On The Trail The 2009 Adventures of Melissa Bachman by: Melissa Bachman Online Rating: (8/10)

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Quebec Caribou

It’s always hard to pack for the first trip of the year, especially when its 90 degrees here in Minnesota and I need to prepare for weather in Northern Quebec.  There the weather could be 80 or it could be snowing, but you had better be prepared for it all.

I’ve been lucky enough to go on two caribou trips prior to this one, but as a photographer there is always a huge sense of excitement prior to a caribou hunt.  Just maybe you’ll hit the migration and be surrounded by hundreds of animals making it into a filming paradise.

Got bug spray?
Gordy Krahn and I were lucky enough to arrive at camp in style.  We got to take a sweet helicopter ride to the lodge and film the entire way.  Upon arrival we realized the migration was still in Labrador, east of Quebec.  However we were surrounded by, not hundreds, but millions of black flies.  I’ve been to some buggy areas before, but this topped the charts!  In all 70 pounds of gear, all I packed for bugs was a little head net and a bottle of spray.  Big Problem.

Gordy and I hiked out for our first sit and I was feeling lucky with my bug net and spray.  That is until they got under the net and started chewing up my neck and face.  Gordy was sitting only feet away and hardly got bit, but I was nearly eaten alive!  I counted 47 fly bites on my neck and face!  Three daring little flies even bit my eyelid causing it to swell shut.  Now I’ve been given a lot of nicknames, but my new camp names were "lumpy" and the "little troll."

It's all about the people
I could still see the viewfinder on the camera so after popping a few Benadryl, Gordy and I were right back at it.  One of the best parts about caribou camp is truly the people.  We were able to share camp with a father and son, several groups of friends, and two young fellas who were 86 and 83 years old.  These two jokesters had been hunting together for more than 50 years!  They both decided it was time to try a caribou hunt together in Quebec and hope to return for years to come.

I can only hope that I am alive, hunting, laughing and joking around when I’m in my eighties.  These two guys had a great sense of humor and the camp joke was what would get stolen next.  Upon arrival in Montreal these two guys had their vehicle stolen with all their gear.  The outfitter got them suited up, and instead of moping around they only joked about who’s fault it was.  It was refreshing to see two people enjoying each other’s company and truly having a great time.

Getting down to business
Gordy and I did some hard hunting in the following days.  We did a lot of walking, glassing, and waiting, in that order.  In fact, we did four solid days of it.  The second to last afternoon was when everything changed.  We got into caribou!

First we found a small group of bulls and we made a stalk.  Two bulls busted but there was still one left.  We searched the tundra and finally spotted the bull.  We scurried up toward him and got setup.  Our guide, Perry, put his hands straight up and started swaying back and forth.  I only caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of my eye.  There was no time to question him now.  That big bull spotted him and started walking right in, just like we were reeling him in. 

Caribou are incredibly curious animals and this bull wanted to know what in the world was invading his space on the tundra.  We got several minutes of beautiful footage before Gordy squeezed the trigger and made a perfect kill.  What a relief, one caribou down and if we could get another that would be bonus.

Well, here came the bonus round.  We switched locations and found even more caribou.  It was like a mini-migration and we were right in the middle of it.  Almost everywhere you looked you could see a caribou.  Instead of rushing ourselves we sat back, glassed and filmed until we found two giants.  There were to big bulls off in the distance that were way bigger than everything else.  We zeroed in on these and made our stalk.

Lots of caribou is great for filming but not so great for stalking.  No matter which way you turn you would possibly bump caribou.  We decided to go straightforward but take it slow.  None of the caribou spooked, but we didn’t interest them much.  Caribou are primarily concerned with wolves or bears, and we definitely didn’t match that description.  They obviously thought we didn’t pose a threat, big mistake.

After several minutes of beautiful footage Gordy squeezed the trigger on an even bigger bull.  This trip is proof everything can change in just one afternoon.  We went from getting skunked day after day to fabulous hunting in only a matter of hours.

Montana Mule Deer 

Instead of flying home like most civilized human beings after a long trip away from home in Quebec, I decided to go straight to Montana.  What’s there you ask?  Powder River Outfitters and some giant mule deer!

Last year I was lucky enough to take my first mule deer ever, but I wanted to do it again with a bow.  I also decided to step it up a notch and try it by spot 'n stalk hunting.  This lowers your kill percentage, but I figured if I was successful it would be that much sweeter.  The first thing my guide Ken said to me is it usually takes at least eight stalks before one is successful. Well, I thought, we better get started then.

September advantages
There are a couple good things about hunting mule deer in early September.  No.1 - you have a chance at taking a buck still in velvet-something I’ve never done. And No. 2 - the bucks are in bachelor groups.  That means when you find on big guy you’ll probably find his buddies in close proximity.  Now this can be both good and bad.  It allows you to pick out the biggest buck, but let me tell you the big guys didn’t get big by bedding off alone.  They get right in the center of the group and obviously believe in the idea of safety in numbers. 

Right away we spotted some great bucks, but what you need to find is a buck that you can get at.  Many of them were bedded in areas that would be impossible to get to without blowing out other deer or getting busted prior to your arrival.  Then as we were going to a new location we spotted a buck standing all by himself on a fence line.  It seemed hard to believe that this nice buck was alone so we just waited and glassed, and it’s a good thing we did.  The longer we watched the more bucks we picked out.  There were at least six giant bucks all bedded together, but most importantly they were in a spot that I thought I could get to. 

Let the quest begin!
I strapped my bow on my back, grabbed my quiver and started belly crawling.  I picked out several points that I wanted to get to.  The last point would bring me 20 yards from the bedded giants, but the trick would be getting there.  The ground was extremely flat with one dip near their bedding area.  I crawled through some tough terrain and got right to my spot.  I ranged the bedded bucks and they were at 18 yards! 

Now I was getting nervous.  How on earth was I suppose to get to full draw from my belly?  I thought the weeds were a bit higher and I assumed I could draw from my knees.  This was not the case.   

I slowly got to my knees, but I couldn’t get my bow drawn for the life of me.  I panicked and stood up to draw and everything busted!  I couldn’t believe it; I thought the hard part was done.  I got to my spot, but I couldn’t close the deal.  Looking back, I should have drawn in the dip and slowly walked over the hill at full draw, but hindsight is 20/20.  I understand it takes several stalks, but this was hard to swallow.  There were a couple bucks that would be pushing Boone & Crocket and now they were just a memory.  Frustrated as I was, I knew I would do better next time, and most importantly I had learned a lot from that stalk.  Next time they wouldn’t be so lucky.

Frustrations mount, but patience pays off
When these bucks took off it looked like they would be running until dark.  Boy was I wrong!  About four hours later we were glassing a few hundred yards from where we saw them last and they all came flying out of an old barn.  The entire group had only gone over the hill and bedded down in the shade.  What a kick in the teeth!

Three days later, and several stalks down, we came back to this same area and decided to glass the area before walking through.  We spotted three bucks in a low swamp bedded by that same old barn.  Two of the bucks were smaller, but one was a super high and thick mule deer.  He was in a tough spot but we came up with a plan.  I would use the hay bails to get close.  I could keep them between the buck and me almost the entire way.  This would also give me something to draw behind allowing me to step out at full draw.  Sometimes plans work, sometimes they don’t…but this time everything came together. 

I stalked up on this big buck, got to full draw, and came out from behind the bail and made a forty-yard broadside shot.  The feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming.  Finally after several stocks, a lot of patience and ultimately learning from my mistakes, I had taken a great Montana mule deer. 

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