Red River Rick
09-08-2008, 04:42 PM
Bou’s & Black Powder II
It’s that time of year again. When all of us nimrods gather our gear and head off to our favorite hunting grounds to test our skills against Mother Nature. Having just finished my annual Caribou hunt with my two sons and a few friends, I thought I’d share a few words and some pics for those whom might be interested.
For me, the first hunting trip of the season has come and gone. Only problem is, it seems like it only lasted a couple of days. The reality is, the hunt was actually 12 days, how time flies when you’re having fun.
This year, I took my two son’s along on hunting trip I’m hoping they’ll remember for a long, Seems like once they’re all grown up and gone from home, we don’t get the chance to spend much “One on One” time together, so the hunt seemed like a good way to take care of that. And I’m sure it did.
The hunt took place on the Robert’s River system, between Glover and Ruddick Lake, in northern Manitoba. Approximately 10 miles south of the Nunavut (what used to be part of the North West Territories) border, about as far north in my province as one can go. We started off by driving from Winnipeg to Thompson, 500 miles and then flew from Thompson to the camp site via floatplane, another 300 miles. The flight was OK, it just took a bit longer than usual because the carrier used a Radial Otter rather than the Turbo Otter (I think that this radial Otter is the last one flying, well it should be). While riding shotgun with the pilot I noticed the airspeed indicator, 75 knots, heck, the bou were running faster than our shadow. Seemed like it was going to take us forever to get to the camp, but, three hours later we made it.
The Radial Otter:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt022x.jpg
The Turbo Otter:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt056x.jpg
The rest of the crew followed up a few hours later in a Turbo Otter, they made the same trip in just over two hours, with more guys and gear, just proves to show the difference in performance between the “Radial” and the “Turbo”. The radial is pushing around 500 HP, while the Turbo is over 1000 HP.
The first day was spent setting up camp and trying to hold back the boys from banging everything in site that walked by. It’s amazing how guys go crazy when they see so many animals congregated, to them, it’d be like “Shooting fish in a barrel”.
Take your pic:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt119x.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt118x.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt115x.jpg
The rest of the first week was spent hunting. The weather was really good for a few days and then it became ugly, a big storm passed thru and lots of rain. The storm was bad enough to sink one of the boats, when you get “White Caps” rolling on a river; you know your going to have trouble. The tundra became even more difficult to walk on since about 4” of rain fell, not that it isn’t wet enough. Watch where you are stepping or you could disappear.
We all managed to fill our tags with some very nice animals, 14 in total. A few will probably make B&C; the remainder of the animals should all make it into the Provincial book except for one or two. These Bou’s are “Central Barren Ground”, a bit larger than the “Woodland” Caribou, but carry a smaller rack.
I did manage to bag one with my Pedersoli RB, using a 510 BP Sil bullet pushed by 65 grs. of GOEX FFG “Holy Black”, range was approx 225 yards. The first shot was a bit off, hitting him just behind the diaphragm, sure slowed him down though. This allowed me a second follow-up shot to finish the job. And as usual, no bullet to recover, they just pass on thru.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt161x.jpg
The remainder of the animals were taken with a variety of calibers, the good old .303 British, .458 Lott (good for monsters and demons), 7mm Rem Mag, .348 Win and my 45-70. Actually, if one would be so inclined, running naked with a sharp stick would suffice as well (sorry guys, no pics of that one, maybe next year).
Here's my youngest son with his first Bou of the season:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt109x.jpg
And the oldest one:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt216x.jpg
I’ve already booked my hunt for next year; I plan on staying for the last 3 weeks of season. So far, I’ve been up there three times and have spent time hunting the first and second weeks. I’ll try for the last few weeks and see what kind of difference there is. The timing of the hunt to coincide with the migration is crucial, too early gives you what locals have been hanging around, the later dates should allow for better pickings, in theory anyways. It’s not uncommon to see hundreds or perhaps thousands of animals per day during the full migration. During this past hunt, we probably saw a few hundred animals each day, good enough.
Me and my sons:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt218x.jpg
Now, I’m getting my gear back together and preparing for my upcoming “Elk” hunt. If I can get caught up with all of the work that’s been put on hold for the past while, I may be able to slip away for a few days. Then there’s Deer hunting……………….. gee, I sure do like the fall.
RRR
It’s that time of year again. When all of us nimrods gather our gear and head off to our favorite hunting grounds to test our skills against Mother Nature. Having just finished my annual Caribou hunt with my two sons and a few friends, I thought I’d share a few words and some pics for those whom might be interested.
For me, the first hunting trip of the season has come and gone. Only problem is, it seems like it only lasted a couple of days. The reality is, the hunt was actually 12 days, how time flies when you’re having fun.
This year, I took my two son’s along on hunting trip I’m hoping they’ll remember for a long, Seems like once they’re all grown up and gone from home, we don’t get the chance to spend much “One on One” time together, so the hunt seemed like a good way to take care of that. And I’m sure it did.
The hunt took place on the Robert’s River system, between Glover and Ruddick Lake, in northern Manitoba. Approximately 10 miles south of the Nunavut (what used to be part of the North West Territories) border, about as far north in my province as one can go. We started off by driving from Winnipeg to Thompson, 500 miles and then flew from Thompson to the camp site via floatplane, another 300 miles. The flight was OK, it just took a bit longer than usual because the carrier used a Radial Otter rather than the Turbo Otter (I think that this radial Otter is the last one flying, well it should be). While riding shotgun with the pilot I noticed the airspeed indicator, 75 knots, heck, the bou were running faster than our shadow. Seemed like it was going to take us forever to get to the camp, but, three hours later we made it.
The Radial Otter:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt022x.jpg
The Turbo Otter:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt056x.jpg
The rest of the crew followed up a few hours later in a Turbo Otter, they made the same trip in just over two hours, with more guys and gear, just proves to show the difference in performance between the “Radial” and the “Turbo”. The radial is pushing around 500 HP, while the Turbo is over 1000 HP.
The first day was spent setting up camp and trying to hold back the boys from banging everything in site that walked by. It’s amazing how guys go crazy when they see so many animals congregated, to them, it’d be like “Shooting fish in a barrel”.
Take your pic:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt119x.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt118x.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt115x.jpg
The rest of the first week was spent hunting. The weather was really good for a few days and then it became ugly, a big storm passed thru and lots of rain. The storm was bad enough to sink one of the boats, when you get “White Caps” rolling on a river; you know your going to have trouble. The tundra became even more difficult to walk on since about 4” of rain fell, not that it isn’t wet enough. Watch where you are stepping or you could disappear.
We all managed to fill our tags with some very nice animals, 14 in total. A few will probably make B&C; the remainder of the animals should all make it into the Provincial book except for one or two. These Bou’s are “Central Barren Ground”, a bit larger than the “Woodland” Caribou, but carry a smaller rack.
I did manage to bag one with my Pedersoli RB, using a 510 BP Sil bullet pushed by 65 grs. of GOEX FFG “Holy Black”, range was approx 225 yards. The first shot was a bit off, hitting him just behind the diaphragm, sure slowed him down though. This allowed me a second follow-up shot to finish the job. And as usual, no bullet to recover, they just pass on thru.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt161x.jpg
The remainder of the animals were taken with a variety of calibers, the good old .303 British, .458 Lott (good for monsters and demons), 7mm Rem Mag, .348 Win and my 45-70. Actually, if one would be so inclined, running naked with a sharp stick would suffice as well (sorry guys, no pics of that one, maybe next year).
Here's my youngest son with his first Bou of the season:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt109x.jpg
And the oldest one:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt216x.jpg
I’ve already booked my hunt for next year; I plan on staying for the last 3 weeks of season. So far, I’ve been up there three times and have spent time hunting the first and second weeks. I’ll try for the last few weeks and see what kind of difference there is. The timing of the hunt to coincide with the migration is crucial, too early gives you what locals have been hanging around, the later dates should allow for better pickings, in theory anyways. It’s not uncommon to see hundreds or perhaps thousands of animals per day during the full migration. During this past hunt, we probably saw a few hundred animals each day, good enough.
Me and my sons:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/RedRiverRick/2008%20Bou%20Hunt/2008CaribouHunt218x.jpg
Now, I’m getting my gear back together and preparing for my upcoming “Elk” hunt. If I can get caught up with all of the work that’s been put on hold for the past while, I may be able to slip away for a few days. Then there’s Deer hunting……………….. gee, I sure do like the fall.
RRR