Quebec bou

[Waldgänger]

Hi all,

This december (2nd week) me and a few other people are going to Nouchimi camp in northern Quebec (east of James Bay) to hunt caribou. Two of us are from Virginia, the other two from Minnesota. We've got all the official propaganda, tips and what not, just wondering if any of you have done a hunt up there and what we have to expect. Other than it's going to be damn cold.

EDIT: mods didn't realize there is a special "Canada" subforum for stuff like this. Could you please move the thread?

 

[passinthru]

Four of us did a drop style hunt in sept. '02 near LacMinto. Excellent hunt. We took six bulls with archery and two with rifle.


Locals in kujjiarpik thought we were stupid to fly so far out when the animals came into to town a month or two later. So maybe you'll find them close to a town and can butcher in the school gymnasium like them.

Bring small bills. They dont like to give you change for the eleven dollar cheese burgers either. Only when you stand there and demand it.

 

[Don K]

LacMinto...... A incredible place

 

[Waldgänger]

Quebec Caribou Hunt 2012: the AAR

We were signed up to hunt early December at Nouchimi camp for the late caribou hunt. It was an amazing experience, I'd recommend it to any hunter, but it went completely differently than expected (but expectations that were grounded in complete ignorance) and there were a lot of hidden costs. Hope my experiences are helpful.

The first big event was the fact that our outfitter, Nouchimi, went out of business just a few weeks before our hunt. However, the Quebec Outfitters Association rescheduled us with Camp Kiskimaastakin which is not too far from Nouchimi (half of Nouchimi's clients went there, the other half to Mirage Camp), at no extra charge. This was very generous of them, as Kiskimaastakin is more expensive than Nouchimi.

A lot of what I am going to say is going to be ridiculously obvious to some of you from northern places, but I'm from Virginia so really cold weather is a novelty. Definitely you need to be prepared for the weather - warm, layered clothes with synthetics for sweat wicking. I had to spend a lot of money at cabelas since I didn't own any truly cold weather clothes. We also drove up in my friend's truck, took us three days to get up there. He had an engine heater, snow tires and two spare tires, plus lots of extra gas in the back. On the third day of our trip there, we left Matagami and that was the last town until we reached the camp - 544km up the Route James Baie, 395km east on the Trans Taiga Road, then 100km north past a dam to the camp - a 13 hour drive on icy roads with no settlements. If we go up again, we'll definitely look into flying. The gas expenses were probably around $800 for the whole trip. We did see caribou on the TT but you can't shoot until you get your license, which is from the outfitter.

The camp itself is a first class operation - heated dormitories with 2 man rooms and showers, a cantina with an excellent kitchen staff, the meals were first rate, an office and a little store, as well as a garage for the snowmobiles and a helipad. The staff was very professional and friendly, can't recommend them highly enough.

I wasn't sure what to expect with the hunt itself. My friend who set this all up said we'd probably do spot and stalk from our vehicles, maybe some snow shoeing out into the taiga to find the caribou. Oh no. The camp operator said truck hunting was a possibility (of course provided you follow the rules regarding how far you have to be from the road, etc.), but chances of success that way were very low. There were times when caribou were close to camp but when we got there that was not one of the times. Caribou were spotted about 100km north of camp, there are no roads, so the only way to get up there was rent the helicopter ($1200 an hour, so out of the question for us) or rent a snowmobile and a guide ($300). So we got snowmobiles. I had never driven one in my life, and after a quick class I had to try to keep up with the guide and the others through 9 hours of very hard riding, I tipped over 5 times and got launched from a ramp shaped rock Evel Knievel style into the air until a tree stopped me. Other than that, it was a blast but definitely high pucker factor and I was beat to hell by the end of the day. Another of our party had a bad accident on the last day but came out ok (nasty scar on top of his head, about 5 minutes after he decided he didn't want to drive with a helmet) and another group had a guy go through the ice over a lake. The environment will definitely do you in if you are not ready - a guide isn't mandatory but you should have one unless you are crazy.

They did put us on caribou on the last day - a group of about 50. The four of us got six - one for me, one for the guy I drove up with and the other two in our party got two each. One was good enough for me quartered out with its pelt it filled entirely my big ass cooler. I had no idea how caribou behave, but couldnt believe we'd be successful with all the noise we had on the snowmobiles plus we all reeked of gasoline. But caribou it seems in Quebec have no real experience of people so you can get pretty close and even kill several before the others realize they have a problem. Another thing I didn't realize was how the antlers worked - while caribou cows have antlers, they are quite small and unimpressive looking. The bulls had already dropped their antlers by the time we got there. So I didn't keep my antlers but instead took home the pelt which I had sent to the tanner. The meat is delicious and was the main course for Christmas dinner at our house. No problems getting through the border either way.

You can also get a small game permit and hunt ptarmigan, which a lot of Quebec hunters did. There were tons of wolves but absolutely no shooting those.

Per man it was $1250 for a three day hunt, but if you drive from Virginia you can figure another $1200 in gas, hotels and incidentals and 6 days round trip. I spent about $600 in gear but its a sunk investment for I won't have to make again. And another $600 in snowmobile rentals and guide fees, and finally $350 for the hunting license and tags and $25 to get my rifle into Canada. Splitting the gas and hotels cost with my buddy, it came out to about $2800 for me, plus $600 for gear. It was a great time and a great adventure and I definitely recommend Kiskimaastakin to any east coast or Midwest hunters who want to do a caribou hunt. If you want to get a bull with a big rack, you have to go earlier September/ October and they will fly you in. I was told those hunts were about $2500 a man though.

Paul Valiquette who operates Kiskimaastakin is planning to be at the Eastern Sports and Outdoors Show in Harrisburg, PA in February so I am sure you can cut a deal on a trip with him if you want to go up to hunt caribou next season.