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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Where are all the Caribou???

July 15th, 2008 Paul

So, a caribou may be a pretty good sized animal but Canada is enormous, especially the frozen wasteland that is Northern Canada. This thought got me wondering; when we go on the trip, how are we going to find anything? I mean, these are wild migratory creatures that are in an area that is pretty baron and there are very few roads, towns or farms to contain their locations. When we get there, they could be hundreds of miles away. Big herds or not, there is a lot of space for them to be hiding in.

I started looking around to see if I could find some information about how you find these animals and this is what I found out…the government(?) of Quebec track them and post maps of where they are and where they have been during the week. Don’t believe me? Well look here. Every week, on a Tuesday, they publish the locations of where the Caribou started and where they ended up that week. According to the site, the maps are not overly accurate as they have “only 70 satellite collars are used to track a population of about one million caribou.” That and they can travel 200km between signal reception and publication. So, it doesn’t tell you exactly where they are but you at least get a fighting chance. Combine that with a guide who knows what they are doing and chances of at least seeing some are pretty good.

There is a lot of good information to be found on that site regarding general information about Caribou etc and also the hunting rules. I will have a read of it and summarise the more interesting and useful parts. One thing to note, if you see a Caribou with a satellite collar on, don’t shoot it or at least give the collar back.

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Bah Humbug…

June 3rd, 2008 Paul

So, as you probably know, if you have also been reading Sarah’s Blog, some gypsy is living off of our money in Lyon, France. Why is he talking about that, this is about the adventure, I hear you say. No reason really but to give the news that I will be waiting a couple of weeks until the money is returned before I buy the tickets for the train. In the mean time, please feel free to click on the adverts at the side so we don’t have to eat cheese on toast for the next 3 weeks…

Anyway, on to better news. I looked into the journey up to Sept-Isles. It will take about 21hours to drive there. Looks like a stop around Quebec will be in order. That is about 12 hours into the journey, making a two day journey fine. The second leg will be along roads that aren’t so good so the journey will be slower. The other option we have is a 31 hour journey up to Labrador City with a shorter train journey. Either way, the drive will be over two days and will not be too bad. I wonder if I will be allowed to play some techno music in the car…hhmmm. Sarah says that will keep him awake in order to read the map so I guess we shall have music.

The other thing I have looked into is flights over to the States. Cheapest option is Nortwest Airlines via Detroit. I would have snapped this up already but I have no idea what either NWA are like or Detroit. The biggest thing is Detroit. I have heard rumours, malicious I’m sure, that the airport is a bit of a dump and not an easy transfer to/from international flight. There will be no time to nip out and visit the Ford factory though Anyone out there got any informed opinions on Detroit or Northwest Airlines?

So, next time I shall tell you how the gun club application is progressing and about the funny looks my work mates gave me when they saw my latest choice of reading material.

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