Surviving The Yukon: Tales Of Extreme Hunting And Adventure

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Welcome to a thrilling exploration of Yukon's wild frontier, where Kaleb Graham reveals his incredible journey from New Brunswick to a land teeming with wildlife and hunting opportunities. Discover how Kaleb transitioned from waterfowl hunting to mastering the art of tracking big game like caribou and bison in this untamed paradise. Tune in to hear about the innovative techniques he brought with him and how he's adapted to the harsh yet breathtaking Yukon environment.

Our conversation also delves into the cultural facets of hunting in the Yukon, contrasting local subsistence hunting with trophy pursuits by outsiders. Kaleb shares personal anecdotes from a memorable caribou hunt along the Dempster Highway, illustrating the deep respect for nature that is ingrained in responsible hunting practices. We touch upon the challenges posed by climate change and its impact on traditional hunting methods, as well as the vital conservation strategies needed to protect Yukon's majestic wildlife.

Venture with us into the rugged wilderness as Kaleb recounts his strategies and gear essential for surviving and thriving in Yukon's extreme conditions. From the fascinating behavior and migratory patterns of caribou to the tactical use of skidoos and the vital role of winter gear, this episode is packed with practical insights and thrilling tales. As Caleb shares the satisfaction of a successful hunt, we promise stories that will not only entertain but also deepen your appreciation for the wild beauty and rich cultural tapestry of the Yukon.

Check us out on Facebook and instagram Hunts On Outfitting, and also our YouTube page Hunts On Outfitting Podcast. Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
this is hunts on outfitting podcast.
I'm your host and rookie guide,ken meyer.
I love everything hunting theoutdoors and all things
associated with it, fromstories-tos, you'll find it here
.
Welcome to the podcast.
Yes, welcome indeed.

(00:33):
Valued listeners At thispodcast, we greatly appreciate
those of you who listen to usevery week and also those of you
who listen to us when timeallows.
This podcast is growing and wefind that word of mouth is the
best way that it's done.
If you enjoy the show in anyway, please feel free to let
people know to check us outanywhere you get podcasts.
All right for all you big gamehunters listening.

(00:54):
What would you call a placethat you can hunt two different
types of bear, two differenttypes of caribou, bison, moose,
elk, sheep, mountain goat?
Sounds like a dream land, right?
Well, it's a place where dreamhunts can come true and it's
called the Yukon, known as thetruly last frontier of Canada.

(01:14):
This territory is made is up inthe northwestern part of the
country, in a place where thereis more moose than people.
This beautiful and rugged placeoffers some of the best big
game hunting in the world.
Our guest today on the podcasthas been lucky enough to enjoy
some of the best experiencesthat this land has to offer.

(01:35):
Caleb Graham tells us aboutlife in this unique place and
the abundant huntingopportunities, with the story
about a successful caribou hunt.
This is an interesting one,stay tuned.
Oh, and one last thing thispodcast episode was filmed and
will be on our YouTube pageHunts and Outfitting Podcast.
Most of these aren't, becausesome are phone calls and some

(01:58):
are hired depending on how manypeople are on, and I'm terrible
at tech stuff, so the videosaren't always the best quality,
but we like to film some when wecan.
You can follow us also onFacebook to stay up to date or
even message us on there.
It's just Hunts on Outfittingon Facebook.
Thanks, enjoy, caleb.
Thanks so much for coming onthe podcast.

(02:19):
We, you know, we've known eachother a while working on a dairy
farm while in high school andeverything to support our
hunting activities, among otherthings.
And you're from New Brunswick,canada.
Yeah, and you moved out to theYukon for, I'm guessing, hunting
opportunities, adventure andfor work, yeah, but adventure as

(02:42):
well, I'm sure For sure.
Yeah, if you want to.
Just, you know we'll get intothat, we'll just, we're going to
jump right into it.
Yeah, about moving out and whatit's like out there, I suppose.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
And who you are For the people who don't know me,
caleb Graham, born and raised inAnagans Ridge, new Brunswick,
moved out to the Yukon in 2016,mainly for work.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
It's been that long already.
It's been that long.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
It'll be nine years in May.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
I didn't think it'd been that long I know.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, so I was working for Armored Truck
Company.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Brinks here Right.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
And got laid off from full-time to part-time and
there was an opportunity thatarose in the Yukon, working in
the jail there, yeah, and I hadthe corrections course for the
Brunswick here so they hired mewithin like six days.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Wow yeah, so that should have been a warning sign
to you, like they really seemdesperate for people.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
I thought it was a scam.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, when I applied.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Like they got right back to me.
I wrote a test.
I did an interview over thephone.
The guy that interviewed me wasactually from monkton okay, and
then I saw like the startingwage and everything and I'm like
there's no way this is real.
Thought it was a scam.
Uh didn't even get a letter ofan uh employment offer yeah
until I got to white horse wowso I wasn't sure if I actually

(04:00):
had a job but.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
I showed up monday morning and I had a job yes,
yeah yeah, nine, nine years ago,and then time flies when you're
having fun or when you'reworking all the time.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, either or yeah yeah, no, it's been great um, I
never really did any big gamehunting here in new brunswick
yeah, just get a little closerto your problem here.
Uh, never did any big gamehunting really here I mean where
you grew up.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
You were, uh, waterfowl yes, a lot of
agriculture, field stuff.
So I remember you and someother guys from sussex.
You guys were big into, uh yeah, duck and goose hunting yeah,
and everything big time.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, we were.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
We were doing really well with the ducks and the
geese yeah, so imagine I'venever been to the yukon, but I
imagine, uh, there's slightlyless what you don't hear of many
waterfowlers coming out of theYukon.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
So yeah, coming from here, where I was huge into it,
and moving out there, I've onlybeen twice.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Really yeah.
Do they have much?
Cause?
There wouldn't be much forfields.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
and you're hunting the water, I'm guessing I
haven't done any field huntingfor waterfowl out there.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Okay, uh, what we've?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
done is boat hunting.
Yes, kind of park yourself onan island and call them in, yeah
and uh.
Even that that was kind of newto my friends out there, like
they'd never had duck callsbefore.
They would just kind of parkthemselves on an island and if
they happen to call or come over, you shoot them in the air, but
like I was able to call themover and get them to land and
they were like oh, this is neat.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
I'm like, this is what you boys.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
This guy's a wizard, so that was fun and I've only
done that twice, but then thesedecoys?

Speaker 1 (05:28):
That's a luxury.
No decoys out there.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
There wouldn't even be a spot in Whitehorse to buy a
decoy.
I don't think.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Really no.
Wow, I've got one hunting storethere and I've never seen a dec
you in the cities anywhere.
No, closest cabela's would be10 hours, 12 hours in anchorage,
alaska, really, yeah, wow, yeah, how well, how far.
I thought great with my mats.
Uh, how far are you from alaska?

Speaker 2 (05:54):
uh, the closest border to me to alaska is about
three hours which is haynes,alaska, and we go all the time
really for the fishing.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Okay, yeah, they do a beer festival there every year.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
We go every year.
It's the most, probably themost beautiful place I've ever
been yeah, I've heard, I've seenpictures and it's three hours
from from our house and that'sreally neat if we were living in
whitehorse and we live an hourout of town.
There's skagway alaska, whichis like 180 kilometers away,
which is very close.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, yeah, that's.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's more of like a cruise ship town.
You kind of go in there's only.
I might be wrong, but I thinkabout 300 people that live there
in the winter.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
And then in the summers there's, you know,
cruise ships coming in every day.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, that's where the population goes up.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
I know you always see those alaskan cruise lines
exactly everyone's out there.
So I mean, so you came.
You didn't really do any deerbear hunting while you were
living.
Oh no, I was.
I'd been on maybe two deerhunts when I was living in at
home here.
Yeah, and that was likegrabbing my dad's gun and hiking
up harper settlement road andsitting in the field right, that
was I never baited for anything, just never really got into it.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
No, I'm not a sit still kind of guy and you're.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
I'm not either.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Working with you at a dairy farm?
You're not either.
I know that.
So deer hunting that that's howdeer hunting is done here for
us is, uh, it's a sit still,yeah, Basically, and I think
that's kind of why I never gotinto it Like if I were to move
home tomorrow, I'd be deerhunting now.
You know what I?

Speaker 2 (07:24):
mean Like, just cause I know a little bit more about
it and whatnot, but uh yeah, I'dbe also in the waterfowl game
again.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, well, yeah and it's, it's, it's easy to get
into around here, just with theabundance of, you know, ducks
and geese.
So you moved up there and thenI mean what?
What are the big game speciesthat you guys do have there in
the Yukon, Because youdefinitely have more than we
have here in this province, yeah, so I can tell you from my

(07:55):
experience.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
I buy about $140 worth of tags a year and that
gives me sheep, goat, springbear and fall bear, so two tags
um and fall bear.
Yeah, so two tags, and thenbison, caribou, moose and an elk
tag.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
A hundred and forty dollars.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
That'll get you all that, and that includes your
lottery hunts.
You pay a little bit more for alottery hunt.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
So all those hunts I just listed off, they range from
five dollars per tag to fifteendollars per tag.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
And we're, what are we here?
Sixt from $5 per tag to $15 pertag.
And we're what are we here?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
$65 for one deer license here?
Yeah, because you got to buy aduck stamp, or yeah, well, yeah,
you have to buy.
It's all separate.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
And then you're big, you know.
So just a deer tag loan, Ithink it's around that, around
$65.
Yeah, you guys, you're gettingall that, I'm getting all that.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
And that's including my lottery hunt.
So each species I just listedoff, except for bear and bison,
you can apply for a lottery hunt, which is there are certain
zones where there's an abundanceof those species and your
chances of getting one are muchhigher.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Okay, yeah, yeah, so are the lottery hunts here?
Cause we had the lottery forthe moose and uh it, people can
go 18 years without gettingtheir tag.
Yeah, so what there with thelottery animals?
Is it tougher?
Is it about that same toughness?
I've been there for nine years.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
I had to wait my first year.
You have to be a resident for ayear in the Yukon before you
can hunt any big game species.
Okay, you can be six months andthen you can start hunting
small games, so like rabbits,grouse ptarmigan, stuff like
that.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
They have grouse and ptarmigan.
Yes, oh, really Okay.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
The ptarmigan are mainly up north or higher up in
the alpine.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Similar bird, though correct.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Same species, I believe just kind of a different
like same breed, differentspecies.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
And the ptarmigan are in higher elevation.
So if you're on the top of amountain.
You're going to see it.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Okay, that's neat.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
They're kind of in the trees and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Above tree line, I guess, is where you'll see the
term.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, yeah, so there's quite a few species to
uh to hunt there, and then onceyou're a resident, it's uh, it's
not that expensive.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
It's very cheap.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
And I mean, don't get me wrong you can pay for the
hunts too, like you can do flyin hunts and you're paying big
money unless you know somebodywith a plane?

Speaker 1 (10:12):
which.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
I've.
I've done one and I knew abuddy, so it didn't cost it
didn't cost me too much money,but it's pretty neat, I suppose.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
I mean, I don't know anyone that owns a plane here,
but out there it's different,isn't it Like?
You know more people that ownplanes Fly planes, yeah yeah, my
wife included.
Oh, really yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
And uh, then I've, you know, a couple of my
coworkers.
They've got, they've got theirlicense.
Uh, I know two of my friendsare full blown pilots with their
own planes.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Oh, okay, yeah.
So, like I've said that it'syeah, the odds are a lot greater
of knowing somebody with it'sjust more a normal way of life
out there.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, and the rule is there is you can go scouting,
but I believe it's you can'thunt for 24 hours after you've
been in the air.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Okay, so I remember when we flew in I think that's
most places, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
So when we flew in for a sheep hunt, we were in
little two-seater, super cubyeah on floats and my buddy when
we were getting close to themountain range that we wanted to
land on.
He's like caleb close your eyes, don't look.
Don't look, because we wereplanning on hunting the next
morning.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, yeah uh, yeah, but we ended up not hunting that
next morning because of weatheranyways, but he's like I don't
don't look, don't look atanything yeah, no, it's funny.
Well, we had a guy on on theother week from New that went on
a moose hunt in Newfoundland.
Oh cool.
Yeah, they had to wait rightBecause of that.
Yeah, so I think that's mostareas.
Just keeps it sporting.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah.
So with you guys getting thatmany tags, is it looked upon
differently in the Yukon, whereyou're not hunting like we would
here for a trophy?
I mean, people say they'rehunting for meat.
Some are, most aren't.
They're hunting.
If you want meat, you couldsave a lot of money and just go
buy meat from the store.
You know people here.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
But there is it different where it's looked upon
in a society as, like you,really are hunting to provide
for your family and thehousehold.
In my personal opinion I couldbe wrong.
My views on the Yukon arepeople like locals yeah, from
what I've gathered, they'vereally.
They really look down at trophyhunting from the people that I
know, Anyways you're mainlyhunting for your food source for
the year, and that's how I.
I don't care what it looks like, I'm looking at it as a full

(12:22):
freezer.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Right, yeah, so is that why you think the prices
are a lot better on buying thetags?

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Because the government knows that too, and
it's just always been like thatand there's just such an
abundance Like every species isdoing so well in the Yukon.
And if they're not, thenthey'll shut down a zone.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
You know what I mean, which is great.
That's great to hear, though.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, uh, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of
trophy hunting in the yukon, butmainly from outfitters and you
know people coming in from thestates and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, they don't frown upon that yeah, uh, I'm
just talking about my friendgroup, like there's nobody in my
friend group that's lookinglike oh, I'm not going to shoot
that one because the rack's notgreat.
Like we're we're there foryou're going to fill your
freezer.
Yeah, yeah, but, yeah, but Imean yeah, even though that's
good, and but with the trophyhunters coming in, that's still
good too.
You know they're, they'rehunting respectfully.
It's money coming in and youknow and there's, there are
animals that most of the timeshould be harvested regardless,

(13:14):
and all that.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
So, uh, what we were talking earlier and you're
saying, your favorite big gamespecies to hunt is, it is the
caribou I think, so it's a.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
It's a.
If not, it would be a tiebetween bison and caribou but
for whatever reason, ever sinceI moved there, uh, a caribou
hunt has just been magical to mewhen, you think of those areas,
that tundra, in all theseplaces I mean a caribou hunt.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
You look at the caribou as a species of that's
what the animal that's that youthink of when you think of that
area, right, none of the Yukonstuff, you know, that's right.
The caribou, yeah, great bigdouble shovel, yeah, kind of I
think, for me too there'ssentimental value.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
I drove from Whitehorse to La Loche,
saskatchewan, to see my brother.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
And when I got there we drove like 130 kilometers
north into his trap line that hewas running for the school.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
Oh cool.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
And his buddy had a cabin out there.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
And as I got there, we skidooed, I think, like maybe
20 kilometers into this cabin.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
And, uh, as we were getting there, he had a caribou
on the kitchen table skinning it.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
And, uh, you know, cut some tenderloin, a little
bit of lemon, pepper and butterand had that.
And that was my first timehaving caribou and I was like
wow.
It was just unreal Specialmoment with my brother too, and
so ever since then I've beenlike man I want to get some more
caribou.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
It's just delicious meat.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
And I'm just fascinated by them.
I love watching them.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
They're really cool, really neat animals.
Okay, that's really neat.
Yeah, yeah.
Gee, okay, that's really neat,yeah, so tell me about that's
interesting.
I've just got into trappingthis year, so I'm curious about
your.
So your brother was running atrap line for the school, yeah,
okay.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
So my brother was in this Northern Saskatchewan
community named Lelosh, and inthe winter I'd only been there
one time.
But in the winter there's anice road that they open up from.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Fort McMurray.
Okay, in Alberta In.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Alberta, yep.
So you can go to Fort McMurrayand then take this 115 kilometer
ice road Not all of it's ice,but it's a winter road you do
have to cross a few rivers and alake.
I believe there was a lake.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
I can't quite remember, but they don't call it
an ice road, it's a winter road, water crossings, that I
remember and one of them wasvery sketchy it was a river
across I mean, I don't know whatit's been there, but I you know
global climate change, it isreal, um, it changes every year.
But uh, it's been a lot warmerhere.
A lot warmer because, liketrapping the beaver on the ice

(15:42):
this year doing that, and oneweek can go out, and it's fine.
The next week go out and you'reno, you turn around real quick.
So imagine, out there it's,it's changing.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
The next week go out and you're no, you turn around
real quick.
So imagine, out there it's,it's changing because there's uh
in Dawson city, which isNorthern Yukon, there's an ice
bridge, that people live uhacross the river.
So there's no bridge fromDawson city to West Dawson.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
And they're always build an ice bridge in the
winter.
And there'd been one winterthat I've been there, that they
they couldn't build it.
Yeah, so they would just taketheir skidoos and find like a
frozen patch and cross that,yeah, every day, because that's
their community.
Yeah, right, so there ischanges, but I mean it's still
very cold yeah, white horse yeah, pretty much all the time like
this year my wood pile is notlooking great oh, really now now

(16:26):
it's been consistently overminus 20 every night, basically.
Yeah, and then we've had a fewlike a week of minus 37.
Okay, Week of minus 30.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Already this year.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Already this year.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
And we just started January.
Wow, yeah, so when?

Speaker 2 (16:40):
I the day I got to Moncton to fly home this time it
was like minus 34 in Whitehorse.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Okay, of course, as soon as I leave.
Yeah, yeah, of course as soonas I leave.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
but we've also had a thaw already, which is not
normal, like early december, itwas like plus one for a couple
days okay, that's.
That's a huge, pretty crazy,yeah, you know a few days before
it was like minus 27, yeah, andthen it went to plus one.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, okay we've had similar, not quite
that cool.
We were at like minus 20 and itwent up to plus eight oh yeah
sort of thing.
So yeah, that's uh with thetrap line.
So your brother's running onefor yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
So him and his buddy started this outdoor school
program where they did a week inclass and then a week out on
the trap line with these kids.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
A whole week they'd spent out in the bush.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
So how long would the trap line be?
Roughly, I want to say it was a35 kilometer loop.
All right, yeah, that's, that'senough to.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
It was a big trap line and I I took my skidoo from
white horse on the back of mytruck all the way to this trap
line and that's what we did fora few days as we checked the
traps it was very neat.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, so what, uh?
What kind of animals you guysget?
So links up there, links uhsnakes, wolves, wolverine,
martens, fishers beavers.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Those are what I know , oh fox.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
If my brother were here, he'd be able to tell you a
lot more.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Is that the Arctic fox, or?

Speaker 2 (18:02):
I don't know if there's Arctic fox where he was
at.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
I do have a pelt that he gave me and it's got like
it's a black and red kind ofcolor.
It's really pretty fox but uh,coyotes, they trapped as well.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
They do have coyotes, they do.
Yeah, I didn't know what thewolves.
I know the wolves woulddefinitely uh target them if
they're in their area.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, there was a lot of wolves in his community was
there.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, huh, uh, the wolverine.
That's neat that you know furprices.
I mean, anyone that traps nowis doing it strictly for fun,
yeah, for a hobby, unless it'snuisance.
But you know fur price today,except for, I mean, wolverines
still help their value decently.
Uh, they're a really uniqueanimal, incredibly strong.
Did you see any wild ones, youguys?

Speaker 2 (18:46):
I have seen two in my life up in the uconn what are
they?
They're a funny, crazy crittersand, uh, I've never been close
to one, but I've kind of beenlike glassing on a mountaintop
and spotted one and they go intotheir dens.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
They'll like they do have dens.
Yeah, I've.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
I've found a lot of dens, but I've only seen two uh,
actual live Wolverines since.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
I've been up there.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
They're really cool to watch yeah my buddy had a
kind of a crazy encounter withone.
It was like kind of comingafter him a little bit, he was
like trying to get it.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
He didn't want to shoot it yeah but yeah because
they're nasty, they can beaggressive.
Yeah, very well.
I've seen videos and peoplehave probably heard this about
them chasing grizzly bear off ofthe kill.
Oh, yeah and I've seen one takeon.
There's like three wolvescoming at it and the thing was
it was holding its own.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Oh yeah, they'll, they'll take down a full bull
caribou, they'll, they'll takeone down, they will on their, on
their own really.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, there's a video on youtube of one in russia I
think taking down a full-sizebull caribou I thought they just
like took other people's kills.
But it this, it was a perfectlyhealthy male caribou and the
thing it went at it, yeah, wowthat's great, because how heavy
would it be 50?

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Oh geez, I think like 50 pounds max Max.
Yeah, I would think yeah,that's incredible.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
They're just so tough .
Huh, the trap line thing.
That's really good and just,you know, showing that way of
life, that's what built Canadabasically.
I think it was back in like the1800 of the wealthiest people
in Canada was a beaver trapperand salesman.
Yeah, you know, it's amazinghow that's changed so much, but

(20:16):
it's an important way of life.
Uh, that helped build Canadaand something that still needs
to be done, regardless of lowfur prices, just management you
know so a friend of mine,actually um four hours South of
Whitehorse.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Watson Lake is the community.
He has a I think it's a 75kilometer trap line, oh wow, and
he spends his whole wintersthere with his girlfriend.
Oh, that's cool.
And they trap everything, yeah,yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
Yeah, it's, it's so much.
Uh, it's a lot of fun, it's alot of work.
Yeah, it's time consuming, youknow it is, but I mean any
anything to be outdoors anddoing something else outdoors,
absolutely, um so yeah, so letme.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
You started hunting caribou recently right yeah, so
I've been on a lot of caribouhunts and.
I've only been on onesuccessful caribou hunt.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
So is it?
Is it tough?
I mean it is it is.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
I think our hunting group is cursed when it comes to
caribou for some reason.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
I mean, that's hunting, you know.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
I've been hunting them since 2018.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
And we've come close and just the way.
Like my main hunting group, wehave never got a caribou
together until this November thelast November now, I guess and
the way it works out is, we'llall go out together, we'll get
close something to happen, wewon't get one, and then you know
, they'll go with anotherhunting group and they'll get

(21:37):
one.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Really yeah.
So if you could just give us alittle background on cause we
were talking before the podcast.
There's two types of caribouthere in the Yukon and they live
in separate areas and all that,but they can interbreed they
can interbreed.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
So we have woodland caribou, which you typically
find on your mountaintops, treedareas, whatnot.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
And then we also.
That's the name woodland Yep.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
And then we have barren ground.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Which are on which?

Speaker 2 (22:00):
are on the tundra.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
And the two barren ground, or I think there's more
than two, but the two that Iknow of, uh the herds, there's
one, uh, it's called theporcupine caribou herd.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
And they migrate from Alaska.
They, they calve in.
Alaska, and then every fewyears they come down into the
Yukon and, uh, when that happens, you can buy two tags per
person and they have to be bulls.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
So I mean, uh, we had a podcast earlier this year
talking about caribou and yousaying that males and females
have antlers yes, correct, sohow?

Speaker 2 (22:34):
So for me.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
You're looking for nuts, I'm looking for a penis.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, and it's hard.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Are you guys actually glassing for that?
Oh yeah, you are.
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
So on this caribou hunt in November we drove up the
Dempster Highway.
It's called, and it's a highwaythat starts just a little bit
before Dawson City, which isnorthern Yukon.
It's about six hours north ofWhitehorse, so you drive six
hours north.
Start of the highway is justbefore Dawson City and it goes
all the way up to Tuktoyaktuk inthe Northwest Territories and

(23:05):
it's-.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
You said that.
Well, yeah, oh, thank you, youheard it a, I've been working on
it.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, no, it's so the furthest I've ever been is
where we just were and we werejust on the fort mcpherson
northwest territories borderokay and it is just shy of 500
kilometers up the highway, Ibelieve wow, so it's quite yeah,
and this is all north fromwhitehorse.
So you're, it's all tundra upthere so don't hurt yourself.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Basically, yeah away, because you're away from a
hospital.
Yeah, you are.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
And there's nothing on that highway.
There's one little motel forthe road workers, and that's it.
Is it kind of cool there?
It's neat.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah, I always like those really remote places.
I've driven across Canada andstuff Not past Alberta, I guess.
But any remote stuff like that,driven across Canada and stuff
I've not passed Alberta, I guess, but any remote stuff like that
I'd try to stop in, Cause it'sjust kind of, uh, it's very cool
, it's called Eagle Plains hoteland it opened up in like 1976
or something like that andbasically the only people who
will find there are, especiallyin the winter, is the road

(24:03):
workers.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yeah, so they're they're there driving the plows
and whatnot, and?
That's it.
In the summer it's pretty busy.
Touristy Exactly Very touristy,yeah, and so that's all tundra
area and that's where the barrenground.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
And then, so you're saying so, they will interbreed.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yes, so there is.
On the Dempster Highway thereis a herd called the Heart River
Herd and their woodland andthey are typically found like
beginning of the highway, like a70 kilometer mark all the way
up.
I've heard of like 300kilometers up, yeah, and there's
like the blackstone river it'scalled.
They'll hang around that area.

(24:43):
So if the porcupine herd, whichis the barren ground, if they
come down far enough, they willinterbreed with this woodland
caribou herd and if that happensthey shut down that hunt
because they they don't want youto shoot the heart river herd.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
So are they.
I mean, what's the conservation?
I guess, like, out there arethey, are they monitoring it
pretty good?
Like I'd say they do a verygood job.
Yeah, so the Well, the HeartRiver.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Herd.
They're woodland, which meansyou can hunt them from August
1st until October 31st.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
And this porcupine herd hunt starts November 1st.
Okay, and goes until wellwhenever they leave, basically.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
I think you can't hunt them after March 31st.
I could be wrong on that, butI'm pretty sure that's what it
is.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
But if they do come down that far and they they mix
with the heart river.
They don't want any chance thatyou shoot a woodland character.
That's good to hear.
That's monitored so well, youknow, for for the conservation
that's good.
But uh, that's interesting thatthey do interbreed, because you
hear a lot of species likewe're talking.
I don't think mule deer andwhite tail deer do I've never
heard.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
I'm pretty sure there's like a scent thing that
they don't like on each otherwith the mule and the whitetail.
But yeah, with the barrenground and woodland they'll.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
That's interesting.
So, like I said, when you'rehunting for the male, so you're
looking for their dink yes, youreally are.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
You're classing for that, I'm sure more experienced
hunters they can tell but I mean, there's been horror stories of
cows with full blown doubleshovels.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Really.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yep, but we were fortunate on this hunt.
We found a herd of about 200and there was like you could
look up end of the herd and belike bull, bull, bull because
they were laying down and their,their racks were just.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
I'm guessing too.
They probably have bigger necks, and stuff.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
There's certain ways to do it, but this time of year
the bulls are dropped likethey're dropping their antlers.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
Right, you know what I mean so you can't like the.
The bulls will be unmistakablyway bigger, but then there will
be cows that also have hugeantlers I didn't know the cows
would have double shovels andfor anyone listening to this
wondering what we're talkingabout, could you describe what a
double shovel is?

Speaker 2 (26:58):
so a double shovel, uh, comes out on the front tines
on the rack, and then comesright over the bridge of their
nose and it looks like a paddle,like literally two spades,
basically like this, and theyuse that to dig and paw oh, I
didn't know.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
That's what they use, that's what they're for.
Oh, like a shovel exactly I didI, uh, I did not honestly.
I just knew that, like a doubleshovel, would that be
considered a trophy, basically?

Speaker 2 (27:26):
my bowl that I just shot.
It was a double shovel and tome.
I was, was like nice.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah.
I was pretty pumped about that,but I was thinking so I did not
know that they used them to digthough they used them to dig.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
I just thought that was the term used for describing
a trophy basically, but really,but yeah, no, I would never
shoot a caribou if it like.
I wouldn't say, oh, that's abull, because it has two shovels
, because I've, I've heard, thehorror stories.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
What are they digging for?

Speaker 2 (27:52):
Lichen, they'll uh through the snow, they're
digging through the snow, thesnow yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
That's really cool.
I didn't know that.
I just knew of double shovels.
I thought that was consideredlike a trophy.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yeah, Uh, that's neat .
First I had a monster that Iwas looking at.
Like he was a cranker and hewas not giving me a shot at all.
He was trotting.
He'd stop for not even half asecond trot.
Go behind the cows and calves.
Like he's big for a reason.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
He's smart.
Well, I mean, I guess we'llback up a little bit on the hunt
.
So you get your tags, you'regoing out on the hunt.
You get your tags, you're goingout on the hunt.
You had an idea of where theherd was at.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yes, so with this herd there's 250,000 in the
porcupine caribou herd.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
They're all at once.
No, so in the whole herd.
In the whole herd, but they'renot together.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Most of them.
Yeah, you'll find a pocket of200, pocket of 15.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
But I've heard of people you know seeing thousands
at once.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
I haven't gotten to see that yet.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
I'm hoping to see it someday, uh, but yeah, with this
herd.
Um, they come down from alaskaand uh, there is, I want to say,
like 35 gps callers that theyput on them for conservation
reasons.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
That's great to hear, and for the hunt.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
They allow you to moderate it to a certain degree
so that you know if they comeinto the Yukon, if they come
into the Yukon border you knowwhat I mean.
So cause, like I said, they'llcome for a few years and then
you won't see them for fouryears.
So if you keep a track on, onthe GPS that you'll see them
cross into the Yukon.
You're like nice, we can goafter them now.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
By no means do you know where they're at, but you
know they're in the website thatyou can, yeah.
Okay, yeah, I think it's calledthat for wolves too.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
Maybe you can track them.
I know they have that forsharks.
Um in the Bay of Fundy you cansee where the sharks.
So same same idea.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Same idea.
By no means would you be ableto look it up and be like okay,
I know where we're going to go.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
But you just know that you're legal.
They're in the Yukon, perfect.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
So that's what we did this time.
I had a conservation officer,buddy, that lives in Dawson city
.
He gave me a heads up.
They're like he's on, so it'sjust random, yeah, wow.
Like they're here this year.
Chances are they might be backnext year and then you might not
see him for a few years.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
That's really cool.
It's very neat and it's verycool that we get to hunt them.
It's interesting, very cool.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
So, uh, yeah, uh, me and my two buddies, we hopped in
the truck.
We drove 13 hours North to thisuh Eagle Plains hotel.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
this uh, eagle plains .

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Hotel.
Yeah uh, there's 15 rooms there, I think and this time of year.
It's hunters and road workers.
That's it 15 15 rooms?

Speaker 1 (30:36):
yeah, I think there's 15 yeah, yeah, there's, there's
definitely under 20 yeah, yeah,that's, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah, it's tiny, and uh, yeah, we were room 14 and we
were at the end of the hallyeah, yeah, unless so yeah
unless there was another wingI'm unaware of, but it's kind of
like the Shining.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Oh, yeah, yeah Really , but it's really cool, yeah,
yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
And anyways, yeah.
So we hopped on the sleds.
We drove about another 95kilometers north, past the
Arctic Circle.
On the sleds no, in the trucksOkay, yeah, past the arctic on
the sleds no, on the in thetrucks.
Okay, yeah, hopped on the sleds.
And then we headed about 30 ishkilometers northwest of where
we parked the truck and we juststarted getting on top of

(31:19):
mountain ranges and looking.
We didn't see anything thefirst day.
Not a track, all wolf tracks.
That was it yeah, but in ourminds we're like okay, well,
whether it's wolves, they'refollowing the herd yeah,
obviously right is you guys canhunt wolves there.
You can shoot seven a year.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Is there an issue there with them?
I'm not a wolf fan myselfpersonally, but Um, I wouldn't
say there's an issue.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Uh, there has been years where a conservation
officers were asking hunterslike if you see a wolf, maybe
consider shooting it, becausethey were taking out a lot of
moose calves.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
Yeah, and a lot of elk calves, yep.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
And, like I was telling you earlier, there's
only like 500 elk in theterritory.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
I mean the wolves could put a beating on them,
because you see, wolves, theykilled two, I know they killed.
They killed for sport as well.
They really do they justthey're killing machines.
Yeah, really.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
That's a lot, yeah, that's a lot, that's a lot, yeah
, yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
Okay, uh, what?
So?
On this one, you guys areoutclassing all that.
I mean, what are you bringingfor gear?
What are you using for forrifle?
What do you guys, you knowspotting scopes?
I'm guessing, spotting?

Speaker 2 (32:25):
scopes, uh good optics, uh good binos.
Uh, you have my, my inReach forthe for the mapping.
Okay, I mark where my truck is,or I mark where my sled is and
my quad.
Yeah, you don't want to getlost out there cause there's

(32:45):
nobody.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah, that's true.
What do you guys, what are youguys shooting?

Speaker 2 (32:49):
I was using my great uncle's 300 Savage.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Okay, yeah, which is good, caribou gun yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah, my buddy was using a 6.5 Creedmoor.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
And that's that's good for caribou.
I mean, how they're not awhitetail deer, they're not a
moose?
Um, how heavy are they roughly?

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Live weight.
They can get big.
Yeah, they can get big.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
I'm going to take a guess.
Uh, I've never do they get arant.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Live weight 500 I would say the woodland for sure.
Yeah, my buddy got a crankerwoodland and yeah like looking
at photos.
You're like man that almostlooks like a small moose oh
really, yeah, they're big mybowl I got was not a cranker by
any means.
Yeah, I got 184 pounds of meatthat's a lot.
Yeah, I was happy with that,yeah like he was unmistakably a

(33:35):
bowl, like I was looking at himlike it's a bowl, uh, but he was
not the herd bull, like therewas some boys that made him look
really, yeah, so that of ofmeat, because, I mean, what are
you getting with your typicalwhite tail, 70, 80 of actual
meat, give or give or take, ifthat, yeah, you know, so that's,
that's a big animal.
Yeah, yeah, it was.

(33:55):
And uh, so I believe one of mybuddies after after I dropped my
caribou I don't think one of mybuddies had ever seen a barren
ground caribou before and hetold me when he came up to the
bowl he said it was about 30%smaller than any woodland he'd
seen.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Really yeah, so they get pretty big, yeah, so they
get pretty big, yeah.
So what is the size differencebetween the barren and the
woodland?

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Like body-wise, like my buddy said.
He said about 30% smaller, butthe racks will be huge on the
barren ground too.
On the barren, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
Are they quite like if you had one of each lined up
side by side.
Both say big bulls, barrenwoodland.
Could you be like all right,that's a woodland, that's a
barren.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
I would say yes, yeah , okay.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
All right.
What are the moredistinguishable features on them
to tell them apart?

Speaker 2 (34:47):
From what I've seen in my experience, the barren
ground are much closer to theground where the woodlands will
be much longer and much taller.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
Okay, all right.
Yeah, I was curious about that.
Yeah, um, all right, so sorryto get back to your story.
Uh, so you guys, you guys were,you're on sleds, you're looking
around, you're glassing.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yep, it's minus 30.
It's cold 60 kilometer winds.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Oh yeah, it was rugged.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Uh yeah, we headed out at sunlight, which was like
1130 AM up there, and uh, wentin about 30 kilometers hiking to
top of ridges, ditching thesleds, glassing.
Like I said first day, we werejust seeing wolf tracks.
Didn't see any other huntersout there.

(35:31):
We'd seen some trucks parkedwhere we, where we parked our
truck, but we didn't bump anyother hunters.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Did you see any wolves, or Just tracks?
Okay?

Speaker 2 (35:40):
And then at the end of the day, when we get back to
the truck, First Nations fellafrom Fort McPherson, NWT, came
up to me while we were loadingup the sleds and he's like oh,
we saw you boys down on themountain and there was wolves
that were following you.
Like they didn't see the wolvesfollowing us but he said they
were.
Their tracks were on top ofyour tracks Cause they started

(36:02):
going after the wolves.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Really, is that, is that common?

Speaker 2 (36:05):
I would say yes, because they'll they'll go
towards the sound of a gunshot,because they know that there's
going to be a gut pile there.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Okay, they will.
Will they come when you're inany danger?

Speaker 2 (36:17):
No, no, I mean, I wouldn't be excited.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
I wouldn't do it at night or anything.
Yeah, like I wouldn't, Iwouldn't be excited to see, but
in broad daylight, like you'reprobably safe, I would think so.
Yeah, I could be wrong, butI've seen in areas where they've
had wolves, more wolves, wherethey have elk, the elk, you know

(36:41):
, the bugle and stuff.
They've gone silent because thewolves listen for that and
that's how they track them down.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Grizzlies will go for a rifle sound as well.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
They will.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
They know that there's a pile.
They'll take you guys on,though, oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
they're not as shy as a wolf canbe, but uh yeah, so day or
sorry, I was saying about that,fort McPherson fella.
Yeah, he said, uh, that thewolves tracks were on top of our
tracks, but they ended upgetting five caribou that day.

(37:11):
And in a day he was yeah, in theday, and I don't know how many
of them there were, but yeah,he's like yeah, we got five
today.
How many did you get?
And I was like we didn't evensee one.
We're working on one and he'slike well, you guys were in the
right area.
And he said they saw a bunchbut we didn't see anything.

(37:37):
No tracks.
Did you hear their shots?
Nope, oh, because we were likeman, we didn't see anything.
Yesterday, we were hiking thetop of this mountain and looking
in the wrong direction,happened to look in the right
one and we saw, from what wecould think was around 11
caribou on the top of thismountain.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Okay, would that be an average herd size, give or
take?

Speaker 2 (37:58):
I would say for the porcupine caribou herd.
No, I would say you, youusually see a lot more than that
okay yeah uh, but we're like,who cares?
we're gonna go and we're we'regonna go where the caribou are
yeah, so hopped on the sleds,started following some tracks,
kind of got up on the top ofthis ridge and we saw four that
were probably 500 yards away.
They saw us.
So we kind of got up on the topof this ridge and we saw four

(38:18):
that were probably 500 yardsaway.
They saw us.
So we kind of got off the sleds, glassed them for a bit.
It was two cows and two calves,so I okay, that's fine.
Then all of a sudden they'revery curious animals too.
So we kind of put our hands uplike that and they came within a
couple hundred yards.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Okay, so that's what I want to ask too not to keep
interrupting the story, but thisso I get more of it.
So what is the behavior Like?
Are they spooky?
Like a white tail deer?

Speaker 2 (38:42):
They're very curious.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
They are.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Just think of the term.
Curious caribou they're verycurious.
But I mean, the big bulls aresuper smart, they're not curious
.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
They will send the cows cows to go look.
Or the smaller bulls yeah, theydon't get big by being dumb.
Uh, can, can you call them likeyou would, a moose?
I mean, are they?
They're not like hunting deer,because deer I don't find deer
does, can be sorted.
But they're not really thatcurious, they're spooky, they're
gone.
Moose, you're calling in elk.
You're kind of calling in.
Yeah, they have elk, have greateyesight and smell and stuff.
So, caribou, I mean whatcaribou?
What are they like?

Speaker 2 (39:15):
you're sneaking, okay , yeah, you're sneaking, you're
tracking um, especially withbulls, right, um, but yeah, we,
we put our hands up like this,like antlers they came they came
within a couple hundred yardsof us, but they were
unmistakably cows and calvesyeah.
So we're kind of like a littlebummed out about that.
Um cool experience coolexperience, yeah so then another

(39:36):
sled came up behind them andkind of they brushed them a
little closer to us and we'relike, oh, like that sled came
out of nowhere yeah and then itkind of went up the mountain and
disappeared and we saw tracksthat went up the right side of
the mountain and we're like,okay, well I'm, we're gonna go
where the tracks are.
so we hopped back on the sledsand we got halfway up the

(39:56):
mountain and started seeing beds.
And we were seeing a lot ofbeds yeah, like hundreds.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Really.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Okay, right on.
But we didn't see any sledtracks, so the sled must've went
the other way.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Which we were happy about.
Sure enough, we get to the topof this mountain.
My buddy hops off and looksdown a valley, looks at me,
gives me the double thumbs up.
I'm like right on.
So I start walking towards himand he's like there are some
crankers and I was like sweetand you could see this with the
naked eye yeah we were probably500 yards away from them okay,

(40:29):
and they were laying down andthere was like six or seven
bulls that their.
Their uh racks were just like tothe sky and you could tell
you're looking at them.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
It is undeniable like that's seven bulls that their
their racks were just like tothe sky and you could tell
you're looking at them, as isundeniable, like that's a bull.
That's a bull, yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
And there was about 200 in this herd.
And we're like like there'sbulls in this herd, Cause you
could very well show up to aherd this size and it'd be all
cows and calves 200.
And there'd be no bull Cause itbull, because it's after the
rut and there'd be no bulls likea lot of the bulls will stick
together this time.
Bachelor groups, yeah, okay, soit's like it's like, uh,
white-tailed deer in the.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
In the summer they'll have bachelor groups.
The caribou will do it too.
After the rut, I guess exactly,okay, yeah, really that's
interesting.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
So we were very happy to see, with the naked eye,
some yeah, some bulls yeah so,uh, we blew the stock on that
one, all three of us.
We tried to walk quietly downthis boulder field to get close
and, uh, my buddy had a monsterin his sights and he was
comfortable with the range, wentto pull the trigger and the gun

(41:33):
was frozen completely I, I canbelieve that the way you guys
had thing in the Yukon, so hewas trying to thaw it out with
his breath.
wasn't working so he ditchedthat gun, gave it to my other
buddy, because my other buddyhad shot a woodland that August.
So, he's like my freezer's full.
I don't really need one.
So he gave him his 6.5Creedmoor.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
So with the gun being frozen I know guys that have
experienced that here in newbrunswick do you find sometimes
it finds too much oil?
The oil?
They say that yeah and we were.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
We had our rifles on our back the entire time exposed
yeah right.
So a lot of people tell you no,leave it in your front and
cover it up a little bit withyour coat, because you know if
you're following your buddy on askidoo all that snow is coming
up and hitting you and even yourown skidoo will push up snow
behind you yeah so they say keepit in front of you yeah, so I
didn't have an issue.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
But yeah, we did.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
We did hear maybe an oil issue, yeah, um, and we also
heard pee on it if it freezespee on it and that'll thaw it
out enough it would.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
Would you do it?

Speaker 2 (42:35):
I don't know.
I've heard, I guess, people Ithink that would for me it out
enough.
It would.
Would you do it?
I don't know.
I think that would.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
For me it'd have to be like a survival situation.
Like you know, pee on it so youcan get this caribou, so you
can survive.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, if it was ahunt of a lifetime, maybe, I
mean.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
I honestly think I would.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Yeah, I would in the right situation, wouldn't it be?
Just be a drop of a hat rightlike, oh, that it's not cycling
too.
Well, that's it, I'm peeing onit.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yeah, exactly yeah.
That's what, uh, one of thebuddies at work said.
He's like, yeah, pee on it,I've done it.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
He grew up in labrador okay, first nations
fall from there.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
He's like, yeah, pee on it that'll work, so I don't
know.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
I would I would do it um, but it had to be under the
right circumstances but, yeah, Imean, that makes sense, but
you'd have to.
But wouldn't that freeze backfaster?
I would think yeah, yeah, soyou'd have to.
You'd pee on it and then haveto shoot get your buddy pee on
it again quickly.
Yes, yeah, hey, you keepdrinking water, because if you
don't get, if we bust him onthis stock, you're gonna have to
pee it on again.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yeah yeah, so, uh yeah.
So he ditched that gun, gave itto my buddy that didn't really
need to shoot one yeah, so nowhe's got a 6.5 Creedmoor that
he's never shot, not comfortablewith.
Took a couple shots at thisbull missed.
A couple yeah, yeah missed andhe was far out, like I don't
know how far, but he wasthinking like maybe 350, 400
yards.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
All right.
Well, I had a guy in Florida onhere and he was talking.
He was calling the 6.5 Needmoor.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
Yeah, the 6.5 need more.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there you go,maybe.
Yeah, okay, yeah, so that wasthat herd takes off.
Um, so we hop on the sleds, uh,me and my buddy that uh were
after them, the other buddy thathad the frozen gun at this
point he's like I'm gonna staybehind, kind of watch the herd
see what they do yeah so we hopon the same sled because I've
got a four-stroke.
Buddy that was with me, he hada two-stroke and they're pretty
loud.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
Let's leave the two-stroke.
They're not that reliable.
You guys take two-strokes wayout in the middle of nowhere.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
Most of us have four-strokes now this guy's got
a two-stroke.
They're great for starting inthe cold, though, because they
get the pull start where thefour-strokes don't.
Yeah, where the four strokesdon't.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Yeah, yeah, okay, that's another story I can tell
you if we have time.
Okay, sure.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Anyway.
So we hop on my sled, and I wasnot nice to the sled at this
point, like I was.
I was hungry.
I was like Lee, hold on, we'regoing.
I ripped down this boulderfield just crashing rocks.
I told him to hold on.
I gave it juice.
He fell right off the back.
I grabbed him, put him back on,kept going.
Kept going and then, forwhatever reason, I ditched him.

(45:03):
I'm not sure if, at this point,if he was like, okay, like I'm
done.
I can't remember theconversation we had because my
adrenaline was so high.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
You ditched him, like I'm not bringing you.
Or you ditched him no, no, Iwas like okay, you stay with the
sled I'm going.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
And I started walking up the ridge a little bit,
found the herd and, uh, my bullkind of stopped for half a
second and I was like I'm takingthem and I think I was about
200, 250 yards out, dropped downon one knee, dropped them.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, dropped them One shot.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
I, I hit him, dropped it on one knee, shot and I I
looked up and I saw him do thisreally weird thing with his head
and then he took a couple ofsteps and I'm like I'm going to
hammer him again, shot him andhe fell like a bag of bricks.
And that, that was it that wasit Didn't even move, didn't kick
nothing down, antlers down.
I was like, yes, the curse isbroken yeah, yeah looked at my

(45:56):
buddy and my buddy just had hishands up like this, and and the
first thing I did, I ran up toit, opened up the legs and there
was a penis there.
I was like nice, nice, like,and I remember like looking at
him before I shot him.
Unmistakable bull, yeah, likehis mannerisms were different
than the cows.
He was much bigger, like hewasn't a huge bull by any means,

(46:18):
but he was way bigger than anycow that was next to him.
And so I was like that's a bull.
I didn't see a penis on himwhen I shot him, and that's the
only thing in my mind where Iwas like oh, it's 2025.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Now he can identify as whatever yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
I don't know how conservation would think about
that.
Yeah, yeah.
So when I pulled up the legsand saw a penis on there, I will
say this I've never been sohappy to see a penis in my life.
Yeah and yeah.
So that was great.
And then my buddy came up to meand I was like Lee, like the

(46:55):
herd is still kind of stayingaround, we can go after them
again.
We hopped on, tried to get alittle closer, but after hearing
the gunshot, and seeing thatthey're a bit spooky, they sure
yeah, they were no longercurious.
I think they they knew yeah yeah, so we uh gutted them, just
took the guts out and left themwhole bodied, threw them in the

(47:16):
back of the skimmer and got outof there.
This was like the skimmer.
Skimmer like a toboggan thatyou'd haul behind it.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
Are they big like wooden?

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Mine's like a rough plastic.
Okay, yeah, and it's not a goodone by any means, but I beat
the shit out of it.
But it's hauled two bison outof the woods and now a caribou
can't be all right.
I gotta ask what you're usingfor a sled then.
So I had originally a skidooexpedition 550 fan, two stroke.
Okay, and then I upgraded in2022 to a 2020 skidoo expedition

(47:50):
600, four stroke okay, you guysdon't have like those skidoo,
like the trapper edition I, Idon't know about the skidoo
brand, uh well, I mean a skandikwould, I think would be.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
I don't know my slides real well that would, but
they're they're much heavierthan the expedition okay, the
expedition's kind of a crossoverbetween like trail and summit.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Like I could take mine up into the summit and do
okay all right skandik, theshocks in the front are much
different, the tracks wider, soyou're not going to do great in
high country, but they can.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Deep powder what you got, it can pull.
Oh yeah, it's a good work likeyeah like I said, two bison now
yeah, and a caribou and it didvery well, it's a work I love
that sled.
Yeah, I'd buy another onetomorrow okay it's and it's sips
fuel yeah, sips fuel like Ithink I'm getting.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Yeah, I think I'm getting close to 300 kilometers
on a tank.
Wow I haven't really tested it,but my buddy and I skidooed to
work a few weeks ago.
Yeah, it's 73 kilometers oneway.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
To work, to work.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah, oh, and we did that we left at 4.30 in the
morning and I made it there andback no problem.
I think I lost two or threebars and there's 10 bars on my
fuel gauge.
So I would, I would say likeonce you get below a half tank,
you start losing the bars muchfaster.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
But I would be safe to say I think I would get close
to 300 kilometers to a tank.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
That's really good yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
Which my uh two stroke.
I was getting like a hundred110 and they're 50 liter tanks.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Yeah, jeez.
That's something yeah, um, yeah.
So you guys got it.
You, you put it on the skimmer.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
Yeah, put it on the skimmer and got out of there and
this was at like 3, 48 pm andyou could see the moon and it's
like getting dark yeah, and thisis when we started to gut it.
Yeah, and we're like, okay,boys, like we gotta we work.
So we all three of us gutted itand, uh, put the whole body in
my skimmer and just got out ofthere and it took us about an

(49:45):
hour and a half to get back tothe truck and we already
couldn't see our trail from from.
Oh yeah, a couple hours ago,like the wind had just blown
over it.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
That's what I figured .
The wind would be hard to see,even tracks as well, yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
I had no idea where we were going, so I'm happy that
my other buddy did.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Buddy that was in the front, uh led for about 20
kilometers.
He got us going the rightdirection up until about five
kilometers before the truck wewent the wrong way.
And then buddy that was behindme I don't know what landmark he
picked up, but he's like we'regoing the wrong way.
He's like we're going northwest.
Right now we need to be goingthe other way and if he if he

(50:24):
wouldn't have said that like Iwas like oh, we're going the
right way yeah but, uh, heturned us around and I I
actually looked at the gps andI'm like, oh, you're right, like
we were going the wrong way andwe were getting cold.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Yeah, oh, I imagine.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Yeah, I wear bunny boots.
I don't know if you've everheard of them.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
I have not.
Could you explain that?

Speaker 2 (50:41):
So bunny boots Alaskan gear company bought them
out now but they're like 70sand 80s winter boots, are like
black or white and they're justlike.
They look like rubber andthey're amazing boots and I had
them on and my feet were coldand they're rated for like minus
70.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
And they're cold.
Do you wear much fur?
Because I mean people weretrying to get all these other
products caught and all thatWool and actual real fur it's.
You can't beat it.
You really can't beat it.
It's so warm.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
Yeah, I really can't beat it it's so warm and yeah, I
, I don't wear too much fur.
I wear an under armor thermallayer, yep, underneath, and then
I'll wear um wearing underneaththat big bills okay yeah, I
wear those and then I'll.
Sometimes I won't even wearanything over the the big bills
I did on this trip I wore like awindbreaker snow pant yeah, and

(51:36):
then I wear.
So I got my thermal up top andthen I got a wool sweater and
then a carhartt coat okay, yeah,I like the carhartt shout out
to carhartt.
Yeah, my buddy just gave me anice parka though and I'll start
wearing.
That's a cabela's parka.
Yeah, longer that goes downokay so really nice on the
skidoo.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Yeah, with the wind and all that, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Yeah, um, yeah.
So it was a very cold trip onthe way back.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
You couldn't see shit .
You couldn't see anything likemy buddy that was in front of me
.
I couldn't see his lights onthe skidoo.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Really.
No, no, couldn't see the wind,the wind, yeah, 60 kilometer
winds yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Buddy behind me could barely see me.
Yeah, it was rough and then wegot out.
I can't remember what time wegot out, but it was like pitch
black and there was one truckleft at our truck and we're like
, oh man, like if somebody'sbehind us, that's not good.
Like we thought we'd be thelast ones out.
Yeah, there be the last ones out.
Yeah, there was another groupof two guys that were still out
there, so we took a picture oftheir license plate and like if,

(52:38):
if they didn't show up at thehotel at a certain time, we were
going to let the people at thehotel know like you might want
to get search and rescue reallybut we were in having a beer at
the restaurant.
They have a little restaurantthere they rolled in probably
two hours after us it lookedpretty cold they looked rough
and they're like oh, we're like.
We took a picture of yourlicense plate just to know we
got your back.
And they said it was rough.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Oh it was rough.
Did they get one?

Speaker 2 (53:02):
They did get two.
Oh, really Okay yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
Yeah, they had some success.
Yeah, wow, that's crazy, I joke.
I mean the cold, severetemperatures and stuff.
You got to be, uh, payingattention.
Yeah, you know the weather anddressing for it and being
prepared if you're stranded orsomething like that.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
I had a close call on that trip too.
Uh, after we were finishedgutting the caribou, I grabbed
my tag and I tagged it on theantlers yeah and on the tag
there you have to carve out themonth, the zone and the day that
you shot the caribou.
I was using one of thosereplaceable blades.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Not outdoor edge.
I like outdoor edge.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
Is it Avalon?

Speaker 2 (53:43):
I can't remember because it wasn't mine.
It was my buddy's that he'dgiven me.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
A lot of companies make those.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Yeah, I was pressing down and it broke and came back
and hit me right underneath myeye.
Really yeah, just rightunderneath the eye and I was
like man, if that was, you know,an inch up, that was going to
be right in my eyeball.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Yeah, yeah, really Wow.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
So that was scary.
Yeah, I guess, and I wasn'tpressing hard on the.
I was just kind of carving itout a little bit.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
I wonder what company that was.
Now I don't know.
Spread the word.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
Yeah, but I was like I don't think I'm ever going to
use one of those again, not forthat anyways.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
No.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
But yeah, like I wasn't wrenching down on it.
I think just kind of carving itout a little bit.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
The cold made it even more brittle yeah.
Wow, Still it should be tougherthan that you would think Wow,
so what were you seeing early,but the four stroke and two
stroke?

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Yeah, we do things, yeah, so um we got a little time
, you know.
Yeah, so me and my buddy, wewere bison hunting in 2021 or 22
.
I can't remember, but I had mytwo stroke five 50 fan and my
buddy had a 500 Polaris widetrack.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
So both of us had two strokes and, uh, we were out
bison hunting.
We were 90 kilometers in onthis trail.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
We were wall tenting on this trip and it was cold,
cool yeah yeah, it was cold, butuh, the two strokes are so damn
loud yes like we were gettingclose to the herd of bison
because we were finding likesteaming piles of shit, fresh
tracks.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
You know we ditched the sleds like we'd look on the
map and be like, okay, we'reabout two kilometers away from a
pothole lake, we'll ditch thesleds here, we'll snowshoe in,
we'd do that, and by the timewe'd be quiet.
You know those last twokilometers, but at the end of
the trip we figured they're herein the sleds from two
kilometers out and the way weknow.
That is on one of these lakesthat we ditched the sleds on.

(55:37):
We were hiking in and my buddywas in front of me and in our
peripheral, about 75 or 75 yardsaway from us, two, four strokes
went right by us and we didn'thear them.
We saw them really they soundedlike hair dryers going by yeah,
they were so quiet and in mymind what they were doing.

(55:58):
they saw us, they went around usand they went in on the trail,
which was kind of a kind of adick move a little bit, because
you know they should havestopped and been like.
You know what's your plan here.
Yeah 10 minutes after theypassed us, we heard two gunshots
.
You know we were on steamingpiles of shit.
Real sports know we were onsteaming piles.
It's not like real sportsman,no, like right.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
And you know we were on what we thought was a good
game trail for the, for the herd, and sure enough we heard
gunshots.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
Right it was we don't know if they got one, but like
we were on the right track, yeah.
So after that hunt I said to mybuddy I was like man, I'm
ditching, ditching the twostroke, like they were on four
strokes.
We didn't even hear them yeahlike they went right by us.
So then the next year I got myfour stroke and sure enough, I
came up over a hill and like ahundred yards away from me were

(56:43):
four bison laying down.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
They didn't even get up, so it is worth a hundred
percent.
Yes, yeah, I'm a four strokeguy now.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Yeah, I'm still scared about um the cold starts?
Yeah, because there's no pullcord on the four strokes I'm
still scared about that becauseI've driven my two stroke in
like minus 56 and like you canjust kind of pull on it slowly,
warm up the crank a little bitand then give her a good pull
and she's going and minus 56.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
You can't plug them in.
No, no.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
You can get like buddy heaters and whatnot,
battery packs, stuff like that,but when you're in the middle of
the bush you're not bringing agenerator with you.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
No no.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
So, yeah, that's something to think about, for
sure, I have started my fourstroke, though in minus 40, and
it did well.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
Really yeah, wow so.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
I think I'm a full-blown four-stroke guy now.
Yeah, I think what I'm going todo is, like every two, three
years I don't even care what thebattery life is I'm going to
put a new battery on.
Yeah, oh, yeah I think that'sthe kind of guy I'm going to be
she.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
I'm fine with that.
I'll drop the $175 on a battery.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
Wow, can you have a snowmobile much?
Can you boost sleds?
Yeah, you can.
Okay, no problem.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Uh, had to use bad not on mine because I I put a
new battery on mine last year,yeah, uh, but when I actually
got the sled it was secondhandfrom my father-in-law.
Uh, it was kind of a weakbattery when I first got it and
my wife and I were uhidooing nottoo far from our house and I

(58:18):
had to boost it like pretty muchevery time we stopped.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Oh really I gotta get .

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Yeah, this is my first experience with a
four-stroke too, so I was likeoh, no, we're not off to a good
start, but it just was thebattery, is that?

Speaker 1 (58:26):
yeah, okay, yeah yeah .

Speaker 2 (58:28):
So then the next year , after buying a four-stroke,
rode right up on four buys andthat didn't even get get up.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
They were laying down they didn't, they didn't notice
, they didn't even see him, likeI.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
They were on a little kind of in the tree line on a
little pothole lake and I cameup from one lake into the woods
up onto the other side of thelake and they were 100 yards
away didn't even hear me.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
It was worth it.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Yeah, 100, yeah, my buddy got one in in that herd.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
Yeah, yeah, that's yeah, yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, caleb, I can't thank youenough for coming on.
It's a great story.
I obviously plan on having youcome on again, because I know
you have more than just yourcaribou story.
It's been really interestinglearning about such a different
way and area of hunting.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
And it's good to be cultured.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Yeah, for sure, yeah, so all right.
Well, thanks, anytime.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
All right Perfect.