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With all that is going on around us at the moment it is easy to get depressed. I was getting a bit that way yesterday evening. I was looking at some of the taxidermy on the wall and reliving those hunts helped lift my spirits. I thought others might need some of that as well so I thought I would write about a hunt in NWT I did back in 2016. I have noticed a few others doing that with past hunts over the last few weeks and I know I enjoy them so hopefully you do as well. I am not the story teller or as talented a photographer as others on this website, so bear with me. This might get long winded but what else do we have to do during isolation. You have been forewarned. Hope you enjoy.
I have not been on many guided hunts in my life. I went to AK on a sheep hunt a few years earlier and while I had a great time in some awesome country, we had a hard time finding legal rams and, truth be told, I did not mesh well with the guide. We were in rams every day just nothing that we could confidently identify as legal. I left that hunt not sure if I would do an outfitted hunt again. Fast forward a year or two and I was ready to try sheep hunting again. This time I chose Mackenzie Mountain Outfitters in NWT. At first I was just interested in a sheep hunt but after talking with Stan I decided on a sheep, moose and caribou hunt. He is almost always booked several years in advance so I had a couple years wait ahead of me.
I arrived in Norman Wells on August 24th and met the other hunters that would be hunting MMO’s S/M/C hunt. There would be 7 of us in total. Everyone seemed like a fine group of people. It was an interesting mix of doctors, business owners, financial planners and a coal miner. We took the obligatory group photo at the North-Wright Air dock.
From Norman Wells we all flew to MMO’s main camp. It sits on a lake with miles of open tundra on one side and mountains on the other. Nice setup with a main cooking/dining cabin along with several smaller cabins and tents for hunters and guides. Stan has a mix of planes and a helicopter for transporting hunters and gear.
Once at the main camp everyone is assigned to a tent or cabin and told to dump all your stuff on a cot. One of the guides then comes by and checks your gear to make sure you are not packing too much stuff. This is apparently very common. I have plenty of experience on backpack hunts so this was not an issue for me. I’m told my guide will love me since I am packing my own tent.
Then we are all shuttled to the range to check zero. On the walk to the range one of the guides, he appears to be around 19 years old, asks me what I am shooting. I tell him it’s a 300 RUM Remington model 700. Then he asks what it’s made out of. I tell him walnut. He responds with “I think my dad has a gun like that”. I mention something about them selling 5 million or so and that the odds are pretty good. I find his questions odd. That is until I see what the other guys are shooting. I am severely out gunned. They are all packing Red Rock, Jarrett, Christensen Arms, etc. and I have the only walnut stock in the bunch. The collection of scopes is equally impressive. They made my Leupold VX3 seem like a Tasco. I shoot first, zero checks out perfect, 3” high at 100 yards, same as when I left Wyoming. Next guy up shoots a couple, adjusts his scope, shoots a couple more, adjusts his scope, shoots a couple more, more scope adjustments. I decide this is a good time to leave and head back to camp as I vomit a little in my mouth. From the sounds of it, he used up a good portion of the 40 rounds he brought. Sounded like most of the others shot well.
You get the sense the whole time that Stan and the guides are sizing up the hunters. Who can hunt where? Who to match up as guides? Who is going to need more guidance? Who is not? They don’t say much but at some point they decide who goes where and with whom. The normal sequence of events is sheep first. Provided you get that done in time before moose opens then you hunt caribou. If moose is open when sheep is done then you go directly to a moose spot. Caribou is either hunted as seen, after sheep or after moose. You get the impression that caribou is a relatively easy tag to fill.
All the other hunters except for me and another guy from South Dakota, Darlys, get taken that day, to different drop spots. From there they will live out of there packs. They are all told to get 5 days’ worth of food from the food shack. After 5 days they will be picked up if successful, resupplied with food if seeing rams or moved if not. Each hunter along with his guide and their gear is helicoptered to a different spot. Stan does this for the rest of the day.
Darlys and I are told we will be taken to a different camp tomorrow about an hour away and then shuttled to a different drop spot from there. I am told that this camp is great moose country, good caribou hunting but not as many sheep as the area around this camp. I am told that we will not find as many rams and that when we do find a legal ram we will want to hunt that ram until we either take him or run out of time. This all sounds good other than we will lose at least 1 day of hunting, possibly more, due to flying restrictions. It worries me a little. My nature is to want control. I try to tell myself to just go with it. I mention my concerns to one of the guides, Stan’s son, and he just smiles and says “You have nothing to worry about. Enjoy the hunt you are in for a great adventure.” This helps a lot. We have a great meal of caribou ribs, get to chat a bit with Stan, he is a fascinating man, and enjoy some great country.
I have not been on many guided hunts in my life. I went to AK on a sheep hunt a few years earlier and while I had a great time in some awesome country, we had a hard time finding legal rams and, truth be told, I did not mesh well with the guide. We were in rams every day just nothing that we could confidently identify as legal. I left that hunt not sure if I would do an outfitted hunt again. Fast forward a year or two and I was ready to try sheep hunting again. This time I chose Mackenzie Mountain Outfitters in NWT. At first I was just interested in a sheep hunt but after talking with Stan I decided on a sheep, moose and caribou hunt. He is almost always booked several years in advance so I had a couple years wait ahead of me.
I arrived in Norman Wells on August 24th and met the other hunters that would be hunting MMO’s S/M/C hunt. There would be 7 of us in total. Everyone seemed like a fine group of people. It was an interesting mix of doctors, business owners, financial planners and a coal miner. We took the obligatory group photo at the North-Wright Air dock.
From Norman Wells we all flew to MMO’s main camp. It sits on a lake with miles of open tundra on one side and mountains on the other. Nice setup with a main cooking/dining cabin along with several smaller cabins and tents for hunters and guides. Stan has a mix of planes and a helicopter for transporting hunters and gear.
Once at the main camp everyone is assigned to a tent or cabin and told to dump all your stuff on a cot. One of the guides then comes by and checks your gear to make sure you are not packing too much stuff. This is apparently very common. I have plenty of experience on backpack hunts so this was not an issue for me. I’m told my guide will love me since I am packing my own tent.
Then we are all shuttled to the range to check zero. On the walk to the range one of the guides, he appears to be around 19 years old, asks me what I am shooting. I tell him it’s a 300 RUM Remington model 700. Then he asks what it’s made out of. I tell him walnut. He responds with “I think my dad has a gun like that”. I mention something about them selling 5 million or so and that the odds are pretty good. I find his questions odd. That is until I see what the other guys are shooting. I am severely out gunned. They are all packing Red Rock, Jarrett, Christensen Arms, etc. and I have the only walnut stock in the bunch. The collection of scopes is equally impressive. They made my Leupold VX3 seem like a Tasco. I shoot first, zero checks out perfect, 3” high at 100 yards, same as when I left Wyoming. Next guy up shoots a couple, adjusts his scope, shoots a couple more, adjusts his scope, shoots a couple more, more scope adjustments. I decide this is a good time to leave and head back to camp as I vomit a little in my mouth. From the sounds of it, he used up a good portion of the 40 rounds he brought. Sounded like most of the others shot well.
You get the sense the whole time that Stan and the guides are sizing up the hunters. Who can hunt where? Who to match up as guides? Who is going to need more guidance? Who is not? They don’t say much but at some point they decide who goes where and with whom. The normal sequence of events is sheep first. Provided you get that done in time before moose opens then you hunt caribou. If moose is open when sheep is done then you go directly to a moose spot. Caribou is either hunted as seen, after sheep or after moose. You get the impression that caribou is a relatively easy tag to fill.
All the other hunters except for me and another guy from South Dakota, Darlys, get taken that day, to different drop spots. From there they will live out of there packs. They are all told to get 5 days’ worth of food from the food shack. After 5 days they will be picked up if successful, resupplied with food if seeing rams or moved if not. Each hunter along with his guide and their gear is helicoptered to a different spot. Stan does this for the rest of the day.
Darlys and I are told we will be taken to a different camp tomorrow about an hour away and then shuttled to a different drop spot from there. I am told that this camp is great moose country, good caribou hunting but not as many sheep as the area around this camp. I am told that we will not find as many rams and that when we do find a legal ram we will want to hunt that ram until we either take him or run out of time. This all sounds good other than we will lose at least 1 day of hunting, possibly more, due to flying restrictions. It worries me a little. My nature is to want control. I try to tell myself to just go with it. I mention my concerns to one of the guides, Stan’s son, and he just smiles and says “You have nothing to worry about. Enjoy the hunt you are in for a great adventure.” This helps a lot. We have a great meal of caribou ribs, get to chat a bit with Stan, he is a fascinating man, and enjoy some great country.
