Winter Caribou Hunting

Have any of you people tried this, hunting caribou in the winter time at -30* It's a lot of fun and you hunters, you should try this. It was in 2004 I was out hunting caribou with my buddy Guy. We left that morning around 7 AM. and it was pretty cold it was -30* no wind. Guy had his little Tundra and I had my Artic Cat 580 Pantera 1995. I had the big sled hooked up and away we went. We were heading for Lake Wachuach, this is 65 miles north of Schefferville. It's an outfitter camp and belongs to Wedge Hills Lodge, the owner Mr. Albert.

As we travelled along, crossed a couple of rivers and following the marked trail, things were going just great. After 2 hours of driving we stopped and had a good cup of coffee. The sun seemed to have warmed up the day and let me tell you it was beautiful, all those mountains and steep cliffs and lakes, for awhile I thought that I was on another planet, it's hard to explain how nice it is. As we were going through a portage we saw fresh caribou tracks and a lot of tracks.

We had stopped and I was saying to guy, they are very close maybe just ahead of us, I unhitch the sleigh. I think that we might have to run after them. Got on our snowmobiles, I was in front and away we went, as we got out of the portage and on to Lake Wachuwach. The herd was about half a mile ahead of us, they had stopped and were looking at us. I say that their must have been a couple of thousand heads. We stopped again and took the rifles out of our cases, loaded up, Guy had a 308 Browning with scope and I had a 32 special Winchester model 94 and no scope. It was easy and lite to carry along and I liked it. The caribous were still standing there and looking are way. I told Guy did you know that caribou run at 65 km. per hour. He said I know that they run pretty fast.

I told my buddy I don't want to chase them, do you see the point that comes out on the right side. He said yes, well I will go up on the mountain and come out just on the other side of that point. You wait here until you see me going down on the other side. Them you can head straight for the herd with your snowmobile. Guy said OK. I head back slowly on my trail and then went left to the mountain and followed it on the other side right up to the point. Stopped the snowmobile and walked to the point, I could hear the snowmobile and I saw the herd coming for the point. When the herd was close enough, about 1000 feet I aimed the big bull in front the leader, pulled the trigger and he stopped, I shot the next big one beside him and he stopped also. The whole herd had stopped, why because the leader was not moving. Guy shot his two big bulls also. It took about 10 minutes before my bulls fell to the ground. Out with the knife and did the job as fast as we could while those caribous were still warm. Went back and picked up the sled, got those 4 wonderful caribous abord and on our way back to Schefferville.

Do you know what? We did not even make to the hunting camp. What a wonderful day and if any of you want to experience a trip like this inbetween the 15th, Feb and the 15th, April 2008 just e-mail me. God bless you all.

My Dogs attacked by 3 Black Dogs

I received an invitation from my aunt Jackie and Uncle Roy, who lived in Moosonee, three miles From Moose Factory Island. She asked me if I would like some spaghetti and meat balls for supper tomorrow. It was Saturday and told myself I’ll take a break from the wood cutting. I decide to go over early so I harness up Blackie and Whity and as usual they were ready to go. Away we went for Moosonee, crossed Charles’s Island and they were running as fast as they could go. Tied up the two dogs went in and said hello to Aunt Jackie, she was washing the kitchen and living room floor. I said I’ll do that and even if you have some wax I’ll wax it to. Which I did and the floor was shinning aunt Jackie said the next time I want my floor washed and wax I’ll invite for spaghetti and meat balls every week-end. I answered anything for a meal like that. I spent a couple of hours after supper talking with both of them. It was around 10 PM. And it was time to go. Untied the dogs and we were on our way. Just as I started getting on to Charles’s Island and pretty dark it was, three dogs came out of the bushed and jumped on Blackie and Whitie and what a fight. I jumped off the sled, ran and started kicking the dogs with all I could give. They finally let go of my dogs and took off for the bush. I looked both dogs over and they seemed OK. After tying the dogs up and feeding them. I went in and told my grandfather about what happened and I said they were a pretty good size, and I had to kick a couple of them. I was wondering why those three dogs there were. He answered and said you were pretty lucky, you could have been attacked by those wolves. He said their young wolves and stays black until they become adults.

I would like to introduce...

I would like to introduce my wonderful wife Madeleine who gave me three wonderful children Bob, Gary and Melanie. Today is Melanie’s birthday and I still remember her first fish that she caught. She was going on to three years old, had her little fishing rod and reel. She caught a nice speckle trout about 1 lbs. When took the hook out she I want my trout and I gave it to her and she started kissing it on the head. She sure was happy and could not wait to show it to the others. Mado we call her, likes hunting and fishing when the weather is very nice let’s say. Today up in Schefferville Quebec, Canada we went out for walk and at the same time I said I’ll bring the 12 gauge along as there are a lot of white partridges around. So we got our snowmobile suits and big boots on, it was -30 and not with the factor wind or wind chill. I walked through the little village with my shot gun on my shoulder. Everyone is use to that here, it’s the paradise of hunting and fishing like I mentioned before. We were gone about an hour and a half and came back with 10 nice ptarmigans. They way I clean them is, I pluck the feathers off the breast, grab the wings and legs with one hand and grab the top of the breast with the other hand and pull. All that stays in your hand is the breast. You throw the rest away. We marinade it for about an hour. Then wrap it up in bacon and into the oven for about half an hour at 400F. Then serve it on a bed of wild rice. It’s a great meal… I mentioned a few episode back a place called Wedge Hills Lodge on the George River. This place is a hunter’s and fisherman’s dream, caribou, bear, salmon, char, lake and speckle trout. I will be getting into more details on that place later on in my stories.

The Dog Sled Race.

The race starts at 01: PM and have to be there for noon. That morning I took Blacky and Whity out for a short run and did not feed them any seal meat that morning. They were both in great shape; I knew that morning that no one could beat us. It was a beautiful sunny day and about -15. I put the harnesses on both dogs and yes I built a new sleigh out of broken hockey sticks that I had picked up here and there. It was a nice light sled and for racing. At noon we were already tide up on the side of the road and waiting. I was having problems with Blacky he was barking and trying to get to the other dogs, he wanted to fight not race. I tied his rope a little shorter to the fence post and my buddy Lloyd came and took care of him. They gave me number 13, for me it was a lucky number. The inscription was finished and we were 17 in the race. We were allowed 1 to 6 dogs, everyone had six dogs I was the only one with two dogs. The race was one and a quarter mile. The first runner did it in 6 minutes 15 seconds. I was the last one to run and the time I had to beat was 5 minutes 35 seconds. Lloyd helped me up to the starting line and we were having problems with Blacky, he wanted to jump on everything that was moving, not to bite them, he wanted to play and because of his size everyone who did not know him were scared. I managed to get going and on our way we were. Boy we were flying and the first corner that we turned I had to tip the sled on to one runner, if not the sled would have been cut in half by the steel pole that was there. About half I saw two dogs on the side of the road and I told myself oh no and it happened Blacky jump on one to fight with him. I got off the sled as fast as I could, grabbed Blacky by the ear and said no. (That’s the way I always made him listen to me and this ever since he was a pup. I just pulled his ear and he would stop.) On the way we were again and flying. I was on the last stretch, quarter mile and I could see the people, my friends jumping up and down. I knew that my time was good and maybe enough to beat 5 minutes 35 seconds. They were running straight for the crowd and I hope that Blacky does not jump on someone. As I pasted the finishing line Lloyd grabbed Blacky and said I think you won, I’m sure you won and yes we did my time was 4 minutes 20 seconds, what a race and I was proud. I the first prize in 1960 was $100. I kept $25. for me and bought dog food with the other $75.