Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Caribou hunting in Canada

I'm starting to plan a Caribou hunt and need some refferals on good outfitters. I am also interested in any tips or information that you can share from your experiences with Caribou hunting. I am hoping to go in the next couple years but the cost will have alot to do with how soon I can go. I'm looking to go with a few other guys either 4 or 6 total. Any information at all is greatly appreciated since I know very little about Caribou hunting or booking a trip like this. Thanks.

Is there no Caribou hunters here?
I'm all ears, just in case I ever get the time off to go.

Chris, I've got a full package of info going to you on Monday in response to your request on our other website. Don't know what else you may want in terms of info, you didn't make a specific request. But it is addictive. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

ChrisS- Since you live in Colorado, are you planning an Eastern or Western hunt? I have hunted caribou three times with Club Chambeaux and one time with Ungava Adventures, both in Eastern. I enjoyed each hunt, but my favorite is Ungava. It is farther north, and I just like the terrain better. It is a little flatter and more open, with fewer trees. I am taking my wife and three kids up to Ungava this fall. No flies on Chambeaux though. They run a good camp(actually a lot of camps), and the price is a little cheaper. Weather is usually between 35 and 65 degrees with some wind. I have seen snow, sleet, rain and sun all within the same hour. You want a quality set of un-insulated rainwear with wool or fleece layers. Any decent rifle will work, although I built a rifle just for caribou hunting. It would be a bit heavy for your Colorado mountains, but it isn't bad on the tundra. I built it for long range shooting. I get a kick out of it, and I really can't do it much where I deer hunt here in Michigan.
Most outfitters offer several packages. You can opt for fully guided with meals, or for a lot less, you can do your own cooking and guideing, with just a camp manager there to keep you out of trouble. I have done it both ways. I prefer to have meals cooked and the services of a guide. I don't use the guide for the hunt, but it sure is nice having help with the packing of animals. Do not forget a fishing rod. you will get into some of the best fresh water fishing anywhere.

If you have specific questions please ask or send me a PM. I love caribou hunting and talking about it. I will give you whatever info I can. Regards, Al

acy,
I'm not sure where I'm going to hunt. I'm pretty open to Western or Easern hunts. I looked at the outfitters you recommended and like most others they looked good! Ungava seems to be a little bit more expensive then some of the others. I think I just read an article in American Hunter about them? Anyway I'm starting to recieve info. from alot of different outfitters and will start narrowing it down from there. Did you use travel to canada as a resource tool when you were planning your hunts? It seems like all outfitters will be able to get you a Caribou it's just making the trip enjoyable without adding on a bunch of unexpected costs. Unfortuanately I'm not rich and prices are going to have alot to do with which outfitter get's my business! What other outfitters have you looked at using? What I need is some info. on which outfitters not to use!!! Thanks, Chris

ChrisS- While all of the outfitters can put you on Caribou, not all of them do. Caribou are migratory- if you hit it right so you are in the same place at the same time as the caribou, then all is well. If not, the question you need answered is what will the outfitter do? Club Chambeaux will try to put you in a good camp right away, or will move you if there are no caribou. Ungava will do the same. That is very important because if the caribou aren't there.... Most of the guys around here hunt with Chambeaux, Ungava or Explo Sylva. All have a good reputation for putting hunters on animals. Explo is a little cheaper than the others. I think the quality of their camp buildings is a little lower. I have not hunted with them, but have seen pictures from friends who have. They keep going back. I may hunt with them some day. You have most likely read about Ungava in several magazines. They are a top shelf outfitter and get plenty of good press.

The only outfitter I can definately say DO NOT GO THERE is James Bay. I have talked to two different groups of hunters who used them. No one saw a single caribou during the hunts. James Bay refused to move the hunters to a different location.

If I was pinching pennies, I wouldn't hesitate to use Chambeaux. Probably Explo too, but I haven't personally been with them and I wouldn't feel right saying more than I have about them. If this is something you plan on doing once only, then I would save the extra money necessary to hunt with Ungava. I really love the area they hunt.

acy,
Thanks for the information. I have about 10 or 12 outfitters that have come recommended from lot's of different sources. Now I have to start narrowing them down! Ungava was a little more expensive but not to expnsive that I still wouldn't consider them. I'm only looking at outfitters that were recommended by people who have been there because if I started looking at all of them on the internet it would take me a year to sort through them all! I also have heard not to use James Bay. The part about moving you to where the Caribou are for no extra charge is obviously a make or brake for me. I'll let you know which one I pick. I've heard several people say that more people are unsatisfied with hunts out of Quebec? I wonder if it's merely due to the fact that there are more people that hunt every year in Quebec than anywhere else? These same people have recommended NWT, an Newfoundland.

Chris, I posted a question about caribou in quebec back on 12/30/02 and got some really good info. If you search under the topic of 'caribou in quebec?' you should find it. tom

Thanks pumpgun, I'll check it out.

ChrisS- I have hunted Newfoundland for moose. Saw a few caribou, but nothing that I would have shot had I been hunting them.

Regarding people being unsatisfied with caribou hunting in Quebec, it could be a simple matter of expectations being too high. In my several trips there, I have seen it where I had to hunt hard to find caribou(maybe seeing only 30 or 40 animals in a week), to seeing hundreds of animals per day. Even when I didn't see a lot of animals, the hunting was fun, the fishing was great and just being there was a good thing.

I hunted with Safari Nordik last year and was very impressed with their organization. From the time I checked into the Hilton at Dorval airport in Montreal until I got my meat off the truck when I got back, everything was exactly as they said it would be in their video.
I booked an unguided hunt in late August for $3295 ( this year it's $3695). There were only three people in camp since most people book a September hunt. I had my own boat and all I had to do was go down to my assigned end of the lake, get up on a high spot and watch. If I wanted I could go back to camp for soup and cookies at lunchtime! I did about every day. Needless to say I got my two bulls as did the other two guys. This was a fun and easy stress free hunt.
The hunt price includes round trip airfare from Montreal, license fees, taxes, meals and lodging, one night's stay in Montreal and free meat and antler transportation back to Montreal.
We missed the main migration and only saw small groups of caribou and the quality of the bulls wasn't that great, but nobody has any control over that. I talked to a group of guys who were coming back from their hunt as we were leaving for ours and they said they saw hundreds of animals. The camp manager was obsessed with everybody getting their two bulls. Even though this was an unguided hunt he would help a guy out. Safari Nordik has a free move policy, which means that if there are no caribou at your camp they will move you to another camp for free. That would probably be pretty crazy with a bunch of hunters in camp, but my experience was a very good one. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

We have decided to definately go for barren ground Caribou which cut's out alot of outfitters I was looking at from Newfoundland. Right now I'm looking at Safari Nordic, Jack Humes, Ungava, Montagnais and club chambeaux, but I'm still waiting to hear from a couple guy's I know to see what outfitter they used and will check them out as well. These are just for Quebec. I am also interested in a couple outfitters from the NWT as well. I'm no there yet but I'm narrowing the playing field!

ChrisS,

Have only hunted caribou in Newfoundland. Took a book bull on the first day of my hunt. Followed a bow hunter for three other days and saw many fine animals.

Hunted there again with the same outfitter last year but for moose.

The outfitter is great and the woodland caribou does not migrate the same as others. The area this outfitter has is where the WR come from. It is a top notch outfit with a great bunch of guides.

Shockey and Winke have both hunted with them. The individual rooms and lodge are great.

http://www.mountpeytonoutfitters.com/main.htm

If you call ask for Don Tremblet.

whitetail,
No I have never hunted Caribou before. I'm sure Newfoundland has some great outfitters with some great hunts but I have to narrow it down somehow. The fact that Woodland Caribou don't migrate is one of the reasons we decided not to hunt them this time. We are interested in possibly seeing large herds migrating through. The reason we are interested in that is because it's something totally different than what we are used to seeing. We hunt elk here in Colorado and the Woodland seemed like it would be more like elk hunting. Like I said our hopes are to see very large herds migrating through areas that we are hunting. I know that's not a guaranteed thing but nothing is guaranteed when your hunting! Furthermore I am hoping to one day get the chance to go to Newf. to hunt the Woodland Caribou... just not this time. Thanks for the refferal on the outfitter though.

whitetail

I don't want to steal Chris's thread, but..... I've been thinking about booking a moose hunt for '05 and would also like to do a caribou hunt one day. I looked at the link you posted and they offer a combo moose/caribou hunt for not much more than the moose hunt I was thinking of booking, hmmmm. Could you tell me more about your hunt? Do you have photos of your moose and caribou? No matter where I go I'll have to take my wife with me, is this a place you would recommend taking a woman? Feel free to e-mail me at the address below. BTW, in '96 I took a fair black bear hunting out of Bishop falls, with Dave Toms. But I WOULD NOT recommend him to anyone.

I've hunted Quebec for the past 4 years now with Labrador Outdoors www.bigstag.com they have an operation in both Labrador and in Quebec, all in all I'd have to say they run a pretty good hunt food, accomodations and guides all very good. Weather and communiction as with all remote hunts don't always cooporate. I've been on hunts where we've seen several hundred animals to others where we walked 10- 12 miles a day and seen a stray cow and calf. Last year was very tough in Quebec when we were there migration stalled and animals were hard to come by, my understanding in talking to other hunters from most of the outfitters working out of Schefferville was it was the same throughout the region, however the following week they had animals everywhere, that's hunting. I suggest that you talk to refernces on how outfitters hunt, many just park you on the shore of a lake and you wait for the 'bou to come through, not very exciting or sporting in my book, whatever melts your butter. I would be sure to specify the type of hunting you want when you speak with your outfitter. I'd reccomend it as a hunt that everyone should try one or ten times!

RBunt227,
Thanks for the outfitter refferal, I will definately check them out! What has your success rate been the 4 years you've been? Were there other outfitters you looked at before you decided on them? Have they had to move your camp to try and get you to the Caribou? If so how did that go? Thanks, Chris

The first two years we were 100% in camp. I did not take an animal my third year saw only small bulls nothing that I wanted, my cousin got one and all others in camp got their limit, 2 "gentlemen" (not in our group)took four animals each, as we were moved from Labrador to Quebec they had four tags and filled out.
This past year I took one, camp as a whole was only 40%, I also missed a bear, the fishing is also excellent for brookies and lakers. They flew hunters into another area for a day to try and get them animals. Harvey has his own Otter and will move you if the animals are not in your area, he has even picked up the licence costs incurred by moving to a different province. We are considering the hunt again this year. We did look into others Chambeau, Hume, Nordik... nothing glaringly wrong with the others, just felt comfortable talking to him. Like I said before just be sure to get complete understanding as to the type of hunting i.e. terrain sitting/posting, spot and stalk you'll be doing and if that is what you want.

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