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GENERAL INFORMATION ON
A CARIBOU HUNT

There are three main staging areas for caribou hunts: Scheffersville and Caniapiscau in central Quebec, and Kuujjuaq (Ft. Chimo) on the southern tip on Ungava Bay. There are two main herds of caribou in Quebec, the George River herd numbering up to 500,000 and the Leaf River herd numbering up to 750,000.

A survey shows that an average of 6,500 hunters a year in Northern Quebec, kill an average of 8,000 caribou. Approximately 80% are bulls, this means 1,600 hunters are unsuccessful in taking bulls.

Both of these herds are in our area above the 57th parallel. The Leaf River herd feeds in our area August & September, this herd breaks up into smaller herds of 80 to 100 herds. There are approx. anywhere from 200-1,000 in these herds. We have 34 sites to cover the migration and over the last 16 years an average of 95% kill on 2 bulls. I, Ken Gingrich am up for the whole season and keep records which camps are the most productive.

Due to the warming of the atmosphere, the biologists are stating the migrating patterns of the caribou are changing. The main herds cannot be predictable as in the past years. We cannot predict specifically as we had in the past. We have 5 camps in the Leaf River area this year to help supplement your hunting over a larger area.

I, Ken Gingrich, have over 35 years of experience, sixteen years were in Scheffersville area, below the 57th parallel. All the outfitters in Scheffersville operate with single otters airplane on floats, which will carry six passengers with baggage. They fly by sight and in bad weather conditions, wind or ice they are unable to fly. For the last 12 years I have been with Safari Nordik, we operate 34 sites. This allows us to move hunters. We operate with twin otters aircraft on wheels which we can carry 12 passengers with baggage and fly up to 16,000 ft. they are equipped with G.P.S. I had few delays in the last 10 years due to weather conditions. This influenced my decision to move to the Kuujjuaq region.

I want to inform you, to be aware when outfitters give their high percentages of kills on caribou, these numbers are usually inflated, and don't reflect the true percentages. I do 15 Outdoor Shows yearly on the East coast, for the past 26 years, and speak to a lot of the hunters with high expectations who have gotten into some real nightmares. To prevent this from happening to you, I would recommend to ask the outfitter how many hunters he took this year and how many hunters he took last year. When he gives you these numbers, ask him for all of the references for the entire two years. If he refuses to give you all the references, there must be a reason, this should raise a red flag.

There are over 43 outfitters in Quebec. At the outdoor shows there can be up to 5 to 20 outfitters represented. Here are some questions to ask the outfitters when considering a hunt:

  

 
  • Ask how many hunters they had last year, then ask for 100 of the references.
  • Ask the references the number of hunters in camp and number of bulls killed. This will give you the true percentage on bulls.
  • Ask if I don't kill two adult bulls can I come back free or receive a 50% cash refund?
  • Ask for a guaranteed move in writing?
  • Ask if this hunt is North of the 57th parallel in the Leaf River herd?
  • Ask for references from the previous year in your state.
  • How many camps they have in the operation to move hunters to?
  • Is there any cost for moving hunters to other camps?
  • Can we kill 2 bulls when we are moved?
  • Ask what are your percentages on bulls over the last 4 yrs?
  • All caribou hunts are 6 nights in camp. Some outfitters will call this a
    5 day hunt or 5 1/2 day hunt, and some will call it a 6 day hunt.
    Ask them if this is a 7 or 8 day trip, will there be an overnight stay?
  • Must we furnish our meals or do our own cooking?
  • If the caribou aren't migrating in our area, will the outfitter notify incoming hunters
    to postpone or change to a later date?
  

There are 2 kinds of hunts, guided and unguided hunts. Some outfitters call these drop-camp, outpost, self-guided or European plan. An unguided hunt consists of a camp manager with 6 to 12 hunters in camps. Some of these will furnish food, but no cooks. You have to pack your own caribou back into camp, approximately 90 lbs., cut the four quarters off and the last knuckle to reduce the weight.

They also offer guided hunts, this could be 1 guide to 1 hunter, 1 on 2, 1 on 3, 1 on 4. The guide quarters and capes your caribou, and packs it out for you. He will usually put 2 of the hunters on a look out, and will stay with the one hunter, and the following day rotate men. He is there to help you select a good quality bull.

I do 15 Outdoor shows a year and hear many horror stories of disappointed hunters. Some outfitters will tell you that they have a high percentage of kills. They do not tell you that this percentage is both bulls and cows combined. Caribou hunting is not a guaranteed hunt.

OUTFITTERS SALES TACTICS:

There are outfitters who use tactics that say that they own their own planes and move you when other outfitters cannot. What they don't tell you, they also serve other outfitters with their planes. Safari Nordik, has one Faux twin otters chartered for the season, on wheels. One of these twin otters, can haul the cargo and passengers, compared to three float planes in the equal amount of time. Our twin otters can fly in bad weather conditions.

Some outfitters will also use the tactics of telling you about, the four star lodges and perks that go along with this. They will often, hold you in these camps, and the guides are trained to make you believe there is caribou in the area. They can use weather conditions in all cases, to make you believe, that the caribou are moving into your area in a few days. However, after this tactic doesn't work, the last days of your hunt, they will offer to fly you out to where the caribou are. You will think that you had a good hunt.

OUTFITTERS MOVING POLICY:

Most of the moving policies that outfitters use, if no caribou have been seen after four days, they will move you to another site. If the weather is permissible. Should you need to be moved, one animal only will be allowed. This could either be a cow or a bull. If they use this policy, you will be moved on the fifth day or the last day of your hunt. By the time the plane arrives in camp, and picks you up, and you fly out you will only have a half of a day to hunt. Here again, they can use weather conditions in their favor, couldn't fly. Very important, ask the outfitters, for a guaranteed move in writing, and that the weather conditions won't determine your guaranteed move. Make sure that you will have one or two full days of hunting, and you will be allowed to kill two bulls.
 
 

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