# A Year to Remember!



## Huntmaster143

While you are up high on the ridges, it's crazy to think that the bears have been cruising these mountains for hundreds of years. So much so that they have worn foot steps into the tundra moss.


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## Huntmaster143

Down to two days, but when you wake up to views like this, who can complain?


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## Huntmaster143

As the day went along, we continued to hold our average and see a handful of bears, but still nothing of the size class we were looking for. We did get to watch how the mountains make their own weather and it was pretty cool. Sunny on one side and foggy on the other!





















Well, one more day to see if we can make something happen!


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## Huntmaster143

Well, the final day didn't prove to be my lucky day. We did find a 8.5' or so bear that was in a good spot for several hours, but at the end of the day, I came for a brown bear and as the days wore on, I realized that I really came here for a KODIAK brown bear and anything less would be just killing to punch a tag and the hunt is about more than that.

On our hike back to camp, we were able to see a group of 10 or so mountain goats moving from mountain to mountain thru the low ground and that was a fun thing to watch them go by at close range.


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## Huntmaster143

One more night in the bush and then we pack everything up and get ready to float out to the lagoon for pickup by plane. Wasn't sure everything was going to fit, but we made it down stream just in time to catch our plane back to Kodiak City. One of these years I'll actually be able to kill something in the great state of Alaska!!


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## Huntmaster143

My next trip will take us back to the NWT where I hunt with the same outfitter that I killed my Dall sheep with a couple years ago. This time, I will have tags for moose and Mountain Caribou in my pocket. I also have my journal from this trip, so I'll have a few more daily details as well.


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## shaffe48b

Huntmaster143 said:


> We did find a 8.5' or so bear that was in a good spot for several hours, but at the end of the day, I came for a brown bear and as the days wore on, I realized that I really came here for a KODIAK brown bear


. 
I'm guessing you must have killed brown bear or grizzly elsewhere?


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## ARROWPORT

Thanks Hunt,
I love reading your stories. You are a blessed man and I really Appreciate you sharing with all of us! Keep after it.. I know you will!!
D


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## Huntmaster143

shaffe48b said:


> .
> I'm guessing you must have killed brown bear or grizzly elsewhere?


Nope, that was my first "big" bear hunt. Also, keep in mind that you are only allowed to kill one Kodiak bear in a four year period. Not sure if it will be in the four year window, but I'll be back to chase them on Kodiak. Such a cool place!


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## shaffe48b

Huntmaster143 said:


> Also, keep in mind that you are only allowed to kill one Kodiak bear in a four year period.


Ah so it's based on kill not allowed to draw a tag once every 4


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## Huntmaster143

September 2019
Hunt #2


After meeting up with my buddy in Edmonton, we both travel to Norman Wells, by way of Inuvik, which is way up North!!

This trip, all my luggage makes it as scheduled and the flights go as planned. Traveling to the North country is a journey that takes a couple days to get to camp. The flight into Norman Wells is later than originally scheduled, so we are unsure if we will get to fly out into the field today. We get to North Wright air and meet up with our group that is flying out tonight and with good weather, it looks like we are heading right to camp. Perfect!

After an uneventful 1.5 hour flight to camp, we are greeted by all of the guides and the outfitter's family. It's like going back to see old friends when you come in! Glenda, which is the outfitter and my guide on my previous sheep hunt, told me right away that I would be the only one flying out tonight. Makes sense to get the bowhunter with two species on the list out first and then follow up with the rest of the group. 

So, I scramble to get all of my gear together and organized for our flight out as we are losing daylight in a couple hours. Once all the gear and food is packed, I grab my bow and take a few practice shots to make sure everything made the trip fine. With that all well, we grab a quick base camp dinner and head to the chopper!

We take off from base camp around 8 PM and head 55 miles to the valley we will be glassing moose in. It's always good to see a few good bulls in the valley when you fly in! After being dropped off, we get camp setup and crash for the night by 10 PM. Ready for a big day tomorrow!


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## Huntmaster143

With a 7 AM wake up and a light breakfast, we are ready to head up above camp to glass the valley/river bottom that we are in. It doesn't take us long to find a couple cows and calves in the bottoms below us. However, we change glassing positions a few different times and don't see any bulls. Then out of no where and directly right in front of us, a small bull and cow appear out of the alders.











Here's a view of the valley to the North


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## Huntmaster143

Around 11:30, we spot a little better bull, but not what we are looking for on day one.


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## Huntmaster143

A little after noon, my guide Cole spots a big bull bedded far off in the distance next to a pocket of spruce. He thinks we should go grab lunch and then head over to the bull. I think he's a bit ambitious as the bull is 3-4 miles away, but I follow along after lunch.


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## Huntmaster143

We cover a fair amount of ground, but we are still quite a ways away from the bulls previous location. We stop every so often to glass as we move along. Finally turning up another little bull with a cow. We watch them for a while and then another bull appears that is the best one that we've seen today.










We continue to watch over this drainage trying to keep tabs on where the best bull is headed to hopefully make a play on him tomorrow. We begin to head back to the tent as darkness starts setting in and make it back to the tent by 10 PM. Not a bad first day, we spotted 5 different bulls.

One thing I have noticed is this country is very conducive to spotting bulls a long ways off. Unlike many place in AK where you have to rely on calling to find and bring the bulls in. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!


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## Huntmaster143

7 AM wake up with plans of heading out of camp in the direction of the best bull we saw yesterday. We don't waste much time at camp before we head to the West. Once we reach the point below camp, we glass the nearest drainage and spot a big bull chasing a cow up the drainage. This bull is bigger yet!!

We continue to watch the two move up the drainage and heading directly away from us. They are in sight and out of sight several times before they cross behind an adjacent hill blocking our view.










While I'm watching, Cole decided to take a look in the opposite direction and spots a nice bull and a cow almost back to our camp a mile away. The wind is bad for a stalk on this bull,but Cole thinks we should try calling him to see how he reacts. I figure we have nothing to lose, so I tell him to go for it, while I take up a position a couple hundred yards in front of Cole.

This bull is a bit smaller than the the big bull we spotted up the drainage, but this bull is a couple miles closer also! As soon as Cole starts calling, the bull instantly starts off in our direction. I watch his path and move trying to get close to him before he catches our wind. The bull closes to 150 yards before he catches our wind and then circles back away from us. After that stalk flames out, we change gears and head back towards the first big bull.

We proceed to hike across the valley below us and around the face of the adjacent mountain just in time to catch them bull and cow still heading up the drainage. We continue to climb the mountain trying to get a good vantage point to glass and hope they bed down for the middle part of the day.

We close the distance and find a good glassing point about 900 yards away as the bull and cow slow down and look like they are ready to bed.


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## Huntmaster143

We watch them for quite awhile and then finally the bull decides he's ready to bed down...


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## Huntmaster143

Now that they are settled in, we talk about a plan on how to approach them. Once we have our plan figured out, we get up to move thru the alders and get closer. As we gather our gear, the bull stands abruptly and focuses directly on us. We try figuring out what happened, but come to the conclusion that the bull saw the wood paddle attached to Cole's pack for calling.

After a couple minutes, he grabs the cow and begins to move up the hill and into the thick willows. It takes him 30-40 minutes to settle down and bed again. If you look really close, you can see the black spot in the middle of the picture and that is the bull and cow.


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## Huntmaster143

Now that they are settled again, we carefully move closer to the bull trying to get out of their sight window and get us hidden in the alders. Once we drop off the face, we lose sight of the bull, but have a good mental location of where they are bedded on the hillside.


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## Huntmaster143

We keep working our way up the drainage trying to keep out of sight of the bull and keep our wind going in the right direction. After an hour or so, we have now closed to within 200 yards of the bull and cow. They are still bedded and unaware of our presence.

Now is where the hunting really begins. My guide and I are talking over a strategy when he mentions that he's never had a bowhunter as a moose client. I laugh and let him know that he's not my first rookie guide. Lol! I have been studying the terrain on our approach and it looks like if we can get this bull irritated, we can bring him in to within 25 yards. So, I have my guide drop off the back side of me as I find a good ambush spot on the side of the hill. The cow and bull are bedded 200 yards uphill and to the left with the wind blowing in our face.


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## Huntmaster143

I tell the guide to start calling and raking tress to see what kind of reaction we get from the bull. The bull instantly stands to look for the intruder while the cow gets to her feet and initially looks like she is going to bolt, but then settles and watches in our direction. Cole continues to grunt and rake. It takes a couple minutes of raking until the bull finally lets out a grunt himself. Once he does that, he starts slowly walking towards us grunting and raking trees as he is closing the distance. He wants to get down wind of us, but to do so he has to come closer and thru the pinch point across from me at 25 yards. 

Cole can't see the bull at times, but I have a good view and tell him to just keep on doing what he's doing. The bull is now inside 75 yards and begins raking trees heavily while he has slobber dripping out of his mouth. He comes closer again!!

He is quartering to me pretty well, but he is headed right where I want him to go. So far so good! Following the script, he keeps moving downhill to the caller and now has stopped basically broadside at 45 yards. I take a range and debate letting him come within the 25 yard pinch, but decide that a 45 yard shot on a moose is well within range. I draw, settle my 45 yard pin behind the shoulder and slowly start my shot process. The shot goes off clean and buries behind the shoulder, but I feel like the shot is a bit low.

Cole quickly comes over to me as he heard the bull's voice change when the arrow hit him. Indicating a solid lung hit. I'm still not sure as we see the bull walking back where he came from. Cole offers me his backup rifle for a follow up, but no way am I touching that at this point. Within about 90 yards, the bull decides to bed down in the alders where we can see his antlers in the air.

Now I feel more comfortable with the shot, I must've got solid lungs to bed so quickly, but he still has his head up in the air. Finally, he lowers his head to the ground and almost instantly raises it back up again. Then he does it again!

I can't take it any more and tell Cole that I'm going to go put another arrow in the bull. He looks at me like I'm half crazy and wants to know if I want the gun for backup... No thanks, I'll be fine, I say!

I use the terrain to close the gap on the bull and get to within 25 yards trying to find a way to get an arrow thru the alders when the bull stands up. :SHOCKED::yikes: I quickly draw, shoot and place another arrow behind the shoulder as the bull is quartering away. He lumbers off, slowly but surely. He stops around 50 yards to look back giving me a hard quartering away shot that I hit right at the last rib.

He walks another 15-20 yards and then stops. He finally begins to start swaying and I know that the end is now very near. It takes him another 30 seconds or so to tip over and I finally look back at my guide who has been watching from afar the entire time. We exchange verbal congrats as I head back to him to give the bull a little more time to expire on the ground.


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## Huntmaster143

After a few more minutes pass, we begin our walk over to the bull. Now I've been fortunate enough to kill elk and a shiras moose, but a big Alaskan Yukon bull is in a class of it's own! They are BIG!!


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## Huntmaster143

We circle around to look at my shot placement on the bull and upon inspection, wouldn't have changed a thing. My first shot hit 1/3 up the body right behind the front leg and was a clean pass thru. Moose just have so much blood in them, that it takes awhile to bleed out. He certainly would've been dead at the original bed if we would've just left him lay, but I'm a firm believer that if you can see them, get another arrow in them.












My first arrow after going back to pick it up.


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## Huntmaster143

Crazy to think that by 1 pm on my second day of hunting that I have tagged my first A/Y bull and he is a dandy bull at that!


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## Huntmaster143

Killing the bull was the easy part, now onto the processing and quartering job!
























View attachment 500895


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## Huntmaster143

View attachment 500905


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## Huntmaster143

A little perspective on how big these critters are!


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## Huntmaster143

After 5 hours of processing the bull, we are finally ready to head back to the tent for the night. We were sorta hoping that they were going to be able to get the chopper over to us and fly us out this evening, but the schedule didn't work out that way. So, we begin the four mile journey back to the tent arriving around 10 PM. It's always good to make camp after a kill, but there is something special about eating a mountain house under the stars reminiscing about the days events!

Now to start thinking towards getting this bull off the mountain tomorrow and onto my other tag. Mountain caribou is up as soon as we get everything back to camp.


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## WMU05

Nice work Scott! Will be interested to hear how you got it home. 

Putting an arrow through one of those beasts is definitely on the list.


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## shaffe48b

He wasnt going down easy. Great job!


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## MallardMaster

Job well done sir! Super Fantastic hunt and story. Looking forward to here the remainder of the story. Gonna pop me some jiffy pop, pour a couple fingers of brown juice and await the rest!


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## Huntmaster143

We awake the next day to a rainy foggy view and know that the chopper won't be coming any time soon! We stay inside our tents as the the rain makes it a bit nasty outside. I decide I'll catch up on editing my pictures as best as I can to pass the time. We keep poking our heads outside every hour or so and not much is changing. 

As we are approaching lunch time, the weather still hasn't lifted and we pretty well figure we are stranded here for the day. But finally around 2:30, we get an InReach text that the chopper is on it's way, so we now have to scramble to get camp broke down in a hurry and ready to fly out.

All of our gear that was at our spike camp.


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## Huntmaster143

As the chopper arrives to pick us up, we leave all of our gear sitting on the ground and the chopper takes us back over to the kill site where all of the meat and antlers are at. We land the chopper no more than 50 yards from the site and it's good to see that nothing has been bothered by the bears.

We begin loading three of the quarters and the antlers into a net so the chopper can fly them up to the top of an adjacent mountain top. The chopper doesn't have enough capacity to fly everything out in one trip, so he is going to stage the meat and antlers in a better location and then take us and our gear back to the drive in point.

Once the first load is ready, he fly's it away.


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## Huntmaster143

10-15 minutes later, the chopper is back and ready for the big load! Other than knocking me on my ass when moving the meat around to load the antlers and cape, the process went pretty smooth!


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## Huntmaster143

After the meat is staged in a better fly out location, he returns to pick us up and back we go to our spike camp to load our gear. From here, we fly 30 miles or so to a point where the outfitter has their trucks and trailers stationed. Since this is the last hunt of the year, they are going to fly my quarters right to their truck to hang them in their horse trailer. 

Once Cole and I are on the ground, we unload our gear so the chopper can now go pickup the entire moose and bring it back to the truck. About 30-40 minutes later, the chopper is back with the moose.


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## Huntmaster143

After getting all of the quarters hung in the truck, I put the back straps and tenderloins in my pack as they are going home with me. The rest of the meat will either go home with the outfitter, a guide or go to the Native's that own the outfitting company.

We reload the chopper with all of our camping gear and take off for base before more weather moves in and we are stranded at the truck. We make it back to base camp arriving around 6:30 PM


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## Huntmaster143

The next day is purely a base camp day while Cole took care of my moose cape. I put my moose bow away (Bowtech Realm SS with 650 grain total Grizzly arrows and 200 grain two blade broad heads) and take a few practice shots with my other bow (Bowtech Realm with 470 grain total Gold Tip Pierce Platinum arrows and 125 grain Griz Trick broad heads). Once I figure I'm comfortable with my Realm, I pack everything up and ready it for the trip out to camp tonight right before dark. 

Since the weather is good, we plan to have a base camp dinner at 6 PM and then fly out to caribou camp at 7 pm giving us enough time to get camp setup right before dark. The weather holds just enough and we make it to our spike camp before dark and get everything set up for the night.


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## Huntmaster143

After a windy and rainy night we wake up to a foggy and rainy morning. We peak out of the tent and don't see much, so back inside. Around 8:45 am, I peak out and it is starting to clear off.

With it clearing, we start to glass a couple of the adjacent basins with no caribou being sighted from camp. We then head to the point of the ridge line we are camped on for a different view. It doesn't take long to spot a good bull moose that is with a couple cows.


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## Huntmaster143

I then spot 10 or so caribou on the mountain above the moose bedded out in the wide open. The small herd does have a good bull or two in it, but we feel we can find a better bull with our time remaining.


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## Huntmaster143

The rain showers keep coming with passing periods of sunshine. It leads to a bunch of nice rainbows every time the sun comes out though!


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## Huntmaster143

We hear the chopper coming up the valley, but can't find him. Then down low, they come around the corner, but they are way too low to see us. We both dig for our head lamps and turn on the flashing lights to hopefully grab their attention. Luckily, after their second pass they see us and come up the ridge line to get us.

It's a mad rush to get the copper loaded, but we quickly get it loaded even if the pilot shoves me in the chopper using my antlers... LOL!! He was in a hurry I guess...

We power off the mountain like a rocket ship and head over to get the meat. This chopper is much bigger, more powerful and can handle the four of us and the full caribou. We then drop down to a couple hundred feet off the valley floor and follow the river drainage's back to base camp safely.

Was able to see a couple grizzly bears on the final ride back to camp. I got to spend another couple days in base camp for our scheduled bush flight out. And just like being out on the mountain, weather delayed our flight out of camp until nearly 5 PM when the weather finally cleared and we were able to get back to the thriving metropolis of Norman Wells, NWT. 

However, the scenery from the weather didn't disappoint!


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## Huntmaster143

My next hunt will take us to Newfoundland in search of Woodland Caribou. I had to shuffle the dates on this trip as I had a business meeting I needed to attend in Boston. Worked out that I flew directly from my meeting to Newfoundland the day after my meeting and sent my business clothes back home with my wife...

My flights from Boston went pretty smooth and all of my gear arrived in one piece on the flight with me.


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## WMU05

Pretty epic hunt Scott. A couple great trophies and a lot of exceptional photography. 

Well done!


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## Huntmaster143

With an over night stay at the airport hotel, the outfitter picks me and two other hunters up the next morning. We have a 4 hour drive North to the float plane base and the home of the outfitters operations.

It was a nice drive to see the south end of Newfoundland. It's a very pretty Island and I enjoyed seeing the scenery.

Once we reached the plane base, we got our licenses from the outfitter and sorted our gear out to get it ready for the flight in to camp that afternoon. It is always nice to see new animals of good quality at the hanger to help give you a better perspective on what is a good animal for the subspecies.


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## Huntmaster143

After our group all has our tags and grabs a quick lunch, we are loaded up in the float plane and ready to fly out to camp. There will be four of us in our camp. Two moose hunters and two caribou hunters. The moose hunters are already in camp while me and the other caribou hunter is flying into camp now. The two other guys on our flight in are heading to another moose camp after I get dropped off.


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## Huntmaster143

Once we get to camp, we walk everything up to the cabin we will be staying in for the week. Have to say that it is a little better accommodations than the tent on my last couple hunts!


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## Huntmaster143

After I get all of my gear sorted out, I realize that something is missing!!


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## Huntmaster143

Well...after a few phone calls, texts and several trips down to the dock trying to locate my arrow tube, we finally hear back that it was unloaded off at the other camp and was sitting in their cabin. Well, at least we have them located!!

The plan is for the chopper to go to that camp at day break and pickup the arrow tube and bring them over to our camp and drop them off. That means we will have a bit late start of the day, but way better than not having any arrows at all!!

So, we all have a good home made meal in camp and retire to bed pretty reasonable with our first day of hunting tomorrow. The morning comes pretty quick and everyone is up and moving. After an eggs and bacon breakfast, the other three hunters work their way out into the field.

As it is good and daylight, we hear the chopper flying over on it's way to the other camp. We know they should be back in 30 minutes or so. I setup my target out in front of the cabin to check my zero once i get my arrows.

And finally we hear the chopper coming back and we head up behind the cabin to the chopper landing zone. A happy sight for me!


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## Huntmaster143

Now that I have my arrows, I take a few practice shots to make sure everything is in order and get my broadheads back on my arrows. Then we are off to find some caribou. We head out behind camp since we have a late start. The other caribou hunter headed across the lake.

It doesn't take us very long, maybe a half mile hike or so, to find our first caribou. A couple cows and calves milling about out in the tundra. The terrain is just rolling hills, but it has standing water everywhere. You can't go in a straight line to anything, but overall it isn't that hard to navigate in in my boots and waders.










View attachment 502249


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## Huntmaster143

We keep heading away from camp going over one hill to the next looking for caribou. The wind is blowing pretty hard, so any time we can find a little cover, we hide behind it to glass. We do find a bull that looks decent in the early afternoon, so we close the distance to a couple hundred yards and decide that he isn't big enough for a first day bull. 

As a side note, the Woodland caribou subspecies is the smallest of the five different caribou. The mountain caribou is one of the largest, so it is a bit weird going from one of the largest to one of the smallest subspecies. So I have to defer a bit to my guide to make sure I'm not overlooking a "good" bull by accident. Also a couple years ago, there was a thought that you may not even be able to hunt Woodland's for much longer as their population was struggling. They have rebounded very well in the last couple years. Part of the reason I booked this hunt was because of their down turn.


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## Huntmaster143

We continue the day hiking a few mile circle that leads us back to camp. We saw several caribou today, but nothing that was a no doubter and mostly cows and calves. We did see a "meat" bull moose that ended up being killed by one of the moose hunters. Most of Newfoundland is known as a meat hunt for moose and not a "trophy" hunt. So expecting to take a large moose in this area is not realistic.

At the end of the day, we all make it back to the cabin and have an excellent dinner. The days are getting pretty short, so we have a fair amount of time to relax and tell stories before we retire for the night.


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## Huntmaster143

The second day starts a bit more normal for me since I now have my arrows... Up early and ready for more bacon and eggs!! We are planning on heading across the lake to the other side where my guide had been seeing a bunch of caribou on the previous hunts. 

We have a bit of a delay waiting for the fog to clear, but soon enough, we are off across the lake!


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## Huntmaster143

We have basically the same plan for today, in that we are going to glass and hike our way in and then turn around and do the same on the way back. Since caribou are usually on the move, you never know where they are going to come from or be.

As we are hiking along, we spot a good bull with a couple cows and another small bull about a mile away down by the river. It appears that they are content in their location, so we decide to grab our gear and head that way.

We work our way thru the timber pretty fast as we are dropping down from our glassing position. We keep working our way thru the timber until we hit the flats and it turns to a much more marshy ground. We have caught a glimpse of the small herd 5-600 yards ahead of us now.

We use the broken cover to close the distance to ~200 yards where we drop our packs and my guide pulls out his calling gear. We are going to try calling the bull in closer to us once we get set up.

We are able to get within 100 yards and then begin to run out of cover. So my guide starts making a grunting noise and uses a white bag to flash the bull with. It immediately gets the herds attention, but the bull doesn't seem to be all that interested while he feeds. My guide keeps calling and distracting them while I try working my way a bit closer.

I'm able to get within 50 yards, but the bull doesn't offer much of a shot angle. They finally start working off and we try following them for a shot. I get one quick glimpse of him broadside at 45 yards as he was moving thru some broken pine trees, but no real opportunity for a shot. Fun action for the second morning!

We then decide to sorta follow the herd and find spots to glass along our route. We stop every so often to glass and watch for caribou on the move. We end up spotting a decent size herd working its way thru the hills on the far side of this view. They are moving and then stopping to feed. There appears to be a decent bull in this herd, so we try to get closer for a better look.


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## Huntmaster143

We get closer to the herd and the best bull is pretty solid, so I decide to give it a go to see if we can get on him. We get as close as we can and they bed down in a spot where we can't get within 150 yards of the herd, so we just wait them out a bit.

About an hour later, they start to get up and move, so we adjust our position trying to catch them on the move. We try several different ways, but never can get much closer than 100 yards as they are moving. So, we decide to watch them feed slowly and move along the ridge, hoping they bed down in a better location. After another hour, they decide to bed down, so we head in to get a better look at the terrain.

We get to a point where we either have to try calling the bull in or hike around the herd and approach from above. After the last bull not responding, I'm more for a stalk attempt, so we decide to head above them and move in for a stalk.

We get to about 100 yards and I'm running out of cover. The wind is blowing pretty hard giving me decent background noise, but it is impossible to be silent in this habitat.


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## Huntmaster143

Once I feel we have run out of cover, I have my guide begin to rake the trees and grunt. This gets the herds attention and they all are standing trying to find the other bull. Some of the cows start to circle and come in for a closer look. I have several of the cows within 50 yards, but the bull is staying back behind the cover and probably 75 yards or so away. This goes on for several minutes until they sorta have enough and then just begin to feed off to my right.

We stop the raking and watch what the herd is doing. They slowly feed towards a patch of cover that I feel like I can get to. So I'm off low crawling and trying to move when the wind gusts hard. The wind is blowing hard enough right now, that I will have to be careful on any shot I may be lucky enough to get in position for.

I finally make it to the patch of cover and the herd is still calm and feeding. You can see the caribou to the right of the tree patch in front of me. They are walking on a path that is 60 yards and the bull is still behind the trees from my view in this pic.


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## Huntmaster143

Slowly the bull steps out from behind the spruce tree. I range him at 60 yards and set my sight pin. I adjust my feet for a good standing shot, I draw and see how the pin settles in the wind. Everything settles in well and the wind calms down as I am debating the shot. Bull is broadside, pin is solid behind the shoulder and the wind is calm... Thump, the arrow is on it's way!

The shot feels great and it is tracking well, that is until I see the impact!! The bull takes off when the arrow strikes, but doesn't seem to be flying out of there. So I look around trying to find a way to get another arrow into him, but he is well over 125 yards by the time I can get him in the open. He regroups with the small bulls of the group and they start moving off.

We hustle and continue to stay within eye sight of him and give a foot chase for nearly a mile before we finally lose him heading into some timber. I knew instantly on impact that I was to high, but my guide kept saying I had a good shot. Well, I know one thing, animals don't make it a mile on a good shot...

So we keep trying to find the bull again, but don't have any luck finding him in the trees. Later that night back at camp, I drew a dot on this pic indicating where I believe the shot hit. Not sure what I did in the process to miss high, but unfortunately I did. Tomorrow, we go back out to look for him again.


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## Huntmaster143

The next morning I have the luxury of having three guides come out with me as now both moose hunters have tagged out. They all keep saying that we will find the bull, but I'm pretty confident that he will be fine and not laying dead some where.

We have to wait for the fog to burn off again this morning, but when it does, it looks like it's going to be a warm one!



















Once we reach shore, we start seeing a bunch of caribou including a really big bull, but we are headed 3 miles back to where I shot my bull to see if we can find him again.


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## Huntmaster143

We get back to where we last saw my bull and start walking every trail thru the area. We scour the trails, glass the hills and can't find a sign of him or a drop of blood. As it's approaching Noon, we decide to go glass some of the areas where we found him originally hoping that he made a return to the herd.

After about three different glassing sessions and looking over nearly 50 different caribou including a couple really good bulls, we spot him. He is bedded with the same herd that he was with yesterday, this time a little further away than before, but my guide and I both know its him and you can see the blood mark on his hide still.

We watch the herd for 30 minutes or so and the bull is up on his feet pushing the cows around and engaging with the smaller bulls. Clearly this bull isn't badly injured.

We decide we are going to give it a hike over to him and see if we can get another arrow in him. We take off leaving two of the guys behind to glass from afar as we lose sight of the bull as soon as we take off.

We cover the mile or so and slowly approach the openings that the herd was in. It is now really dry and crunchy with the sun beating down, making our approach a bit on the noisy side. We spot some caribou bedded in the opening and slowly work to within range. After a bit, the herd stands an walks towards us. We watch several cows and bulls walk by with in range, but no sign of my bull.

We keep moving thru the opening looking for the other group. We then hear a big herd go crashing thru the trees and run directly away from us making all kinds of noise, but we can't see a thing.

We then decide to call it and head back to the other guides that were watching from afar to get a feel for what happened. Once back with them, they said that the second group had my bull in it and they ran away, crossed the river and kept going. They clearly smelled us and bailed. So, with my bull across the river, it was likely my hunt was over.


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## Huntmaster143

We decide to get a quick snack and then start heading back to the boat. We all are sorta bummed we couldn't get the bull, but unannounced to me, my guide called the outfitter and filled him in on the full story. He went to bat for me and asked the outfitter if we could continue to chase any other bull. He said he had watched many guys take shots they shouldn't, rush shots, take poor angled shots, miss by a mile, etc. He said he had a guy stick a moose in the hindquarter at 15 yards recently. And when he watched me setup and go thru my shot process, there was no way I was being a dink and just shooting to shoot. So, the outfitter agreed with him and green lighted me hunt any bull we wanted for the remainder of the hunt. Thankful for a second opportunity.


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## Huntmaster143

Well, since we are now good to continue hunting and it is getting late anyway, we decide to work our way back to the boat and glass along the way. For as many caribou we saw on the way out, we don't see much on the way back to the boat. We spotted one OK bull that was by himself and tried seeing if we could get close, but lost him as we made our final approach. No clue where he went, avoided all four of us... LOL!

As the sun was getting low and we were nearing the boat, one of the guides spot a small herd in the same general area we saw that giant on the way out this morning. It doesn't take long for all of us to start glassing the herd and figure out that the herd bull is a legit giant. We take off running in the direction of the herd trying to keep as much cover between us as we can. We get close to the herd and slow our pace.

We now are within 200 yards and are watching the herd just feed and mill around. We all get down behind a berm and belly crawl right up to the base of the berm. Perfect, we are now within 100 yards undetected.

One of the other guides had much more experience calling in bulls to archery range, so he gives it a try. He begins raking a tree with a white game bag waving in front of him. The entire herd reacts, but doesn't really move much. They continue feeding on the next berm over, but are around 90 yards. We are just peaking over our berm watching to see if they are going to come over. This goes on for no less than 20 minutes as the herd is slowly paralleling our berm.

I decide to more as far down our berm as I can to see what the range is going to be if they continue. 70 yards is the closest the cover will let us get and then it will start getting much farther. So, as the herd is getting to the 70 point, we decide we have no choice... The calling guide and I both stand up and start walking right to the bull while standing behind this large white game bag. The bull is getting agitated that we are grunting and approaching, so he starts to round up his cows. We hit 60 yards and my guide tells me to kill him now!! I am reluctant to take that shot again and give him a one word response...CLOSER! We continue grunting and moving forward until we reach my desired range. The bull is still pushing the herd around and makes one final circle exposing him broadside/quartering away as I reach full draw.

The shot goes off in a hurry and it's always a great sight to watch the arrow disappear behind the shoulder. I don't get a complete pass thru, but the bull takes off on a full sprint when the arrow buries into the far side shoulder. We watch the bull run full speed across the wet tundra spraying water everywhere for about a hundred yards until he tumbles and splashes water all over.

The guides and I all celebrate on our walk over as we know we just put a special bull on the ground. I have to admit, I never grab an expandable when I'm stalking an animal, but usually have a couple in my quiver. After making a bad shot on my 1st bull, I decided to eliminate any flight issues and loaded an expandable for this stalk. This shot hit home perfect and did everything you could ask for on my first kill with an expandable.


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