3,874 miles later, just got back from Nouchimi.

Caribou were there but were not anywhere near roads. Had to go back into the woods and find them and then drag them out.
We have 2000 feet of rope in a recovery system and the deepest one was 1700feet in. It may not sound like much but when you have 3-4 feet of snow to overcome in the hills, THAT IS WORK!

THe shooting was tougher also. There were 10 of us in camp. that means potential for 20 caribou. We didn't fill out. Some of the guys won't/can't shoot over 200yds and they just didn't get any close shots. probably less then a handful were 100yd shots most on the edge of 200. I took both my partners bulls as well as mine because we never had any opportunities under 300yds and 2 of them were at 425, through the trees from a ridge top. Figured out I had over 1500yds of shots on the 4 bulls. Only one was on a lake, the rest were in the trees.

NOne of the ususal great herds. THe locals were saying they had passed through the previous week and we were at the tail end. SOme of our crew still reported they saw herds of 20 or 30 at a time but none of the ones where you might see 1000 animals at one time.

The people with snow machines were doing well because they could just run the trails and hunt them down. We WILL have one with us next year.

On the drive out (left at 0100 to avoid the clog at Rallet)
saw a few hundred, including the 3 REALLY close ones that ran headfirst into my truck at about 30mph as they were running from a vehicle coming from the other direction. If you had ever been there you would understand what I am talking about. I was down to about 10mph and sliding when the 'boo traveling at about 25mph hit the truck.

when the smoke cleared way there were 2 hornless bulls and a cow dead on the roadway. WELL OVER 1100 pounds of caribou impacting the truck head on at 30-35mph.
NOW people know why I "armor" my vehicles. IF the one hadn't been looking straight at us and "beaked" the grill work, even the plastic gill would have survived.
Damage, 2 KC driving lights, knocked out piece of plastic in the front grill, broken plastic bug deflector.
THANK YOU MASSIVE BRUSH GUARDS!!!!!!!
Without it, it would still be sitting there waiting for the radiator parts to come in.

Interesting trip with lots of hard hunting.

Sounds like a tough hunt LAWCOP. I was there opening day and was told that the bulk of the herd was just above Nouchimi in the Quebec residents zone. Glad you got your Bous though. What marker did you get them at? Was it cold up there? We had fairly mild temps.

That must have been some adventure Lawcop!You never know what you will find in front of your vehicule up there.I remember once coming across two dogs right in front of me at high speed.There was a space large enough between them for the truck to pass through.It was very close.Where other hunters taking their snowmachines on the lakes,if not then where were they putting in?Did you drive up to the dam at Laforge and hunt on that road? Did you take any pics? Did you see any huge racks? I once came across a whole lot of caribou so many that it was frightening.They numbered so many that they could have filled a whole stadium.I believe it was during the 2001 season.I remember a warden mention that he never saw as many in the area before.The hills were blackened by their numbers and they flowed like a river right next to us.That was breathtaking.Among the many,one caribou stood out putting a tree between us and him he was independant of the whole lot.Everything would happen around him.He was a king among caribou with one big rack.We had already bagged our bulls.We have the whole thing on video.