they were, about a mile away, looking back at us. We looked them over with the binos as best we could, between fogging etc and decided that one would make a damn fine first Muskox
. We let them walk away and over another hill. We then moved over to a hill just to the east of their direction of travel and spotted them coming off a hill and onto a large flat, with a small ravine running off of one side and a rocky outcropping in the middle. They seemed to be heading towards the outcropping...I started walking around the hill and down into the small ravine, not really out of sight, which could have been unfortunate but this time I think it helped as the muskox kept watching me and didn't tear off across the hinterland. After I closed to within about 400 yards, they started to mill around and then headed right towards the rocks in the middle of the flat! I kept a steady pace heading right towards them, they climbed up onto the rocks and went back to back. I got to within 100 yards and considered shooting but by this time I figured that they weren't all that bright and I might as well see just how close I could get. I walked towards them, rifle at the ready, they just looked at me, snorting every once in awhile. I got to the edge of the rocks and it was clear which one I should shoot, as one was much larger than the other. I figured that 30 yards was close enough. The big bull turned to the left and give me a nice broadside shot and I took him through the lungs. I heard the bullet hit and saw some hair fly off the backside of the animal. All he did was turn around and take a couple of steps up onto a rock! I racked another round into the chamber and put the crosshair on the shoulder this time, and touched off round number two. This time the bull stumbled and almost went down, regained his footing and started bleeding profusely from the mouth and nose. A few seconds went by and finally his knees started to buckle, he slowly layed down on the rock and then fell over. Tough buggers indeed! It took about ten minutes before the other bull figured it was time to vacate the area. It was then picture time and then the work began, luckily the wind subsided while we were skinning and butchering. With that done we had a quick bite to eat and started packing everything up on to our qamutiiks. During this time the wind picked up and damn did it get cold, I zapped my fingers while tying everything down...The trip back was cold as we had to quarter into the wind all the way but it didn't matter, at least thinking back on it now it doesn't! All in all I couldn't have asked for a better trip.'rifle
- Location
- Rankin Inlet, NU
Nice umingmak Longrifle, I wouldn't mind having one in my sights some day. I was in Baker a couple of weeks ago and couldn't believe how many caribou were in town, I guess they can't get enough of that tasty lagoon water. 
If the weather holds I'll be going out tomorrow to look for some boo's around here.
If the weather holds I'll be going out tomorrow to look for some boo's around here.
