Satisfied with her observations, she slowly walked away.  I sat up carefully to keep her in view and prolong the experience as long as I could.  As I rose, she turned at five yards and looked curiously at this strange thing that was moving on her path.  Satisfied that I did not warrant further investigation, she turned back and continued down the trail.

The whole episode lasted only a few moments, but made a lasting impression on both the guide and I.  We had come to almost expect close encounters with caribou during this hunt, but 8" was a whole lot closer than you ever think you will find yourself from an adult member of the deer family weighing in at a couple hundred pounds!  It did emphasize the benefit of hunting undisturbed game however.

The hunt began almost a year ago when good friend, and North American Bowhunter publisher, Dan Hendricks called to tell me of a caribou hunt he had planned.  He was all excited and wanted to share the details with me. He also wanted to let me know there was one opening left the week of his hunt, and to try to convince me to join him.  The hunt was in Newfoundland for Woodland Caribou the third week of September.  I spent the next half hour trying to convince him not to go, but he was committed.  I explained that I had done a lot of research on bowhunting Woodland Caribou, and actually hunted them twice.  My research pointed to the fact that mid October was a much better time to hunt this sub-species because they are then in the rut and the weather still is good.

The main reason Dan picked this camp/hunt was because the camp had not been hunted in 8-10 years and was just re-opened as a "bowhunting only" operation. I must say, that piqued my interest as well!  My two earlier trips to the big island had not yielded favorable results and there was still a spot on the wall waiting for that trophy Woodland stag.  When I found out there was a possibility of hunting previously unhunted bears, and maybe moose, I sent in my deposit as well!

Sometimes I think the anticipation of an up-coming hunt is almost as much fun as the hunt itself.  Over the next few months there were numerous e-mails back and forth and the excitement increased the more I found out about the camp and the closer the time came to head North.  I found that the operation was formed as a partnership, and that the four guides were all partners.  That meant they all have a vested interest in the camp, and in customer satisfaction.

I also found out they are all trappers in the off season and that they have been hunting and trapping the area all their lives, as well as guiding for other operations for years.  The camp is in a remote area accessible only by floatplane most of the year.  All of these factors added to the allure of bowhunting animals that had not been hunted for years.  The expectations continued to rise to the point where we should probably have been disappointed when we got there, but we were not!

The terrain at the camp is absolutely ideal for bowhunting.  There are numerous low ridges that allow great vantage points for glassing huge expanses of country.  The frequently spotted animals can then be sized up with a spotting scope to determine both the size and the potential for adequate cover for a stalk.  If you decide to go after an animal, a stalk is planned and the fun begins.  If, after some careful glassing, you find nothing of interest, you just hike to the next rise and start the process again.  Unlike some "sit by the river and wait for the caribou to migrate by" hunts I've been on, this hunt involves actual "hunting" which added considerably to the experience.

The terrain is broken into small flat bogs, open "barrens", ridges, valleys, lakes, ponds, streams, and pockets of spruce forest in every direction. This provides ideal habitat for the ample game, as well as unlimited cover for stalking your quarry once spotted.

Because the animals are not "gun shy", it is quite easy to approach almost any animal to with-in a hundred yards.  In addition, if they decide to keep their distance, they tend to move away slowly a short distance than go back to feeding as if unbothered.  This sure beats having animals spot you at 400 yards and run into the next county!  Don't get me wrong, getting to with-in decent bow range usually requires careful stalking and everyone had their share of failed attempts during the week.  There were, however a decent number of successful stalks and some wonderfully close experiences with these majestic creatures.

The first day of the hunt involved glassing from 4-5 ridges before we finally spotted a stag that deserved a closer look.  He was walking along a stream about a half-mile away when we first spotted him.  He looked like a "keeper" but we did not get the spotting scope on him before in dropped out of sight into a depression.  He was only a few hundred yards from where we had watched several moose, including a huge bull, earlier in the day.  We decided to move in for a closer look taking care to keep the wind in our favor.  By the time we found him again he was bedded right behind a small bush next to the stream.

Careful examination through the spotting scope help make the decision to put on a final stalk.  He wasn't a "monster" but he would place solidly in the Pope and Young record books if I could get close enough for a shot. Thirty minutes later I was forty-two yards away and completely out of cover, but the stag did not know I was there.  Unfortunately, the doe bedded fifteen yards from my bush picked me off before the stag offered a shot and the game was immediately over.  It was great fun nonetheless and great experience the first morning out.  We spotted twenty-three caribou that day including eight stags, and headed back to camp that evening with smiling faces.

Day two started a little better.  We spotted two large stags working their way along a wooded creek bed from our third vantage point of the day.  Our guess was they were a mile or so away and warranted a closer look.   By the time we closed the distance to with-in good spotting range the stags had bedded in an ideal location for a stalk.  They were also on a trail that funneled into a perfect ambush spot if we decided to let them come to us.  After studying the situation and checking the stags closer I decided to pass on the opportunity. 

The biggest stag had great mass, a wide spread, and double shovels, but not much for top points.  He would be a record book qualifier, but not what I pictured on the wall.  The smaller one was just a bit too small.  It was fun to look at such majestic animals and know that we could find even better ones if we kept trying.

From vantage point number six we spotted a tiny white speck on a ridge about two miles away.  It had to be a mature stag with a full white mane to show up at that distance!  Dragging out the spotting scope proved rewarding, as his antlers were impressive even at that great distance.  I had my guide, Andy Joe, check him out through the scope for confirmation.  He agreed it was a nice one.  It was, however, a long way off!  Andy estimated the distance at better than two miles and the time necessary to get into position for the stalk at near an hour.  There was, he reminded me, no guarantee that the stag would still be bedded on the ridge by the time we got there, and it would be a three hour hike back to camp with the meat if we connected.  We pondered these thoughts for a few minutes then decided we were there to hunt, and this was an animal worth "hunting".  Off we went.

Arrow marks the spot where bull was bedded when first spotted. picture was taken from point where we glassed, 2 hours from camp.

About a hundred and fifty yards from the bedded stag I dropped most of my gear with Andy and started the final stalk on my own.  Cover was thinner than it had looked from two miles away but I was able to get to with-in thirty-seven yards totally undetected.  The stag was bedded in a way that did not offer a great shot so I decided to wait him out.  It did not take long.  I had barely caught my breath when the stag got to his feet and started feeding away from me without ever offering a decent shot.  He was in no hurry and seemed to be following a doe that had been bedded about a hundred yards further up the ridge. 

Dropping down into the spruces I was able to move along parallel to the ridge top at a good clip, getting into position a few yards from the trail the doe had used to disappear off the ridge into deeper cover a few minutes earlier.  Every once in a while the stag would appear briefly between the trees as he fed along the ridge to our rendezvous spot.  After minutes that seemed like hours he was a mere twenty yards away feeding behind a bush on the trail I had covered.  I came to full draw while his head was down and just waited for him the take the last few steps that would produce a clear shot at 16 yards.  He stopped at 16 yards and turned his head to study the stranger behind a small spruce just as my fingers slipped the string sending the broadhead tipped projectile to a spot just behind his shoulder that  held my concentrated attention.  The brightly colored fletching flashed through the brush on the other side of the stag as he bounded away.  After less than thirty yards he slowed to a walk and continued down the trail almost as if nothing had happened.  At sixty yards he turned and looked at his back trail, then dropped in his tracks.  The three blade Muzzy had done it's job well.

Later that day, while packing the first load of meat and antlers back to camp, we stopped to rest on some medium sized rocks.  As we sat enjoying the country, and a fresh orange, a small stag approached on the trail we were following back to camp.  We were just sitting talking in the open with no attempt to hide; yet this stag came to with-in thirty yards before paying us any attention at all.  As he tried to figure out what to do about these intruders on his path, Andy picked up the antlers from my stag and held them over his head.  He then swung the antlers in the open air much as a stag would when looking from side to side.  While he did this I threw in a few low snorts to gauge the stag's reaction.  It was wild!  He just walked right over as if we were part of the family.  At less then ten yards he started feeding around us.  In the next fifteen minutes or so he never got more than fifteen yards away, and was as close as five yards much of the time.  Finally he moved off, feeding as he went, perhaps wondering why we did not join him.

Two days later Andy and I were walking up a ridge on a defined caribou trail when I spotted a sixteen point stag about thirty yards way.  The stag was working his way up the same ridge feeding as he went.  He paid us almost no attention until I snorted a few times.  He came closer!  We played this game for three hundred yards until we reached the top of the ridge.  He worked his way back and forth from one side of the trail to the other never more than thirty yards away.  I cannot count the number of broadside opportunities he gave me at less than twenty yards, but there were three clean six-yard opportunities that will be hard to forget!  At the top of the ridge we sat on a rock to glass the valley below bidding good-bye to our newfound friend who was intent on keeping to his original path and schedule.  We watched him feed off for several hundred yards before disappearing into the tree line at the edge of a bog below the ridge.  Caulk up another "neat" caribou experience!

In Summary:  There were four of us in camp (the maximum number of clients they will take at one time), and we took four nice stags.  Mine green scored 286 points P&Y which should put it in the top ten when officially scored after the 60 day drying period.  The others were smaller, but all very respectable!  I was fortunate to get a moose tag the last day of the hunt, and even more fortunate to take a seven point bull about 150 yards from camp that evening We spotted numerous trophy bulls during the trip, but could not get close to one the last day of the hunt.  I was the only one with a bear tag, and the only one that did not see a bear during the week.  It was a great hunt!

Both shots were less than 20 yards and neither animal traveled over 60 yards before succumbing to the double lung shot.  The combination CSS bow, Muzzy Broadheads, and old style Beman shafts proved once again to be an unbeatable combination.  My guide, Andy Joe, is the best guide I have ever had the pleasure of sharing a hunt with, however all the other clients felt the same about their guides as well.  The camp facilities were excellent as was the food.  Perhaps the most impressive thing about the whole experience is the overall camp philosophy and mission statement.  It is their intent to run the finest bowhunting only caribou/moose camp in North America.  To that end they are limiting the total clients each season to four spring bear hunters, six moose hunters, and sixteen caribou hunters.  They are setting up a few spike camps and putting boats on several larger lakes with-in hiking distance from camp so even these few hunters each season can "spread out" and hunt undisturbed game during their stay. 

The name of the operation is Sipujij Bowhunting and Fishing Lodge.  For information on booking one of the limited openings contact: Tag-A-Long Consultants, 4 Evergreen Lane, Building A, Unit C, Hopedale, MA 01747 (508) 473-6970. or e-mail me at NETAA@netscape.net.

Good hunting,
Roy Goodwin