Are there any caribou left in Quebec? I used to go to Schefferville, 12 or so years ago and got run over by countless caribou, but lately I hear that the hunts are poor due to climate warming or something disrupting the migrations. Anyone know the facts? Or been this year?

the main reason about less good hunting for caribou in quebec is decline of herds.
no scientific reasons are given up to now.

leaf river :
430 000 in 2011
600 000 in 2001
269 000 in 1993

George river
27 000 in 2012 and it will worst in few months ...
79 000 in 2010
384 000 in 2001
800 000 in 1993

numbers are way down, sizes are way down, hunts are being canceled. not good at all

That doesn't sound good at all. I wanted to go back but now I don't think it would be worth it.

I leave on the 24th and will file a report when I return.I had been putting off this hunt for years thinking that the caribou would always be there.The december issue of the hunting report changed my mine to do this now

quote:

Originally posted by hvrhunter:
I leave on the 24th and will file a report when I return.I had been putting off this hunt for years thinking that the caribou would always be there.The december issue of the hunting report changed my mine to do this now

good hunt and sucess.

with which outfitter are you going?

Yes, please do report back; we used to go with an outfitter named Montenais (something like that) out of Schefferville. He had camps all over and would fly you to another camp if you didn't see any caribou, which rarely happened. It usually was just a matter of deciding how early you wanted to end your hunt, as the big bulls came through all the times we were there. Anyone who did not get two big bulls were most likely sleeping, as actually happened to a friend of mine. I guess now, those are the "good old days". I wish you luck.

I booked with Kevin Mattice of High North Outfitting.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Yes, please do report back; we used to go with an outfitter named Montenais (something like that) out of Schefferville. He had camps all over and would fly you to another camp if you didn't see any caribou, which rarely happened. It usually was just a matter of deciding how early you wanted to end your hunt, as the big bulls came through all the times we were there. Anyone who did not get two big bulls were most likely sleeping, as actually happened to a friend of mine. I guess now, those are the "good old days". I wish you luck.

DPCD,

i think it s montagnais the name and now under club chambeaux ops.

I heard that the Quebec government is thinking of stopping caribou hunting for the time being.The numbers and trophy quality has dropped to levels never before seen.When I started caribou hunting in the early 90`s the combined poppulation of the George and Leaf river herd was around 2 million.I believe it is now around 2 hundred thousand.There were many monsters around back then and it was really exciting.

Why the massive decline?

I heard it might have something to do with the lichen growth cycles??? The opening of winter caribou hunting in 1994 in Zone 22B introduced thousands of hunters to caribou hunting.It is a zone accessible by a well kept road even in winter.I bet there are few hunters from the North eastern united states that have not driven up here and hunted caribou in this zone-especially in the 90's when the US dollar was worth double the loonie and diesel cost nothing.A 4 day double caribou hunt,licence,meals and lodging included would cost about 1000US-no guide required)It was unforgettable hunting in some wild and remote country.Both herds also dropped to very low numbers in the 70's when there was very little pressure from hunting.

Shootaway ,I was part of that group , 4 or 5
years in a row . I remember gut piles on
the side of the roads , where the snow plows
pushed them . It was the biggest legal road
hunt I ever saw .
Bob

quote:

Originally posted by Bear Cat:
Shootaway ,I was part of that group , 4 or 5
years in a row . I remember gut piles on
the side of the roads , where the snow plows
pushed them . It was the biggest legal road
hunt I ever saw .
Bob

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Why the massive decline?

Larry,

there is no real known causes ... in the first nation history (crees and inuits) for northern quebec the cycle are known for 100 year so nothing is well known but over hunting pressure (a resident can take up to 8 caribous a year), trophy hunting only for big bulls (helicopter hunting is still legal and you dont have to wait before shooting your bull), disease for over populated herds, lack of food, dryer summer and of course the impact made by the big reservoirs ...

within few years while guidint in the fall we have seen the decline and change of migratory.

if it can helps. today there is only the porcupine herd that is gaining all the other ones are on the decline side ...

Today there is a web site you can access,
that tracks the migration . You can watch
the weekly progress of the caribou as they
come to there wintering grounds .You can
time your hunt , with their arrival .

quote:

Originally posted by medved:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Why the massive decline?

Larry,

there is no real known causes ... in the first nation history (crees and inuits) for northern quebec the cycle are known for 100 year so nothing is well known but over hunting pressure (a resident can take up to 8 caribous a year), trophy hunting only for big bulls (helicopter hunting is still legal and you dont have to wait before shooting your bull), disease for over populated herds, lack of food, dryer summer and of course the impact made by the big reservoirs ...

within few years while guidint in the fall we have seen the decline and change of migratory.

if it can helps. today there is only the porcupine herd that is gaining all the other ones are on the decline side ...

After talking to hundreds of caribou hunters,and having hunted caribou for 14 years,I doubt there is a hunter in this whole province that has taken 3 caribou let alone 8 in a single season.I`ve read that overgrazing of lichens has been responsible for periods of starvation and population crashes for herds.

Shootaway,

you are never been a resident of Schefferville ....!!!

as i guided i can tell you for the winter all the guys that were drawn were coming with 4 each .... for the fall all the clients i guided always tagged out (it was only 2 caribous).

so you never meet and i always so there is certainly an average between us.

i know that the word is no the hunting didnt do anything to the herds but i disagree and i lived mostly 12 weeks during the fall among the cairbous and i ve seen the decline.

all the best.

quote:

Originally posted by medved:
Shootaway,

you are never been a resident of Schefferville ....!!!

as i guided i can tell you for the winter all the guys that were drawn were coming with 4 each .... for the fall all the clients i guided always tagged out (it was only 2 caribous).

so you never meet and i always so there is certainly an average between us.

i know that the word is no the hunting didnt do anything to the herds but i disagree and i lived mostly 12 weeks during the fall among the cairbous and i ve seen the decline.

all the best.

Only one in two thousand get drawn.I`ve been participating in the draw for years and never won.Why then had the population dropped so low in the early seventies when there was almost nobody hunting them.There has also been very little hunting in the past years and the caribou are still on the decline.medved,although I was never a resident of Schefferville,I used to live for hunting caribou.

i dont know about the 70s except of course the reservoirs works ... and of course the changes in the migratory. but i doubt the knowledge about the herds in those time where as they re now.

for hunting in the winter you re able to go with the person drawn : you never had a friend drawn too ...

hunting pressure have been really hard on the herds especially on the big bulls so if for years only the big ones are taken and the pressure is push really hard there is no way it will work. for years the only reports on the herds were made by the only one on the field : the outfitters so guess what ... so when the gvt decided to have a look they had some really bad surprises .... for the last years up to 2010 (i was gone after) as a chief guide i had to report any animal taken in the field and if any disease seen and from the herd too ... so within five years we came from less than 10% for the disease to 80% with less and less animals seen. that just my observations.

but i wish the caribou population in N america will come up again but again except the porcupine herd there is no increase in population but the porcupine has his migratory mood changed too and they re coming less and less in the south of their area like the quebec ones.

all the best.

Any reports this fall?