More caribou pictures

October 4th, 2008 Paul

Here are some more pictures of caribou. The day after the main event Roger and I were taken down to the end of the lake so we could have a look around and see if we could see some more caribou. Just as we got there we climbed a hill and saw a massive herd of caribou about half a mile away. Shortly they started to move out so we went down the hill we were on and up the next to see if we could cut them off and get some pictures. As we got to the top we saw them moving away in the distance. As we got close we stopped by a rock to watch. After a while they stopped going past. As we waited we looked round and saw a small herd of about 10 animals coming right towards us. As we were behind a rock it took them a while to spot us. See if you can tell which was the first to see us…

Here is one of a few from the initial herd after we caught up:

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We made it

October 1st, 2008 Paul

So, we finally made it back from Sufferville (the local name for Schefferville and I can see why). It was a successful trip but transportation was a nightmare, full details of which will follow when I make it back to the UK.

In the mean time, this is the result:

Roger got the first:

Roger’s second, this was the last:

My first with lovely velvet antlers:

My final Caribou:

So, as you can see we got four nice Caribou three of which had double shovels (the very front part of the antlers above the nose) which is pretty rare.

The meat tastes pretty good, more tender than beef and sweeter.

Posted in Animals, Caribou, Hunting, Schefferville | 2 Comments »

How Remote?

September 19th, 2008 sarah

Today we heard from our guys on their trip up North. We were glad to hear from them, because we hadn’t had any contact since Tuesday. It seems that they couldn’t dial out of the hotel they were staying at, and there wasn’t any sign of a mobile connection at all. Paul was able to get on to some WiFi someplace, as he posted some pictures to Rudders NOT at Home, and sent me an email, which I only received this morning.

They were finally able to call this morning as they’ve just arrived in Schefferville. Apparently, their train was 6 hours late, and according to Dad, they didn’t get in until 3am. There was some snow which contributed to the lateness, and Paul says the outfitters are now trying to get everyone out to camps. He reckons since they were last in, that they’ll also be the last out. Bummer for them, I think. But, they’ve still got a week ahead to hunt.

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One last shot…

September 16th, 2008 sarah

Paul and dad have been talking about this great adventure now for ages. It’s finally here, and they all left on Monday morning, bright and early. I’ve been bugging Paul about updating this blog for ages, because it’d be nice to know a bit about the route they’re taking, the things they’ve put together to take, etc. On top of that,  the whole hunting aspect of the trip has been changed slightly because of caribou migratory patterns. Now, wouldn’t people like to know about all that? I think yes, but there’s not much I can do.

But, I do take photos, and I do know how this blogging software runs, so I thought I’d at least update some of the stuff that I can. With photos. Classic photos of Paul and my dad. An odder couple, I’m not sure it exists. So, here’s some pics with some commentary. Love you both lots.

The day after we got home, Dad had Paul shoot his gun. Paul didn’t have to buy a gun for this hunting trip, because my dad apparently had a spare. It was important Paul shoot the gun before they left for a multitude of reasons. I’ll let Paul fill you in on those reasons. I just like how my dad looks like he’s imparting all of his wisdom on Paul. Really, he’s saying: “You do know how this works, don’t you?”

Here’s another classic shot of Paul aiming and getting ready to fire. Actually, because dad doesn’t have his fingers in his ears, and I’m taking a picture, this leads me to believe that this was after Paul actually shot the gun, and he’s looking through the scope to see if he actually hit the target.

Here’s where he sent my father up to the top of the hill to retrieve the used target. Isn’t that awful of him, taking advantage of an old man like that?

And here’s the last picture I have in this series. It’s a bit of an odd site, and definitely not one you see every day. Paul holding a gun. You can tell he’s just posing – he doesn’t have his ear muffs on!

He did pretty well with the target shooting. I only hope he does so well when facing down a caribou.

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Shooting….at last.

July 19th, 2008 Paul

So, after applying for membership in April, it finally came through and I got to go along to the club and start shooting. My previous experience of shooting has been in the TA shooting the SLR. This was a totally different experience.

I turned up and asked for the Range Officer. Explained my situation and asked to borrow a gun. The only club guns with telescopic sights were Ruger 10/22′s which fire supersonic ammunition to operate the breach. As they were only shooting on an indoor 25 yard range this was not possible. In the end I plumbed for a .22 prone rifle with iron sights. Much fancier iron sighs than I had ever seen before though. The rear sight was a small peep hole and the front sight consisted of a ring within a ring (like this) that was just bigger than the target image.

After the rifle came the equipment. I was expecting just a rifle and ammunition so this part was a big shock. First came the jacket. This was a cloth jacket with a non-slip padded shoulder patch and elbow patches. Apparently leather jackets are a lot better for support but I am a long way from the choice of jacket making a difference. Next was the glove, a thick leather glove for my left hand that had a non-slip palm. The main purpose of this is to prevent the rifle moving after shooting and also, as my hand was right up against the front sling loop, to prevent bruising after prolonged periods of shooting.

Next was a sling. Not a sling that goes from the front loop to the rear loop of the rifle but a sling that was strapped to my left upper arm. This would then clip to the front loop of the rifle when shooting. Then came a spotting scope on a stand so I could see how I did while waiting for others to finish. Finally came the ear defenders and a mat to lie on as this was prone shooting.

Now I was all set and ready to go. I will talk about the actual rifle later, but it was similar to this. After a instruction on how to hold the rifle I loaded the first round, took rough aim, touched the trigger and…ooopppsss…the trigger was so light I barely felt it and the shot was fired. Try again. A bit more care in touch ing the trigger and things turned out not so bad for a first go, so I’m told. Here are the first 5 rounds fired:

I think the one that isn’t in the black was the rogue first shot but it is probably the one closest to the bull.

The problem with this first group of five turns out to be the way I was using the sling. For this it came from my left upper arm down the outside and under my hand to the sling loop on the rifle. The error of my ways was pointed out and the sling was soon coming down over the top of my forearm and then back around the right side of it and under.

I only fired five groups of 5 rounds but the difference in the last group is fairly obvious as can be seen here in the photo to the right.

The penny in the left hand corner is there to show the scale of the target. It doesn’t seem to be a bad group. Granted, it was only 25 yards but the target isn’t exactly huge.

Next visit will be to use a rifle with telescopic lens as I have never shot with one of those before.

Posted in Guns, Target Shooting, Uncategorized | No Comments »