I was watching a hunting program on VS the other evening where they were setting up a hunt for caribou in Manitoba. They were talking about barren ground caribou, forest caribou, and reindeer. How many kinds of caribou are there?

I saw a small herd (200-300 animals) in the NWT back in the '70s. They are impressive animals. How is the meat? How big do the antlers get on average? Do the cows get antlers? Do caribou shed their antlers every year? When is hunting season for them? Can you hunt them by yourself, or is a guide required? What about caribou in Alaska and Newfoundland?

Caribou are the only critter where both male and female are antlered. Barren land and woodland are the two basic types and of course there are reference to the varioius herds across northern Canada and Alaska. Reindeer are related.

Caribou meat is far and away my favorite meat. If I can escape the drudgery of this $%#$$ office I'd love to get up north this year and drop one. My personal favorite meal is slow fried strips of caribou with eggs and fresh bannock with plenty of strong coffee. Makes me never want to look at ol' bacon and eggs again, but bacon's a lot easier to come by.

Some of your other questions: The antlers get huge, I don't know if they shed, but I've seen caribou that make you wonder how they're holding their head up. I don't know if you have to have a guide, but unfamiliar territory might equal it makes sense to have a guide. I don't know if the Labrador/Newfoundland herds and the ones farthest north are going to have the same taste (salt water environment) That's about all I've got, I just know they taste great and once you get up to where they live, pretty easy to hunt.

After I posted this, I found out that a guy in my office had gone to Quebec to hunt caribou last month. He hunted about 120 miles northeast of Umiujaq right at the tree line. He used Tuttulik Outfitters. He came home empty handed, but his dad scored 2 caribou, one of which was very large. It cost his dad an arm and a leg to get the meat and the horns home, but he says it was worth it.

They were hunting the Leaf River herd, which apparently has produce more than its fair share of P&Y records. He is going back next year. I may have to go with him.

Thanks for the info!

FALPhil,

To answer some of your questions:

Safari Club recognizes 6 sub-species of North American Caribou. Reindeer are related to and resemble Caribou, and are found in the Scandanavian countries. They have also been domisticated there.

Both male and female Caribou grow antlers, with those of the males being much larger. Like all antlers, they are grown and shed anually. Caribou antlers are similar between the sub-species and can grow quite large compared to the size of the animal. A bull with exceptional antlers can have a main beam exceeding 50 inches and top points exceeding 20 inches.

They are normally trophy hunted in late August and September, with subsistance hunts for residents extending later into the fall.

I have hunted 3 of the sub-species of Caribou in Alaska and the Northwest Territories of Canada. Non-residents can hunt Caribou without a guide, as I did, in Alaska. I believe all non-residents must have a guide to hunt Caribou in Canada. I have found Caribou meat quite good, without any strong taste. My Eskimo guide when I hunted Central Canadian Barren Ground Caribou would cut off chunks of fat while he would cape a Caribou and eat it. He would offer me a piece and say "candy?"

Thanks, buffybr. I am researching the huntable herds in Alaska for next year. It looks like it might be quite reasonable in terms of $$, but I am going to have to get off my fat arse and get into shape!

The best bet for Alaskan Caribou if you are a bowhunter is the Dalton Highway. Five miles on each side of highway is archery only. I have seen literally hundreds of Caribou along the Dalton at certain times of the year. However if you are hunting with a firearm you have to be at least 5 miles from the highway with no motorized vehicle access. Basically you have to hike in 5 miles in some of the worst terrain for hiking on earth. It is flat, but the clumpy, spongy tundra makes one mile feel like five. There are smaller huntable herds along the steese highway and around Chicken with road access and firearms allowed. Otherwise, you pretty much have to be dropped off by plane which gets a little pricier. I am checking into bush plane service for a sheep hunt next year and it looks like it will run me about $1800.00 round trip.