As Luck Would Have It! (PART 2)
Caribou
Some of you will remember “As luck would have it” from two years ago, a recap of a great friend of mine, Alfred (BS handle “old guy”) and I’s trip to northern Manitoba for Central Barren Ground Caribou. The title for the thread was chosen, as a trip in MB a for caribou is pretty much a guaranteed fishing trip these days with very few animals ever coming down. Most years there are zero sightings. Well, as luck would have it, in 2021 we saw 12 animals throughout our week, and were able to to fill both our tags (residents are allowed 2 tags each). Here is a link to the story
https://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread.cfm?threadid=494474&forum=10
Well, fast forward to 2023 and once again, Alfred was kind enough to invite me on another trip to Little Duck. Fantastic! I do love Lake Trout fishing. But, as luck would have it….
This is about to get REALLY good!!
In the week leading up to the trip we heard that a few animals have been spotted around the lake. This is EXTREMELY exciting. Anything above zero is a total gift, and gives us actual caribou to hunt. But at this point it’s all heresay and the anxiety begins to build. The days can’t go by fast enough now
But eventually they do, and September 6 finds us making the long drive up to Thompson, MB where we’ll be flying out in the morning on Sept 7. As most of you know, flying in the north is quite often delayed by weather, likely more common than uncommon. We arrive 7:30am at the airstrip, and they tell us the skies are clear and we’ll be leaving right away. This is too easy.
We ask if the previous group is flying caribou racks out, but they tell us it was all fisherman so there are no caribou coming out. Still not much more intel. We’ll know soon enough.
Alfred riding co-pilot
Alfred riding co-pilot
Flight is just under two hours of forest turning into tundra and lakes, and pretty soon we are landing on the strip at Little Duck with a little drizzle in the sky
Yes! Looking forward to this.
This is a lodge based hunt so definitely not roughing it. There are boats for us to use with 40hp motors and meals are prepared for us. Lunches in a cooler and breakfast and dinner in the main lodge. Ya know, kinda like the Ritz.
We arrive at about 10am and they serve us a quick breakfast in the Lodge and give us a lunch to take out. We grab our gear, load up a boat and head out
Dream hunt, can't wait to hear the rest!
Weather isn’t super clear but we are still able to see a decent ways. It doesn’t take long, maybe an hour and a half and we’ve spotted our first caribou. They are on a giant peninsula of mainland that comes out into the main lake. We see 3 caribou and two are decent bulls.
My goal for the trip was to kill a P&Y caribou as long as there are decent animals to hunt. Same for Alfred. For sure two of these are pope. Guess now we just gotta get in close and do the ol 1-2-3
We survey the big chunk of land, almost like an island, check the wind and make a plan. We circle wide, put the boat on shore and start the long hike. We circle big and downwind, way up to a higher elevation to get a better look. The 3 bulls originally spotted are way down by the edge of the water, and would be pretty stalkable, if it wasn’t for another group of bulls now in between us and them. Two of these for sure popers. Now we have eyes on 8 bulls. Man life is good. We decide they are all far too much in the open, so we’ll sit and wait and just watch them. It’s early in the day. We need to see which way they’re going before we can formulate a plan. They are currently ranging from about 700-1200 yards.
We are on our knees, enjoying the tundra and blueberries, when I casually turn around behind me, and firmly whisper to Alfred GET DOWN!!! 3 bulls have moved up behind us and can’t be more than 120 yards! 1 small, 1 medium and one XL. It can’t be more perfect they are feeding their way through a cluster of pines. Alfred says I can go as I haven’t yet killed a great caribou and he’s shot many. This tells you all you need to know about Alfie in both his experience and generosity. So I instantly take off running and dive into the bluff of stunted pines. It takes me a while of unsure steps, but I finally see a velvet rack moving through. It’s the smallest bull and he’s about 35 yards. I stop and wait. 30 seconds later to my left I see the giant, and he’s moving in. Wind is good enough. Not in my face but on my left ear and they are in front of me. He’s about 25 yards but behind a strip of larger trees. I see great fronts and lots of tines on his tops.
Dang! I ain't gonna get much work done today! ;-)
yup thats just the way i remember it
Refresh...refresh...refresh.... :)
There are dream trips and then there are trips that play out beyond your wildest dreams. I have been waiting for this to surface...
Refresh doesn't seem to be working...or someone is dragging this out on us maybe.
About this time every bowhunters nightmare becomes a reality. I feel the wind hit the back of my neck, count 1-2, and they all blow up and take off out of the pines. As a last ditch effort I barrel out of of trees after them. I look left and right and no sight of the big one, but the two other bulls are trotting out. I decide if I can get the bigger one to stop I’ll let fly, I think he might make pope. Tops aren’t great but nice sized double shovels and good bez. I range a tree at 67 and whistle. They both run behind the tree looks like 6 yards and stop, turn around and quarter to me looking at me. I figure I can get one in him from there as the arrow should drop in nicely behind the tree at that range. Caribou also aren’t jumpy so they should stand for the arrow. Hold 70 pin a little high and give it a decent wind hold and let fly. I know I’ll only get one lung at this angle but with a good big broadhead this should do the trick. I watch that arrow arc up over the tree and drift in perfect with the wind and tuck tightly to the front shoulder. PERFECT! Instant blood and I know this is good. He circles around and beds down in a few pines and I waste no time putting a pine between me and him and running in for a finishing arrow. It’s pretty windy and the moss is deep so he won’t hear me coming. I run in to 20 yards, draw and step out into the open. We lock eyes and I put a finishing arrow through both lungs. He gets up, and runs straight at me! His look was definitely one of “I’m taking you out” so as he’s coming at me I figure I’ll grab his horns and wrestle him down, but then I see that big two blade broadhead hanging out and jump back and just sort of touch him with the cam of my bow as he comes past. Guess he wimped out. I’m ok with that. He makes it another 20 yards and and does the sideways circle and it’s over
Alfred walks over and we embrace and just enjoy the moment. It’s 1:00pm and we’ve only been at it about an hour and a half. What dreams are made of
Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Oh heck ya! Good stuff to read today!! Congrats!!!
We quietly take some photos and enjoy the moment, as we still have more tags and those other bulls are still clueless to our existence. The pack out can wait
Fantastic! I'm betting Alfred does as well or better!
Super cool! Congratulations!
He hike the top of the ridge to move in closer as it seem all the bulls have congregated closer to the water’s edge. We move in to about 400 yards and decide from there that we’ll need to come back a ways, cut across to the water’s edge and move in to bow range that way. The miles are adding up in the spongy moss but we feel nothing as adrenaline is at an all time high. We slip in to about 150 yards and one of these bulls looks real good. P&Y wouldn’t even be a question. It’s touch because the only foliage is right on shore and then the gap between us is wide open. So we keep paralleling them hoping that something will materialize.
Living the dream watching caribou at 150 yards. Just soak it all in
Wow! I leave you alone for a few hours to get some work done and you’re already stacking them up! Congratulations! Very nice bull!
Definitely a dream cast and blast trip! With the way thinks started out, gotta believe there’s gonna be more fun on the way!
These guys are worse than wolves
All of a sudden, at the top of the ridge we see a whole group of about 8 bulls, all giants, trotting along the ridge. They come down into the valley some but ultimately blow right through the ones we’re watching. Things just got intense!!
We decide to get more aggressive and start working in to them as we have the odd tree out in the flats. Ultimately we are in the wide open 90% of the time but we risk it. Nothing else we can really do. Alfred moves up and goes in for the gusto. As time passes, a Majority of the heard moves out to about 400 yards but two bulls bed up beside a couple pines. Perfect! Their vision is mostly blocked
To paint the picture, On the left you can see the treeline along the water in which we could stalk. The bou mostly hung out in the middle of this large flat and the red arrow is where the majority of the heard was
Well now Alfred can really move in and gets in to about 90 yards when one bull figured somethin ain’t right. He must’ve sensed that he was getting right inside Alfies lethal wheelhouse and they both got up. Holy cow, these things are huge! He draws, and they bust outta there. HEARTBREAKER!
We could still see them off in the distance with the rest of the heard, And had we had more time, we could’ve made more plays, but we had put on about 7 miles already, the day was fading, and we still had a pretty long pack out to make. So we hiked back up to the bull I shot and started dicing. And then the rain came. Boy did we get wet. It was one enjoyably miserable pack out to the boat. We were pretty beat by that point and felt like pretty big winners. Day .5 is over and we’ve got one on the pole. Life is good
Almost there!
Almost there!
Refresh...refresh...refresh.... ;-)
Alfie (Oldguy), What is the purpose of the foam on the bow sight....just protection in case it catches a branch?
Jake- I missed that, but noticed that M.Pauls committed a cardinal sin...................................................mixing Kuiu with Sitka! (and a 'generic" beanie ;-)
First off I want to say that Matts shot was done in a hurricane. The winds were crazy gusty. The shot Matt made was insane difficult, not so much for the yardage ( although it was far ) but for the wind. And it was a money shot. After the finishing shot the bull exploded up and bolted right at Matt. That was intense for a split second, Matt basically used his bow as a shield to push the caribou off him. He is a little modest on how that played out. A scene we will never forget. A high five/hug and then a reflection on what had just transpired. That was crazy! The pack out of Matts bull was intense to say the least. Nothing like 80-100lbs on your back ,walking on a sponge cake. It was made easier seeing the rack on Matts back.
You are correct medicinemann. Of course I left my site cover at the local archery a week before the trip. I didnt realize it until last minute checking of gear before the trip. I improvised with this sponge contraption I made. The sponge cover is infinitely better than my bought one. I will keep on using it.
Thanks for the kind words guys.
I want to start on day 2 cause it gets better, but I’m trying to find time here between work and leaving on a trip here with my wife for our anniversary this afternoon. Stay tuned. Day 2 gets good
What? It already got good! Ya mean it gets gooder?
Tell your wife that your anniversary trip needs to wait as you have some responsibilities to Bowsite. :)
LOL! If that is “good”, I can’t wait for “GOODER!” ;-)
Haha you guys are funny. I’ve got a moose trip here in a week I have no runway for pulling a stunt like that.
On our first full day and morning in the tundra we wake up to better than average weather.
On and off spitting but no wind. We could’ve actually used some wind to hide our noise and movement. But we’ll take it!
We head back to the peninsula to try and find the herd from yesterday. Takes us a while of glassing and moving but we eventually get back on them
To make a long story short, we put on many miles of playing cat and mouse and they just flat out wear us out. Many miles and never getting within 100 yards. Great bulls, which makes it all the more painful. I feel bad for Alfred is it seemed so easy yesterday and of course now that we’re trying to get him one, they make fools of us. They eventually got wise to us and it was time to move on, which was tough.
A couple hours of boating, hiking and glassing, we find a bull. He’s above average, half his rack is bloody and he’s skylined on a large island walking a ridge. We find a good spot to quietly bring the boat in and tie off. We hike up to a vantage to get a better look and realize we just stepped into heaven. Off to our right are 3 bulls, one for sure Booner and off to our left about 600 yards are about 8 bulls with probably 2 or 3 that would go Boone. I had made up my mind that with a moose hunt coming up and no shortage of meat, my second caribou would have to be a B&C contender. With our misfortune on stalks we decide we should split up. I’ll chase the 3 bulls to the right and Alfred will go to the left into the heard of mega giants. They have a lake in between them and this way, if one of us screws up, it should push the group around the lake to the other guy. East peasy. We each set sail…
I chase my 3 bulls and they consistently stay ahead of me 100 yards until we get into the wide open and I’m hooped. I decide to start belly crawling pancake style, worst case I blow them and push them to the boogie man in the bush. After about 600 yards of belly crawling that transpires over about 30-45 minutes it just ain’t happenin. They’ve moved out to 200 yards so I stay put and see what happens.
I look to my left and I see 3 bulls jogging out of Alfred’s bush. YES he must’ve shot. I sit up and do my best rock impression. Maybe they’ll come past me in the wide open. The front one is a no go but the back two are easy B&C
Oh, heck yeah! Keep it coming.
So awesome! Looking like one heck of a good “first day”!
Just like Matt said we split up in hopes if one of us blew a stock it would send animals in the direction of one of us. The island is approximately a mile long ( north to south ) as the crow flies. I headed to the North side of the island as the caribou were headed in that direction. I was in the tree line on the north shore where a treed ridge line came towards the shore. There was 50 yard opening that separated the trees from the shore line. i stood and waited for 5 minutes for some bulls to filter through. I made the decision that they must me on the other side of the ridge and i would sneak and look over the edge. Of course the minute i took 2 steps onto that flat wide open spot 3 bulls came trotting out of the bush. I froze but it was too late. They had me dead to rights and swung around and ran back into the bush. One of the bulls ( of course the lead bull ) was a giant. Insane tops , it would have been a bull of a life time. Had I only waited another 10 seconds he would have been in chip shot bow range. Im sure many of you have had the feeling of "I blew the chance of a lifetime.". The only hope now was that if by some miracle Matt would be able to connect with this bull or one of the other giants that were travelling together in this group.
congratulations well don’t
Gonna need to see some of these Lake Trout photos!
For sure, Chase!
And Nick!!
Can’t wait to hear the rest! Great start!
We flew through that camp several years back heading up to Caribou camp
This is epic. Can not wait to read the full story!
The lead bull with a lopsided rack kept coming. They started at about 250 yards and now he was at about 150. He kept looking over at me and kind of circled me always keeping 120 yards between us. The other two hung back grazing. But eventually this bull circled right around to where I was almost right between him and his buddies. Perfect I thought. This will bring them right past me. I should be deemed “safe” now. Eventually the middle bull with insane tops started following the plan, while the bull in the back veered off and started working his way towards the other bulls by the water. I was now tunnel vision on high tops. I kept ranging….160, 137,118,90,86,82,82,…72…..61. Good enough!
His fatal mistake was being spotted. After that it was just how long until he takes a trip to see the light
Just keeps on getting better and better…
I drew as he was walking slowly. I whistled and he casually stopped and turned. Arrow en route.
2 seconds later I see perfect impact and instant blood. I know his fate is certain. All the bulls on the island take off and jump into the water and this bull follows. He tries to swim but only makes it a few yards and starts to circle back to shore but doesn’t make it. I watch him breathe his last and a big smile washes over my face. I look back and Alfred is standing on the hill now and watched it all
Easy Boone. Rough green score 390 gross, 374 net
Easy Boone. Rough green score 390 gross, 374 net
Those last couple photos in particular are really outstanding.....
Thanks Jake :)
When we boated around the island and got up to my bull in the water there was no ground shrinkage. He was narrow, but had everything besides that. Double shovels, one of them being gigantic, bez were good and the tops were to die for. Gorgeous bull. We dragged him to shore, popped the guts and figured we could do photos later. Right now we had a herd of bulls headed to another island that needed some chasing.
I’ll admit it was mixed emotions at this point. I really had thought Alfred shot when he was in the bush and had killed a bull. Now I had both tags filled and Alfred didn’t have anything yet. While I was quite happy with this bull, I felt selfish, and really hoped we could get Alfred on a good one, and fast. If only I had known what the future held…
Loving the story! Some great pictures also. Wow congrats and some awesome animals! Look forward to Alfred getting some action!
The island that they took off too is the biggest on the lake. It’s 3200 acres, gigantic compared to the 300acre island we had just left. Circling that island in the moss and on belly was already a chore. We’ll see what we can do here.
We gave the island all we had left in the tank. We walked a few miles before finding 3 of the bulls that had separated from the the herd. The biggest one was bedded in a very stalkable position on a point. We put on a good sneak, and when we emerged where we thought he had been bedded, nothing. We cautiously expanded our area looking around and Alfred caught movement of them walking the shore about 180 yards away but heading away from us. They likely weren’t privy to our wherabouts, just happened to stand up and start moving. We made our best effort to cut them off but they busted us. We continued to play cat and mouse with them but could never close inside 100 yards. One last ditch effort, I told Alfred to head back to the point with trees and I would run around and see if I could slow push them back to the point. I sprinted 800 yards to try and get ahead of them. They weren’t following the plan so I kept having to go further and further but eventually I had them convinced the point was the way to go. And then it fell into place perfectly. I watched them head straight over, and from where I was, looked like they would run Alfie over. When I finally made it back to Alfie, he never saw them. They had come past in perfect bow range but they had come in such a way that made them invisible to him in his location. Just our luck!! We were done. Finished. Dead. Time for the 3 mile walk back to the boat and we’ll go deal with my bull. Luckily there would be no ‘pack out’ there.
Something sad about casing your bow for the last time, but back to the lodge for a nice hot shower, dinner and a good nights rest. Livin!!! Tomorrow we’ll give ‘em all we got
End of our first full day of hunting and I’m tagged out
It was really something to watch all those bulls abandon ship and make it into the lake. Matts bull was in serious trouble and lagged behind instantly. Though he made it into the lake his fate was sealed. I watched through my binos as this bull struggled in the water and gave up the ghost. I could instantly tell that Matt had shot the bull that I had just screwed up on. I was thrilled that Matt got him and that he didnt get away. It was perfect that Matt had belly crawled into that position prior to the bulls coming onto the wide open flat or it would have been near impossible to get close to them. Matt made another great shot and the rest as they say is history.
Wow the colours really didn’t come through on this. This is supposed to be bright green
Wow the colours really didn’t come through on this. This is supposed to be bright green
The next day we arose to more blessed weather. There will be no issues getting out on the big lake with a boat. We have to get through a set of rapids in the river, before coming to the mouth of the main lake. As we come into the mouth we instantly have 4 great bulls standing on shore. They’re on high alert and we have no play, but we do know where they’re headed to. We turn around as they take off and head back to the lodge and take a side by side back to to the runway that runs on a really elevated sand esker. We get on foot to a glassing spot and sit and wait. About 15 mins later we spot them and we’ve missed them by a mile. Actually 2 miles to be more exact. They got way ahead of us. We sit and watch them for a while to figure out our next move. We decide to get back down and in to the boat, head up the river, get on the main lake and circle around. I was nervous was this will be about a 30-45 minute ordeal, and who knows where these cruisers will be by then.
But, we get to where we needed to be and it doesn’t take us long to pick them up. They sure are moving. And in really big country. This group seems like another perfect situation to wear us right down without being able to get close. It’s just another situation where they’ll have about 50 options and you’ll have to giver to pick 1 and hope you’re right. I’m not super keen on the idea. I sort of glass and start sweeping my binos into new country and start swinging behind me where I all of a sudden pick up another herd right behind us! They’re on a point and only about 150 yards from a spot where we can land. Now we’re talkin! Only one is a shooter but that’s good enough at the moment. Alfred is still sticking to a P&Y minimum with his bow and hasn’t lost hope. We land the boat and start to sneak in. They’re instantly on high alert and blow out before even giving us a chance. So we get back in the boat, and decide to circle around. We know these bulls are going to follow the same path as the 4 bulls this morning. As we are in the boat circling around, it’s pretty wavy so hard to get a good look, but it sure looks like they’ve picked up another bull and he appears to be a giant. He must’ve originally been out of sight to us. Again it was hard to see, but Alfred and I both looked at each other with like a white faced ghost look like “is that what it really looks like? Like stupid big”
We land the boat where we hope to cut him off, and Alfred says, “grab the rifle for back up.” Yes sir.
Hard to see, but where we originally saw them, you can see the biggest bull standing on shore
Hard to see, but where we originally saw them, you can see the biggest bull standing on shore
We have about a 300-400 yard dash to get to a pinch where we’re hoping they’ll come through. About half way there I stop and catch movement through the trees. It already looks like we’ll come up short on cutting them off but my heart pretty much stopped with what I saw in my binos….If that’s a caribou I’m not even sure what that is! G-I-A-N-T
I make it to the pinch first, grab my glasses in a panic and have a look. Holy crap, I see bez’s that have fronts like an Alaskan moose, whale tails that look like a B&C elk, mass like an oak tree, but he’s at 300 yards and increasing. Archery is out of the question. As Alfred is coming in I say, he’s a HOG and he’s way too far. Either we let him go or you kill him with the rifle. Alfred has a look for about 1/2 a second and says “give me a range and my rifle” “335 yards….. 330…….330……..boom!” I watch his fur ripple right in the vitals be he’s still standing. I say “perfect shot, hit him again” Boom! “Perfect hit again” he’s instantly sick, take two steps and falls over. We embrace and enjoy the moment. It seems every step we made closer to him, he gained another inch. And there were a lot of steps….
As he lay
As he lay
No pain is felt here!
No pain is felt here!
Gigantic! Beautiful animals
Congrats on a magnificent animal, Alfred! And I know there’s more yet to come!
Alfred’s bull has officially been green scored B&C 419 7/8 Net and grosses just over 450 This will rank as the new provincial record with any weapon and I’m not totally sure yet where it ranks B&C all time, but it must be top 10 or something
Amazing recap of another incredible hunt!!!
I loved it!! Hunt
This was bittersweet. I so desperately wanted to do this with the bow but there was no way I could let this bull walk out of our lives. This bull truly is a world class animal. We gave it all we had running through the wet moss in which we sank over the tops of our boots in some places. Unfortunately the marathon run came up short and I had to make an immediate decision whether to shoot or pass. I choose to shoot. No regrets. We gave er all we had. SO cool to have Matt beside me call out yardage and shot placement. I will never forget walking up to that bull. It just kept getting bigger.
You sure know how to captivate an audience and take us on an adventure! This is excellent!
Day 4 we wake up and not a breath of wind….a rare thing on the tundra. One tag left and Alfie says bow or bust!
We decide to head back to a large chunk of mainland where we had seen some bou previously. We park the boat and hike up to a good glassing look out.
We sit down, and glass a while, have some good conversation, and just enjoy life on the tundra. Off to our left we spot movement. A few bulls work their way out of the bush, a couple a definite shooters. They are calm and just grazing. We have a perfect sort of “wind row” of pines headed straight for them so we hop back on the other side of it and start making our way down in elevation towards them. Suddenly we spot big tops above the chest high brush we are walking through on our side of the windrow! There’s a bull feeding here too. CRAP OK, we’ll go inside the windrow and see if we can stay invisible. We slowly make our way to the end, and the bull that was on his own with big tops has got to be close. Let’s just stay put and see what happens.
Off to our right we have 4 bulls more in the open ranging from 150-400 yards and off to our left is just bush. We are actually sort of in the bush, but that bull could be as close as 30 yards in there, we’re not sure.
After we feel out the situation the bulls in the open appear like they’ll end up feeding away from us which is a bummer, cause there was one really nice one that Alfred liked.
All of a sudden I catch movement to our left and CLOSE. I motion to Alfred to get ready! There he is, we can’t really make him out but he’s about 30 yards and coming. He should become visible at 20 yards. Perfect!
Alfred goes to re-adjust into a better shooting position and the bull busts us and jogs back the way he came from back in the bush. He wasn’t terribly spooked. Realizing we really need to get more aggressive if we want to tag out yet before the end of the hunt, I tell Alfred I’m going to circle way wide, go back around to his side of the bush, let him see me, and hopefully that pushes him back to Alfred. I always figure there’s no way he counted how many humans there were when he saw us, so he shouldn’t know when we split up.
I’m in the process of circling wide, when I guess he had the same idea and we almost have a head on collision! Doh! Gorgeous bull! I pancake down in a low spot in the moss as he walks by me at 20 yards. Nothing I can do. 120 yards from Alfred. I’m almost sick
He ends up coming a ways closer and as Alfred draws his bow he blew out. Not as much patience this time! Just as quickly as he entered our life, he was gone. A dejected walk back to the boat. Endless amounts of stalks and still empty handed. I actually haven’t shared all the stalks in this write up, for if I did, it would take a week to write. So all to say, it was not for lack of trying that’s for sure
We need a gift at this point. A bull tangled in a tree would be nice
We get back in the boat and continue to cover ground. This is when the “gift” enters our life. Coming around a small island we see 4 bulls skylined at the top. They see us but don’t spook as we are a ways from them. The island comes to a point with the only few trees that exist on the island. I drop off Alfred there and he tucks into the trees, and then circle back to the opposite side of the island. I hike up slowly to the top, and the goal really is just a slow push. So I make myself visible to them and it doesn’t take them long to figure out they’re in trouble. They just didn’t realize with who. They trot opposite me, straight to Alfie. The bulls all filter right past Alfred, he picks the biggest one at 36 yards and lets it rip. Perfect shot and once again, the herd jumps in the water and instantly there’s an outlier. He doesn’t make it far and he gives up the ghost
What a GIANT!!! We drag him back on to shore and tag some photos
Seeing the antlers coming at us through the bush was heart stopping. I went down on one knee conceal myself better. What a mistake !I should have stayed still standing. The bull obviously saw movement even though I thought he was still too deep in the thick brush. He veered off and ventured back to where he had come from, not overly spooked but no doubt on high alert. Another botched bow opportunity. Now really feeling like I let Matt down.
Scroll up Nick. Amazing hunt and specimens guys, thanks for the ride along
But, wait!….There’s more!
Great hunt guys, because of this Carcus and I now booked a fishing trip with hopes of caribou!
Thank you all for your kind words ! and thank you Matt for your gift of writing. I think I can speak for both me and Matt that we are thankful to God who loves us and takes care of us. He gave us a hunt of lifetime,...(.again ! 2.0 ) even if we had killed nothing it would have been a hunt of a life time. Being in His creation and experiencing all that it has to offer was epic. I can only imagine what the moose hunt will hold..........
Sorry guys. Trying to post here in between things on this anniversary trip with my wife. Not trying to leave you guys hanging!
But check out that calm water in the background!
We put a tape to this bull, and looks like he should net just shy of 400” which would make this the new Manitoba archery record (by flying colours mind you)
So in two days Alfred beat the provincial rifle AND archery record. How insane is that?!? And both of them will rank very high by B&C and P&Y “world” standards. Absolutely incredible!!!!
Absolutely incredible!! And Matt I’m just busting balls! Tough to be patient with this fabulous story!
Awesome write-up. I’m ignorant when it comes to caribou, what subspecies would these be?
Fantastic all around! Well done and congrats guys!
I’m dumb, you said Central Barren Ground in the first post of the thread, my bad!
I waited until the end and all I can say is WOW x 10 to both of you. What a fantastic adventure and then sharing it with us made it even that much better. My best, Paul
Awesome adventure, great critters, and a great story! Congrats guys
Every day I'd get a text from Matt: "Booner alert..." lol And he wasn't kidding
Holy everything batman! Those bulls are incredible. You guys had an epic adventure, and took some world class animals in the process. Congrats to both of you, and thanks for the recap.
Terrific write up and an even more epic hunt! Congrats to you both on a trip of a lifetime, although those seem to be happening with regularity with you guys. That’s for bringing us along!
Wow, just WOW!
Absolutely stunning! Congratulations to you both for a hunt that exceeded any and all expectations! Beautiful!
Thank you for the recap. Truly a hunt of many lifetimes! Awesome!
Crazy awesome Matt, thanks to this thread Rattling Junkie and I are booked for next year, it'll be a first for both of us, hopefully they come down
Oh man that’s exciting Jason and David!! I really hope you guys get into em!
Thanks guys for all the nice words. We just truly found ourselves in the right place at the right time and tried to capitalize on it
The next day we had some downtime just caping heads, deboning meat etc. We did fish for lakers a bit but didn’t waste too much time at it, as we were just set up for fishing the spawn, and they hadn’t hit the shallows yet. Everything was late this year. We did catch quite a few ranging from 22-28” but no big ones. The next day we spent a few hours fishing for grayling and caught somewhere between 75-100, but again, no big ones. Here are some more photos as we closed out the hunt
Love combining some fishing with the hunting! Looks like some decent lakers and grayling.
Heck of a nice pike! I really like catching them on the fly rod!
Oh Tavis you would have had a blast here. The rapids were full of grayling and smaller lakers. Perfect fly rod situation!!! And plenty of fish! Those 22” lakers would put up a great fight on the fly rod
Goodbye to a beautiful place once again
Goodbye to a beautiful place once again
Our group was Alfred and I, as well as two brothers from Manitoba. Excellent guys. They were rifle hunting and also shot giant bulls
Our group was Alfred and I, as well as two brothers from Manitoba. Excellent guys. They were rifle hunting and also shot giant bulls
Wow. Amazing hunt! Congratulations to both of you.
Wow, what a fantastic hunt…….congratulations on some monster bulls!! Thanks for the recap.
Well…. You really can’t too that one can you…. Holy cow! Incredible! I’m both unbelievably happy for you both…. AND JEALOUS AS THEY COME!
Fantastic write up guys, what a trip. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us and enjoy all that fine eating!
Thank you all !!! for your kind words. I hope all of you have successful fall this year. Its been a few days of caribou meat vacuum sealing and family gatherings. I will be shooting my bow regularly this week as we hammer down some final details on our moose hunt. Hopefully we will have a good story or two to share with all of you again in a couple of weeks. Im sure Matt will sharpen his pencil as well as his broad heads for the trip. Good Hunting Alfred
Holy crap you guys had a week. The whole crew…
Gonna be tough to top that one!
I love how just seeing Caribou is a bonus with low expectations and then you all killed giants Thanks for the writeup was a great story
Great write up and hunt!
Congrats!
THIS is what makes Bowsite great! Incredible all around. Thanks for a great write up and congrats to you both....wow!
Incredible trip and great write up. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
Incredible!! A fishing trip that turns into a Trophy Bonanza!
Excellent storytelling on top of all that. "....walking on a sponge cake" is a great way to describe the energy sucking terrain you guys battled through to get it done. Well told, well played and well done by both of you!!
Awesome hunt and write up. Congrats and thanks again for taking the time to share it with us!!
Awesome stuff! You put us right there in the action. Congratulations!
Holy cow! What a trip! Thanks for sharing with us
Wow, what a trip! Congrats on all your success!
Thank you so much for sharing the story of this incredible trip. Congratulations on your trophies which will only be outclassed by your memories!
Incredible...Outstanding...Amazing Adventure!! Going to be difficult to beat that trip!!!
Amazing hunt and a phenomenal recap! My blood pressure went up just reading and viewing pictures. You 2 are machines!!!
Great read! Congratulations to both of you for a trip of a life time!
Caribou assassins, great adventure and write up, with OUTSTANDING trophies.
Wow...just read your photo essay...nicely done! Beautiful animals and scenery...truly a trip of a lifetime. Thanks for bringing us along!
Really, really good! Thanks!
Fun to go through this thread again!
Matt…..did you guys ever get those monsters officially scored?
Thanks guys! Troy, 60 day period has passed so some official scores are in order. I think Alfred is getting his done this next week. I need to get mine done too. I’ll keep ya posted!!
Russ Mehling came over last night and officially put a tape to them. My first Caribou does make P&Y, but it was a close call. Netted 303 6/8
Second caribou nets 373 2/8, so would make the All-time B&C minimum (360) with ease! (If velvet was stripped)
Russ is official measurer for both MBRC and P&Y so he will also do score sheets for P&Y with the same numbers
Russ is official measurer for both MBRC and P&Y so he will also do score sheets for P&Y with the same numbers
Very cool, never thought I’d have a top 10 animal. This bou should slot in the #6 spot.
Congrats! Great bulls and a heck of an entry. Top 10 is awesome
Giant bulls Matt and Alf!! Three B&C class bulls out of 4, unreal! Two Manitoba #1’s, same hunter, day or two apart, just unreal!!!
Missed this when you posted it back in September….was hunting haha. Sure glad it surfaced again! Great reading!
Finally read this thread this morning with my hot chocolate. Thank you Matt and Alfred for taking me along and for sharing a good story and photos!
Congratulations Matt and Alfred. What a fantastic hunt, amazing writing and amazing animals. Really well done!
Well done men, finally read your story and I enjoyed it a bunch! Thanks for taking the time to write up and a BIG congrats to you both!
Helluva adventure and even better bulls! Hats off to ya Matt.
Thanks for sharing
Congrats Matt !!!!! When I peruse through the pictures it brings back all the great memories of that trip . Thank you again to all of you for your kind comments, So glad Matt put it to pen !!
