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 »

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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The Boots

July 5th, 2008 Paul

So, we were up in Glasgow last weekend and we managed to buy me a pair of boots for the hunting trip. We didn’t mean to, at least I didn’t but the guy in Tiso was very helpful and I got a pair. We started off just going in and having a look for camping equipment and clothes. It started of that way at least, it took Sarah about 10 minutes to be in the changing room trying on fleeces and buying one. I think she then felt guilty so I was hustled upstairs to look at boots. We had a quick look round and I homed in on a pair of Hi-Tec’s that were fully waterproof and looked good. Unfortunately the salesman didn’t seem too impressed with them.  As he got them out and started to check that they fit it was obvious that he know what he was talking about.  The Hi-Tec’s were very comfortable but the tread on the sole wasn’t particularly good. As the guy was asking what kind of walking we would be doing it dawned on us that no-one knew what the terrain in Northern Canada would be like other than it wouldn’t have many trails, if any at all. What we ended up with were a pair of Brasher Towa GTX boots that are waterproof, have a good deep sole, proper heal to dig in when walking down hill and were more than we were going to spend. That is what happens though when the sales person is nice, friendly and knows what they are talking about. If only shops in London could understand the impact good customer service has.

Here are the boots:

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It’s been a while…

June 22nd, 2008 Paul

OK, so I have not posted anything for a while, I know, I’m really lazy. Nothing has happened though. The references were received and returned a couple of weeks ago but I still haven’t heard anything about going to start shooting. This week though I’m sure…

In the meantime here is some information about how to get a gun licence in the UK.

If you want a gun you can have pretty much any type you fancy. All you need to do is show good reason for having it. So, if you can show a good reason you can own anything that is not a prohibited weapon. Self-defence is not considered a good reason over here in the UK though.

The main reason that owning a gun will be given is for target shooting. To prove this you need to be a member of a Home Office Approved Club. To become a full member you will need to pass a 6 month probationary period during which time you will have to have regular attendance. If you are a full member and don’t turn up for 12 months though your club has to report this to the police.

The other two reasons for owning a gun are vermin control and deer stalking. These reasons are slightly different from target shooting in that you don’t need to be a member of a shooting club. You do have to show that the weapon is suitable for the task, e.g. you will not get away with saying you want to hunt rabbits with a .303 calibre rifle. You also need to show that the land is suitable for the calibre and that you have permission to hunt there. Initially, when requesting a firearm for hunting you will only be permitted to hunt on a designated piece of land until you have proved yourself competent. This will not normally be considered until the first renewal of the firearms certificate. Permission to hunt will still be required from the land owner. More information on vermin control and deer stalking can be found here or here.

After you have done all that, you can then apply for a firearms certificate. After you apply an enquiry officer will visit your house for an interview and to advise on the security upgrades your house will require. This will definately be a gun safe and will also probably be improvements to your locks. The improvements to the locks should get your household insurance lowered so not all bad news

Posted in Application, Hunting | No Comments »