BC moose/caribou hunt (lots of pics)

[starbailey]

I'd like to share some of my latest adventure.
 I went to BC Canada on a moose, caribou, wolf hunt a couple weeks ago. I was hunting with Collingwood Bros. I flew in to Smithers with a friend and then took a float plane to Collingwood's Laslui lodge. What a amazing place. Hot showers in every cabin, flush toilet, wonderful meals, and huge bull trout right off the dock. 

[quadrafire]

Beautiful country, Gonna tag along for the trip   

[Netminder01]

tag

[elkoholic1]

 



waiting for updates!! 

[starbailey]

So the first night I boated to the end of the lake for a short moose hunt. We hiked about 3 miles down the river setting up and calling along the way. We weren't able to get anything to come in but we did spot 4 moose with 3 being bulls. 2 little guys and an average bull with a cow. Nothing I wanted to consider this early in the hunt.
 The next morning we packed up on horses for a 4 hour ride to moose camp. It was a great ride through beautiful moose country. I have to say I wasn't the happiest about going after caribou this early in the hunt as I wanted to focus on moose but since the weather was nice and the moose rut was slow I went along with it.

[starbailey]

So the first evening in bou country we road out and glassed to see where the different groups were located for the mornings hunt. We seen around 100 bou in groups of 3 to 30. There were a few bulls spotted that needed closer looks the next day. Toward evening we road back in the direction on camp to end the evening glassing some timbered river bottoms below camp for moose. We had been sitting glassing for about 20 minutes when I looked to my right to see a grizz stepping out of a timber patch 200 yards away! My buddy Matt had a bear tag and there he was! I was like, "Holy SH-T. Right there. Matt get your gun!" A short stalk, an eye to eye stare down at 50 yards, 3 shots from Matt's 338 win and a B&C bear was on the ground. I just couldn't believe it. I sure didn't think that kill bottle was going to be opened this quick but who was I to argue with the hunting gods.

[Practical Approach]

tag

[LittleJohn]

Right on 

[starbailey]

So the next morning we road out looking for caribou with 2 pack horses in tow. The weather had turned to crap during the night with strong winds blowing snow sideways but it worked in our favor as most of the bou had tried to find shelter from the wind. After riding and glassing about 3 hours we finally found them tucked in a draw out of the wind. After glassing through the bulls I said I'd be happy with one wide bull that was on the far side of the group. The wind was blowing the spotting scope so much that I couldn't get a real good look at all his points but I liked the "wide" aspect of his rack. I really wanted to get back to moose hunting. Plus, I had killed a good Mtn bou years before on a hunt but never mounted it. So I thought I always could take this bulls cape and mount my other bou. We moved down wind and made our way around to get within 100 yards of the caribou. We had 8-10 bulls within the 100 yards so Matt and Clark (guide) went to picking through them so we could double up. Five loooong minutes later they gave me the go ahead to shoot. At the shot the other bulls just looked around. Matt was soon picking his out and with a couple more shots had his caribou also.
 I was a little surprised just how good my bull was when I walked up. He was way wide with nice top points, good bez, good shovel and even a single spike for a double shovel. Not that that mattered.Matt had also taken a mature double shoveled bull.
 After pictures Clark and the wrangler went to work on my bull and Matt and I on his. We were ready to load Matts when they came over with the pack horses finished with mine. The ride to bou camp was a cold but happy 3 hours.

[Carl]

Tagging.

[starbailey]

Next morning we mounted up and hit the trail back to the Laslui lodge. The ride took a little longer as we would go off trail to call and scout for moose. We did end up seeing one cow but no bulls were spotted on the way.
 Next morning Matt and his guide were flown to a different lake to hunt moose. I was hanging out waiting for the plane and my guide to return when I spotted a bull up high on a hill 3 miles away. I knew this was the bull I came to kill. He had 4 cows and kept having to run a smaller bull away. This bull had it all, lots of points with good fronts and lots of width.
 The bull was in a difficult spot. He was hanging in a small opening and the cows were above and below. When Ray (guide) and I went after him I knew it was going to be a slim chance of success. The wind kept changing directions and it was so noisy getting through the brush and trees. When we finally made the opening there was only one cow left on the far side. We watched her turn and disappear. We tried calling without any luck so we went over and  picked up their tracks. 2 1/2 hours later we had to leave them as it was getting dark.
 Next morning we went back in to find him but it had snowed during the night and we only picked up one cow track in 4 hours of looking.
Time to punt.

[starbailey]

That evening we went back down to the end of the lake and hunted the river again. We again set up and called several times and had one small bull come in. It was cool seeing him come from a mile all the way to 35 yards.
We needed a new game plan for the last 3 days I had left.

[Gringo31]

tag!

 

[whacker1]

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[elkoholic1]

great write up cant wait to read the rest !!!   


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