Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Surviving The Yukon: Tales Of Extreme Hunting And Adventure
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!
this is hunts on outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken meyer. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories-tos, you'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast. Yes, welcome indeed. Valued listeners At this podcast, we greatly appreciate those of you who listen to us every week and also those of you who listen to us when time allows.
Speaker 1:This podcast is growing and we find that word of mouth is the best way that it's done. If you enjoy the show in any way, please feel free to let people know to check us out anywhere you get podcasts. All right for all you big game hunters listening. What would you call a place that you can hunt two different types of bear, two different types of caribou, bison, moose, elk, sheep, mountain goat? Sounds like a dream land, right? Well, it's a place where dream hunts can come true and it's called the Yukon, known as the truly last frontier of Canada. This territory is made is up in the northwestern part of the country, in a place where there is more moose than people. This beautiful and rugged place offers some of the best big game hunting in the world. Our guest today on the podcast has been lucky enough to enjoy some of the best experiences that this land has to offer. Caleb Graham tells us about life in this unique place and the abundant hunting opportunities, with the story about a successful caribou hunt. This is an interesting one, stay tuned.
Speaker 1:Oh, and one last thing this podcast episode was filmed and will be on our YouTube page Hunts and Outfitting Podcast. Most of these aren't, because some are phone calls and some are hired depending on how many people are on, and I'm terrible at tech stuff, so the videos aren't always the best quality, but we like to film some when we can. You can follow us also on Facebook to stay up to date or even message us on there. It's just Hunts on Outfitting on Facebook. Thanks, enjoy, caleb. Thanks so much for coming on the podcast. We, you know, we've known each other a while working on a dairy farm while in high school and everything to support our hunting activities, among other things. And you're from New Brunswick, canada. Yeah, and you moved out to the Yukon for, I'm guessing, hunting opportunities, adventure and for work, yeah, but adventure as well, I'm sure For sure. Yeah, if you want to. Just, you know we'll get into that, we'll just, we're going to jump right into it. Yeah, about moving out and what it's like out there, I suppose.
Speaker 2:And who you are For the people who don't know me, caleb Graham, born and raised in Anagans Ridge, new Brunswick, moved out to the Yukon in 2016, mainly for work.
Speaker 1:It's been that long already. It's been that long.
Speaker 2:It'll be nine years in May.
Speaker 1:I didn't think it'd been that long I know.
Speaker 2:Pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was working for Armored Truck Company.
Speaker 1:Brinks here Right.
Speaker 2:And got laid off from full-time to part-time and there was an opportunity that arose in the Yukon, working in the jail there, yeah, and I had the corrections course for the Brunswick here so they hired me within like six days.
Speaker 1:Wow yeah, so that should have been a warning sign to you, like they really seem desperate for people.
Speaker 2:I thought it was a scam.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when I applied.
Speaker 2:Like they got right back to me. I wrote a test. I did an interview over the phone. The guy that interviewed me was actually from monkton okay, and then I saw like the starting wage 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 of an uh employment offer yeah until I got to white horse wow so I wasn't sure if I actually had a job but.
Speaker 1: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're working all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, either or yeah yeah, no, it's been great um, I never really did any big game hunting here in new brunswick yeah, just get a little closer to your problem here. Uh, never did any big game hunting really here I mean where you grew up.
Speaker 1:You were, uh, waterfowl yes, a lot of agriculture, field stuff. So I remember you and some other guys from sussex. You guys were big into, uh yeah, duck and goose hunting yeah, and everything big time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were.
Speaker 1:We were doing really well with the ducks and the geese yeah, so imagine I've never been to the yukon, but I imagine, uh, there's slightly less what you don't hear of many waterfowlers coming out of the Yukon.
Speaker 2:So yeah, coming from here, where I was huge into it, and moving out there, I've only been twice.
Speaker 1:Really yeah. Do they have much? Cause? There wouldn't be much for fields.
Speaker 2:and you're hunting the water, I'm guessing I haven't done any field hunting for waterfowl out there.
Speaker 1:Okay, uh, what we've?
Speaker 2:done is boat hunting. Yes, kind of park yourself on an island and call them in, yeah and uh. Even that that was kind of new to my friends out there, like they'd never had duck calls before. They would just kind of park themselves 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 them over and get them to land and they were like oh, this is neat.
Speaker 1:I'm like, this is what you boys.
Speaker 2:This guy's a wizard, so that was fun and I've only done that twice, but then these decoys?
Speaker 1:That's a luxury. No decoys out there.
Speaker 2:There wouldn't even be a spot in Whitehorse to buy a decoy. I don't think.
Speaker 1:Really no. Wow, I've got one hunting store there and I've never seen a dec you in the cities anywhere. No, closest cabela's would be 10 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: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:Okay, yeah, they do a beer festival there every year.
Speaker 2:We go every year. It's the most, probably the most beautiful place I've ever been yeah, I've heard, I've seen pictures and it's three hours from from our house and that's really neat if we were living in whitehorse and we live an hour out of town. There's skagway alaska, which is like 180 kilometers away, which is very close.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:It's more of like a cruise ship town. You kind of go in there's only. I might be wrong, but I think about 300 people that live there in the winter.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then in the summers there's, you know, cruise ships coming in every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's where the population goes up. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: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 deer bear hunting while you were living. Oh no, I was. I'd been on maybe two deer hunts when I was living in at home here. Yeah, and that was like grabbing my dad's gun and hiking up harper settlement road and sitting in the field right, that was I never baited for anything, just never really got into it.
Speaker 1:No, I'm not a sit still kind of guy and you're.
Speaker 2:I'm not either.
Speaker 1:Working with you at a dairy farm? You're not either. I know that. So deer hunting that that's how deer 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 got into it Like if I were to move home tomorrow, I'd be deer hunting now. You know what I?
Speaker 2:mean Like, just cause I know a little bit more about it and whatnot, but uh yeah, I'd be also in the waterfowl game again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, yeah and it's, it's, it's easy to get into around here, just with the abundance of, you know, ducks and geese. So you moved up there and then I mean what? What are the big game species that you guys do have there in the Yukon, Because you definitely have more than we have here in this province, yeah, so I can tell you from my experience.
Speaker 2:I buy about $140 worth of tags a year and that gives me sheep, goat, spring bear and fall bear, so two tags um and fall bear. Yeah, so two tags, and then bison, caribou, moose and an elk tag.
Speaker 1:A hundred and forty dollars.
Speaker 2:That'll get you all that, and that includes your lottery hunts. You pay a little bit more for a lottery hunt.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:So all those hunts I just listed off, they range from five dollars per tag to fifteen dollars per tag.
Speaker 1:And we're, what are we here? Sixt from $5 per tag to $15 per tag. And we're what are we here?
Speaker 2:$65 for one deer license here? Yeah, because you got to buy a duck stamp, or yeah, well, yeah, you have to buy. It's all separate.
Speaker 1:And then you're big, you know. So just a deer tag loan, I think it's around that, around $65. Yeah, you guys, you're getting all that, I'm getting all that.
Speaker 2:And that's including my lottery hunt. So each species I just listed off, except for bear and bison, you can apply for a lottery hunt, which is there are certain zones where there's an abundance of those species and your chances of getting one are much higher.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah, so are the lottery hunts here? Cause we had the lottery for the moose and uh it, people can go 18 years without getting their tag. Yeah, so what there with the lottery animals? Is it tougher? Is it about that same toughness? I've been there for nine years.
Speaker 2:I had to wait my first year. You have to be a resident for a year in the Yukon before you can hunt any big game species. Okay, you can be six months and then you can start hunting small games, so like rabbits, grouse ptarmigan, stuff like that.
Speaker 1:They have grouse and ptarmigan. Yes, oh, really Okay.
Speaker 2:The ptarmigan are mainly up north or higher up in the alpine.
Speaker 1:Similar bird, though correct.
Speaker 2:Same species, I believe just kind of a different like same breed, different species.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And the ptarmigan are in higher elevation. So if you're on the top of a mountain. You're going to see it.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's neat.
Speaker 2:They're kind of in the trees and whatnot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Above tree line, I guess, is where you'll see the term.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so there's quite a few species to uh to hunt there, and then once you're a resident, it's uh, it's not that expensive.
Speaker 2:It's very cheap.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I mean, don't get me wrong you can pay for the hunts too, like you can do fly in hunts and you're paying big money unless you know somebody with a plane?
Speaker 1:which.
Speaker 2:I've. I've done one and I knew a buddy, so it didn't cost it didn't cost me too much money, but it's pretty neat, I suppose.
Speaker 1: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 own planes Fly planes, yeah yeah, my wife included. Oh, really yeah.
Speaker 2:And uh, then I've, you know, a couple of my coworkers. They've got, they've got their license. Uh, I know two of my friends are full blown pilots with their own planes.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, yeah. So, like I've said that it's yeah, the odds are a lot greater of knowing somebody with it's just more a normal way of life out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the rule is there is you can go scouting, but I believe it's you can't hunt for 24 hours after you've been in the air.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I remember when we flew in I think that's most places, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So when we flew in for a sheep hunt, we were in little two-seater, super cub yeah on floats and my buddy when we were getting close to the mountain range that we wanted to land on. He's like caleb close your eyes, don't look. Don't look, because we were planning on hunting the next morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah uh, yeah, but we ended up not hunting that next morning because of weather anyways, but he's like I don't don't look, don't look at anything yeah, no, it's funny. Well, we had a guy on on the other week from New that went on a moose hunt in Newfoundland. Oh cool. Yeah, they had to wait right Because of that. Yeah, so I think that's most areas. Just keeps it sporting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So with you guys getting that many tags, is it looked upon differently in the Yukon, where you're not hunting like we would here for a trophy? I mean, people say they're hunting for meat. Some are, most aren't. They're hunting. If you want meat, you could save a lot of money and just go buy meat from the store. You know people here.
Speaker 2: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 the household. In my personal opinion I could be wrong. My views on the Yukon are people like locals yeah, from what I've gathered, they've really. They really look down at trophy hunting from the people that I know, Anyways you're mainly hunting 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 freezer.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, so is that why you think the prices are a lot better on buying the tags?
Speaker 2:Because the government knows that too, and it's just always been like that and there's just such an abundance Like every species is doing so well in the Yukon. And if they're not, then they'll shut down a zone.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, which is great. That's great to hear, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of trophy hunting in the yukon, but mainly from outfitters and you know people coming in from the states and whatnot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they don't frown upon that yeah, uh, I'm just talking about my friend group, like there's nobody in my friend group that's looking like oh, I'm not going to shoot that one because the rack's not great.
Speaker 1:Like we're we're there for you're going to fill your freezer. Yeah, yeah, but, yeah, but I mean yeah, even though that's good, and but with the trophy hunters coming in, that's still good too. You know they're, they're hunting respectfully. It's money coming in and you know and there's, there are animals that most of the time should be harvested regardless, and all that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, uh, what we were talking earlier and you're saying, your favorite big game species to hunt is, it is the caribou I think, so it's a.
Speaker 2:It's a. If not, it would be a tie between bison and caribou but for whatever reason, ever since I moved there, uh, a caribou hunt has just been magical to me when, you think of those areas, that tundra, in all these places I mean a caribou hunt.
Speaker 1:You look at the caribou as a species of that's what the animal that's that you think of when you think of that area, right, none of the Yukon stuff, you know, that's right. The caribou, yeah, great big double shovel, yeah, kind of I think, for me too there's sentimental value.
Speaker 2:I drove from Whitehorse to La Loche, saskatchewan, to see my brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And when I got there we drove like 130 kilometers north into his trap line that he was running for the school.
Speaker 1:Oh cool.
Speaker 2:And his buddy had a cabin out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And as I got there, we skidooed, I think, like maybe 20 kilometers into this cabin.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, uh, as we were getting there, he had a caribou on the kitchen table skinning it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And, uh, you know, cut some tenderloin, a little bit of lemon, pepper and butter and had that. And that was my first time having caribou and I was like wow. It was just unreal Special moment with my brother too, and so ever since then I've been like man I want to get some more caribou.
Speaker 1:It's just delicious meat.
Speaker 2:And I'm just fascinated by them. I love watching them.
Speaker 1: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 trapping this year, so I'm curious about your. So your brother was running a trap line for the school, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So my brother was in this Northern Saskatchewan community named Lelosh, and in the winter I'd only been there one time. But in the winter there's an ice road that they open up from.
Speaker 1:Fort McMurray. Okay, in Alberta In.
Speaker 2:Alberta, yep. So you can go to Fort McMurray and 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 a lake. I believe there was a lake.
Speaker 1: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 was very sketchy it was a river across I mean, I don't know what it's been there, but I you know global climate change, it is real, um, it changes every year. But uh, it's been a lot warmer here. A lot warmer because, like trapping the beaver on the ice this year doing that, and one week can go out, and it's fine. The next week go out and you're no, you turn around real quick. So imagine, out there it's, it's changing.
Speaker 2: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 is Northern Yukon, there's an ice bridge, that people live uh across the river. So there's no bridge from Dawson city to West Dawson.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they're always build an ice bridge in the winter. And there'd been one winter that I've been there, that they they couldn't build it. Yeah, so they would just take their skidoos and find like a frozen patch and cross that, yeah, every day, because that's their community. Yeah, right, so there is changes, but I mean it's still very cold yeah, white horse yeah, pretty much all the time like this year my wood pile is not looking great oh, really now now it's been consistently over minus 20 every night, basically.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then we've had a few like a week of minus 37. Okay, Week of minus 30.
Speaker 1:Already this year.
Speaker 2:Already this year.
Speaker 1:And we just started January. Wow, yeah, so when?
Speaker 2:I the day I got to Moncton to fly home this time it was like minus 34 in Whitehorse.
Speaker 1:Okay, of course, as soon as I leave. Yeah, yeah, of course as soon as I leave. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:but we've also had a thaw already, which is not normal, like early december, it was 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, and then it went to plus one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, okay we've had similar, not quite that cool. We were at like minus 20 and it went up to plus eight oh yeah sort of thing. So yeah, that's uh with the trap line. So your brother's running one for yeah.
Speaker 2:So him and his buddy started this outdoor school program where they did a week in class and then a week out on the trap line with these kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:A whole week they'd spent out in the bush.
Speaker 1:So how long would the trap line be? Roughly, I want to say it was a 35 kilometer loop. All right, yeah, that's, that's enough to.
Speaker 2:It was a big trap line and I I took my skidoo from white horse on the back of my truck all the way to this trap line and that's what we did for a few days as we checked the traps it was very neat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what, uh? What kind of animals you guys get? So links up there, links uh snakes, wolves, wolverine, martens, fishers beavers.
Speaker 2:Those are what I know, oh fox.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If my brother were here, he'd be able to tell you a lot more.
Speaker 1:Is that the Arctic fox, or?
Speaker 2:I don't know if there's Arctic fox where he was at.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I do have a pelt that he gave me and it's got like it's a black and red kind of color. It's really pretty fox but uh, coyotes, they trapped as well.
Speaker 1:They do have coyotes, they do. Yeah, I didn't know what the wolves. I know the wolves would definitely uh target them if they're in their area.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was a lot of wolves in his community was there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, huh, uh, the wolverine. That's neat that you know fur prices. I mean, anyone that traps now is doing it strictly for fun, yeah, for a hobby, unless it's nuisance. But you know fur price today, except for, I mean, wolverines still help their value decently. Uh, they're a really unique animal, incredibly strong. Did you see any wild ones, you guys?
Speaker 2:I have seen two in my life up in the uconn what are they? They're a funny, crazy critters and, uh, I've never been close to one, but I've kind of been like glassing on a mountaintop and spotted one and they go into their dens.
Speaker 1:They'll like they do have dens. Yeah, I've.
Speaker 2:I've found a lot of dens, but I've only seen two uh, actual live Wolverines since.
Speaker 1:I've been up there.
Speaker 2:They're really cool to watch yeah my buddy had a kind of a crazy encounter with one. It was like kind of coming after him a little bit, he was like trying to get it.
Speaker 1:He didn't want to shoot it yeah but yeah because they're nasty, they can be aggressive. Yeah, very well. I've seen videos and people have probably heard this about them chasing grizzly bear off of the kill. Oh, yeah and I've seen one take on. There's like three wolves coming at it and the thing was it was holding its own.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, they'll, they'll take down a full bull caribou, they'll, they'll take one down, they will on their, on their own really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a video on youtube of one in russia I think taking down a full-size bull caribou I thought they just like took other people's kills. But it this, it was a perfectly healthy male caribou and the thing it went at it, yeah, wow that's great, because how heavy would it be 50?
Speaker 2:Oh geez, I think like 50 pounds max Max. Yeah, I would think yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 1: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 Canada basically. I think it was back in like the 1800 of the wealthiest people in Canada was a beaver trapper and salesman. Yeah, you know, it's amazing how that's changed so much, but it's an important way of life. Uh, that helped build Canada and something that still needs to be done, regardless of low fur prices, just management you know so a friend of mine, actually um four hours South of Whitehorse.
Speaker 2:Watson Lake is the community. He has a I think it's a 75 kilometer trap line, oh wow, and he spends his whole winters there with his girlfriend. Oh, that's cool. And they trap everything, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, it's so much. Uh, it's a lot of fun, it's a lot of work. Yeah, it's time consuming, you know it is, but I mean any anything to be outdoors and doing something else outdoors, absolutely, um so yeah, so let me.
Speaker 2:You started hunting caribou recently right yeah, so I've been on a lot of caribou hunts and. I've only been on one successful caribou hunt.
Speaker 1:So is it? Is it tough? I mean it is it is.
Speaker 2:I think our hunting group is cursed when it comes to caribou for some reason.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's hunting, you know.
Speaker 2:I've been hunting them since 2018.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And we've come close and just the way. Like my main hunting group, we have never got a caribou together until this November the last November now, I guess and the way it works out is, we'll all go out together, we'll get close something to happen, we won't get one, and then you know, they'll go with another hunting group and they'll get one.
Speaker 1:Really yeah. So if you could just give us a little background on cause we were talking before the podcast. There's two types of caribou there in the Yukon and they live in separate areas and all that, but they can interbreed they can interbreed.
Speaker 2:So we have woodland caribou, which you typically find on your mountaintops, treed areas, whatnot.
Speaker 1:And then we also. That's the name woodland Yep.
Speaker 2:And then we have barren ground.
Speaker 1:Which are on which?
Speaker 2:are on the tundra.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And the two barren ground, or I think there's more than two, but the two that I know of, uh the herds, there's one, uh, it's called the porcupine caribou herd.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And they migrate from Alaska. They, they calve in. Alaska, and then every few years 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:So I mean, uh, we had a podcast earlier this year talking about caribou and you saying that males and females have antlers yes, correct, so how?
Speaker 2:So for me.
Speaker 1:You're looking for nuts, I'm looking for a penis.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's hard.
Speaker 1:Are you guys actually glassing for that? Oh yeah, you are. Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2:So on this caribou hunt in November we drove up the Dempster Highway. It's called, and it's a highway that starts just a little bit before Dawson City, which is northern Yukon. It's about six hours north of Whitehorse, so you drive six hours north. Start of the highway is just before Dawson City and it goes all the way up to Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories and it's-.
Speaker 1:You said that. Well, yeah, oh, thank you, you heard it a, I've been working on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's so the furthest I've ever been is where we just were and we were just on the fort mcpherson northwest territories border okay and it is just shy of 500 kilometers up the highway, I believe wow, so it's quite yeah, and this is all north from whitehorse. So you're, it's all tundra up there so don't hurt yourself.
Speaker 1:Basically, yeah away, because you're away from a hospital. Yeah, you are.
Speaker 2:And there's nothing on that highway. There's one little motel for the road workers, and that's it. Is it kind of cool there? It's neat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I always like those really remote places. I've driven across Canada and stuff 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's just kind of, uh, it's very cool, it's called Eagle Plains hotel and it opened up in like 1976 or something like that and basically the only people who will find there are, especially in the winter, is the road workers.
Speaker 2: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 barren ground.
Speaker 1:And then, so you're saying so, they will interbreed.
Speaker 2:Yes, so there is. On the Dempster Highway there is a herd called the Heart River Herd and their woodland and they are typically found like beginning of the highway, like a 70 kilometer mark all the way up. I've heard of like 300 kilometers up, yeah, and there's like the blackstone river it's called. They'll hang around that area.
Speaker 2:So if the porcupine herd, which is the barren ground, if they come down far enough, they will interbreed with this woodland caribou herd and if that happens they shut down that hunt because they they don't want you to shoot the heart river herd.
Speaker 1:So are they. I mean, what's the conservation? I guess, like, out there are they, are they monitoring it pretty good? Like I'd say they do a very good job. Yeah, so the Well, the Heart River.
Speaker 2:Herd. They're woodland, which means you can hunt them from August 1st until October 31st.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And this porcupine herd hunt starts November 1st. Okay, and goes until well whenever they leave, basically.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think you can't hunt them after March 31st. I could be wrong on that, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is.
Speaker 1:But if they do come down that far and they they mix with the heart river. They don't want any chance that you shoot a woodland character. That's good to hear. That's monitored so well, you know, for for the conservation that's good. But uh, that's interesting that they do interbreed, because you hear a lot of species like we're talking. I don't think mule deer and white tail deer do I've never heard.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure there's like a scent thing that they don't like on each other with the mule and the whitetail. But yeah, with the barren ground and woodland they'll.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. So, like I said, when you're hunting for the male, so you're looking for their dink yes, you really are.
Speaker 2: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 double shovels.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yep, but we were fortunate on this hunt. We found a herd of about 200 and there was like you could look up end of the herd and be like bull, bull, bull because they were laying down and their, their racks were just.
Speaker 1:I'm guessing too. They probably have bigger necks, and stuff.
Speaker 2:There's certain ways to do it, but this time of year the bulls are dropped like they're dropping their antlers.
Speaker 1:Right, you know what I mean so you can't like the. The bulls will be unmistakably way bigger, but then there will be cows that also have huge antlers I didn't know the cows would have double shovels and for anyone listening to this wondering what we're talking about, could you describe what a double shovel is?
Speaker 2:so a double shovel, uh, comes out on the front tines on the rack, and then comes right over the bridge of their nose and it looks like a paddle, like literally two spades, basically like this, and they use that to dig and paw oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 1:That's what they use, that's what they're for. Oh, like a shovel exactly I did I, uh, I did not honestly. I just knew that, like a double shovel, would that be considered a trophy, basically?
Speaker 2:my bowl that I just shot. It was a double shovel and to me. I was, was like nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I was pretty pumped about that, but I was thinking so I did not know that they used them to dig though they used them to dig.
Speaker 2: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 a bull, because it has two shovels, because I've, I've heard, the horror stories.
Speaker 1:What are they digging for?
Speaker 2:Lichen, they'll uh through the snow, they're digging through the snow, the snow yeah.
Speaker 1:That's really cool. I didn't know that. I just knew of double shovels. I thought that was considered like a trophy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Uh, that's neat. First I had a monster that I was looking at. Like he was a cranker and he was not giving me a shot at all. He was trotting. He'd stop for not even half a second trot. Go behind the cows and calves. Like he's big for a reason.
Speaker 1:He's smart. Well, I mean, I guess we'll back up a little bit on the hunt. So you get your tags, you're going out on the hunt. You get your tags, you're going out on the hunt. You had an idea of where the herd was at.
Speaker 2:Yes, so with this herd there's 250,000 in the porcupine caribou herd.
Speaker 1:They're all at once. No, so in the whole herd. In the whole herd, but they're not together.
Speaker 2:Most of them. Yeah, you'll find a pocket of 200, pocket of 15.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I've heard of people you know seeing thousands at once.
Speaker 1:I haven't gotten to see that yet.
Speaker 2:I'm hoping to see it someday, uh, but yeah, with this herd. Um, they come down from alaska and uh, there is, I want to say, like 35 gps callers that they put on them for conservation reasons.
Speaker 1:That's great to hear, and for the hunt.
Speaker 2:They allow you to moderate it to a certain degree so that you know if they come into the Yukon, if they come into the Yukon border you know what I mean. So cause, like I said, they'll come for a few years and then you won't see them for four years. So if you keep a track on, on the GPS that you'll see them cross into the Yukon. You're like nice, we can go after them now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:By no means do you know where they're at, but you know they're in the website that you can, yeah. Okay, yeah, I think it's called that for wolves too.
Speaker 1:Maybe you can track them. I know they have that for sharks. Um in the Bay of Fundy you can see where the sharks. So same same idea.
Speaker 2:Same idea. By no means would you be able to look it up and be like okay, I know where we're going to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But you just know that you're legal. They're in the Yukon, perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2: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's just random, yeah, wow. Like they're here this year. Chances are they might be back next year and then you might not see him for a few years.
Speaker 1:That's really cool. It's very neat and it's very cool that we get to hunt them. It's interesting, very cool.
Speaker 2:So, uh, yeah, uh, me and my two buddies, we hopped in the truck. We drove 13 hours North to this uh Eagle Plains hotel.
Speaker 1:this uh, eagle plains.
Speaker 2: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:yeah, I think there's 15 yeah, yeah, there's, there's definitely under 20 yeah, yeah, that's, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's tiny, and uh, yeah, we were room 14 and we were at the end of the hall yeah, yeah, unless so yeah unless there was another wing I'm unaware of, but it's kind of like the Shining.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah Really, but it's really cool, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And anyways, yeah. So we hopped on the sleds. We drove about another 95 kilometers north, past the Arctic Circle. On the sleds no, in the trucks Okay, yeah, past the arctic on the sleds no, on the in the trucks. Okay, yeah, hopped on the sleds. And then we headed about 30 ish kilometers northwest of where we parked the truck and we just started getting on top of mountain ranges and looking. We didn't see anything the first day. Not a track, all wolf tracks.
Speaker 2:That was it yeah, but in our minds we're like okay, well, whether it's wolves, they're following the herd yeah, obviously right is you guys can hunt wolves there. You can shoot seven a year.
Speaker 1:Is there an issue there with them? I'm not a wolf fan myself personally, but Um, I wouldn't say there's an issue.
Speaker 2:Uh, there has been years where a conservation officers were asking hunters like if you see a wolf, maybe consider shooting it, because they were taking out a lot of moose calves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and a lot of elk calves, yep.
Speaker 2:And, like I was telling you earlier, there's only like 500 elk in the territory.
Speaker 1:I mean the wolves could put a beating on them, because you see, wolves, they killed two, I know they killed. They killed for sport as well. They really do they just they're killing machines. Yeah, really.
Speaker 2:That's a lot, yeah, that's a lot, that's a lot, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, uh, what? So? On this one, you guys are outclassing all that. I mean, what are you bringing for gear? What are you using for for rifle? What do you guys, you know spotting scopes? I'm guessing, spotting?
Speaker 2:scopes, uh good optics, uh good binos. Uh, you have my, my inReach for the 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 get lost out there cause there's nobody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true. What do you guys, what are you guys shooting?
Speaker 2:I was using my great uncle's 300 Savage.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, which is good, caribou gun yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my buddy was using a 6.5 Creedmoor.
Speaker 1:And that's that's good for caribou. I mean, how they're not a whitetail deer, they're not a moose? Um, how heavy are they roughly?
Speaker 2:Live weight. They can get big. Yeah, they can get big.
Speaker 1:I'm going to take a guess. Uh, I've never do they get a rant.
Speaker 2:Live weight 500 I would say the woodland for sure. Yeah, my buddy got a cranker woodland and yeah like looking at photos. You're like man that almost looks like a small moose oh really, yeah, they're big my bowl I got was not a cranker by any means. Yeah, I got 184 pounds of meat that's a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was happy with that, yeah like he was unmistakably a bowl, like I was looking at him like it's a bowl, uh, but he was not the herd bull, like there was some boys that made him look really, yeah, so that of of meat, because, I mean, what are you getting with your typical white tail, 70, 80 of actual meat, give or give or take, if that, yeah, you know, so that's, that's a big animal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it was. And uh, so I believe one of my buddies after after I dropped my caribou I don't think one of my buddies had ever seen a barren ground caribou before and he told me when he came up to the bowl he said it was about 30% smaller than any woodland he'd seen.
Speaker 1:Really yeah, so they get pretty big, yeah, so they get pretty big, yeah. So what is the size difference between the barren and the woodland?
Speaker 2:Like body-wise, like my buddy said. He said about 30% smaller, but the racks will be huge on the barren ground too. On the barren, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Are they quite like if you had one of each lined up side by side. Both say big bulls, barren woodland. Could you be like all right, that's a woodland, that's a barren.
Speaker 2:I would say yes, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:All right. What are the more distinguishable features on them to tell them apart?
Speaker 2:From what I've seen in my experience, the barren ground are much closer to the ground where the woodlands will be much longer and much taller.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. Yeah, I was curious about that. Yeah, um, all right, so sorry to 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:Yep, it's minus 30. It's cold 60 kilometer winds.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it was rugged.
Speaker 2:Uh yeah, we headed out at sunlight, which was like 1130 AM up there, and uh, went in about 30 kilometers hiking to top of ridges, ditching the sleds, glassing. Like I said first day, we were just seeing wolf tracks. Didn't see any other hunters out there. We'd seen some trucks parked where we, where we parked our truck, but we didn't bump any other hunters.
Speaker 1:Did you see any wolves, or Just tracks? Okay?
Speaker 2:And then at the end of the day, when we get back to the truck, First Nations fella from Fort McPherson, NWT, came up to me while we were loading up the sleds and he's like oh, we saw you boys down on the mountain and there was wolves that were following you. Like they didn't see the wolves following us but he said they were. Their tracks were on top of your tracks Cause they started going after the wolves.
Speaker 1:Really, is that, is that common?
Speaker 2: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:Okay, they will. Will they come when you're in any danger?
Speaker 2:No, no, I mean, I wouldn't be excited.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't do it at night or anything. Yeah, like I wouldn't, I wouldn't be excited to see, but in broad daylight, like you're probably safe, I would think so. Yeah, I could be wrong, but I've seen in areas where they've had wolves, more wolves, where they have elk, the elk, you know, the bugle and stuff. They've gone silent because the wolves listen for that and that's how they track them down.
Speaker 2:Grizzlies will go for a rifle sound as well.
Speaker 1:They will.
Speaker 2: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 can be, but uh yeah, so day or sorry, I was saying about that, fort McPherson fella. Yeah, he said, uh, that the wolves tracks were on top of our tracks, but they ended up getting five caribou that day.
Speaker 2:And in a day he was yeah, in the day, 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 even see one. We're working on one and he's like well, you guys were in the right area. And he said they saw a bunch but we didn't see anything.
Speaker 2:No tracks. Did you hear their shots? Nope, oh, because we were like man, we didn't see anything. Yesterday, we were hiking the top of this mountain and looking in the wrong direction, happened to look in the right one and we saw, from what we could think was around 11 caribou on the top of this mountain.
Speaker 1:Okay, would that be an average herd size, give or take?
Speaker 2:I would say for the porcupine caribou herd. No, I would say you, you usually see a lot more than that okay yeah uh, but we're like, who cares?
Speaker 2:we're gonna go and we're we're gonna go where the caribou are yeah, so hopped on the sleds, started following some tracks, kind of got up on the top of this ridge and we saw four that were probably 500 yards away. They saw us. So we kind of got up on the top of this ridge and we saw four that were probably 500 yards away. 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're very curious animals too.
Speaker 2:So we kind of put our hands up like that and they came within a couple hundred yards.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's what I want to ask too not to keep interrupting the story, but this so I get more of it. So what is the behavior Like? Are they spooky? Like a white tail deer?
Speaker 2:They're very curious.
Speaker 1:They are.
Speaker 2:Just think of the term. Curious caribou they're very curious. But I mean, the big bulls are super smart, they're not curious.
Speaker 1:They will send the cows cows to go look. Or the smaller bulls yeah, they don't get big by being dumb. Uh, can, can you call them like you 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 that curious, they're spooky, they're gone. Moose, you're calling in elk. You're kind of calling in. Yeah, they have elk, have great eyesight and smell and stuff. So, caribou, I mean what caribou? What are they like?
Speaker 2:you're sneaking, okay, yeah, you're sneaking, you're tracking um, especially with bulls, right, um, but yeah, we, we put our hands up like this, like antlers they came they came within a couple hundred yards of us, but they were unmistakably cows and calves yeah. So we're kind of like a little bummed out about that. Um cool experience cool experience, yeah so then another sled came up behind them and kind of they brushed them a little closer to us and we're like, oh, like that sled came out of nowhere yeah and then it kind of went up the mountain and disappeared and we saw tracks that went up the right side of the mountain and we're like, okay, well I'm, we're gonna go where the tracks are.
Speaker 2:so we hopped back on the sleds and we got halfway up the mountain and started seeing beds. And we were seeing a lot of beds yeah, like hundreds.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Okay, right on. But we didn't see any sled tracks, so the sled must've went the other way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Which we were happy about. Sure enough, we get to the top of this mountain. My buddy hops off and looks down a valley, looks at me, gives me the double thumbs up. I'm like right on. So I start walking towards him and he's like there are some crankers and I was like sweet and you could see this with the naked eye yeah we were probably 500 yards away from them okay, and they were laying down and there was like six or seven bulls that their.
Speaker 2:Their uh racks were just like to the sky and you could tell you're looking at them.
Speaker 1:It is undeniable like that's seven bulls that their their racks were just like to the sky and you could tell you're looking at them, as is undeniable, like that's a bull. That's a bull, yeah.
Speaker 2:And there was about 200 in this herd. And we're like like there's bulls in this herd, Cause you could very well show up to a herd this size and it'd be all cows and calves 200. And there'd be no bull Cause it bull, because it's after the rut and there'd be no bulls like a lot of the bulls will stick together this time. Bachelor groups, yeah, okay, so it's like it's like, uh, white-tailed deer in the.
Speaker 1: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: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 down this boulder field to get close and, uh, my buddy had a monster in his sights and he was comfortable with the range, went to pull the trigger and the gun was frozen completely I, I can believe that the way you guys had thing in the Yukon, so he was trying to thaw it out with his breath.
Speaker 2:wasn't working so he ditched that gun, gave it to my other buddy, because my other buddy had shot a woodland that August. So, he's like my freezer's full. I don't really need one. So he gave him his 6.5 Creedmoor.
Speaker 1:So with the gun being frozen I know guys that have experienced that here in new brunswick do you find sometimes it finds too much oil? The oil? They say that yeah and we were.
Speaker 2: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 with your coat, because you know if you're following your buddy on a skidoo all that snow is coming up and hitting you and even your own skidoo will push up snow behind you yeah so they say keep it in front of you yeah, so I didn't have an issue.
Speaker 1:But yeah, we did.
Speaker 2:We did hear maybe an oil issue, yeah, um, and we also heard pee on it if it freezes pee on it and that'll thaw it out enough it would.
Speaker 1:Would you do it?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I've heard, I guess, people I think that would for me it out enough. It would. Would you do it? I don't know. I think that would.
Speaker 1:For me it'd have to be like a survival situation. Like you know, pee on it so you can get this caribou, so you can survive. Yeah, yeah, I mean, if it was a hunt of a lifetime, maybe, I mean.
Speaker 2:I honestly think I would.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would in the right situation, wouldn't it be? Just be a drop of a hat right like, oh, that it's not cycling too. Well, that's it, I'm peeing on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly yeah. That's what, uh, one of the buddies at work said. He's like, yeah, pee on it, I've done it.
Speaker 1:He grew up in labrador okay, first nations fall from there.
Speaker 2:He's like, yeah, pee on it that'll work, so I don't know.
Speaker 1:I would I would do it um, but it had to be under the right circumstances but, yeah, I mean, that makes sense, but you'd have to. But wouldn't that freeze back faster? I would think yeah, yeah, so you'd have to. You'd pee on it and then have to shoot get your buddy pee on it again quickly. Yes, yeah, hey, you keep drinking water, because if you don't get, if we bust him on this stock, you're gonna have to pee it on again.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, so, uh yeah. So he ditched that gun, gave it to my buddy that didn't really need to shoot one yeah, so now he's got a 6.5 Creedmoor that he's never shot, not comfortable with. Took a couple shots at this bull missed. A couple yeah, yeah missed and he was far out, like I don't know how far, but he was thinking like maybe 350, 400 yards.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, I had a guy in Florida on here and he was talking. He was calling the 6.5 Needmoor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the 6.5 need more. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there you go, maybe. Yeah, okay, yeah, so that was that herd takes off. Um, so we hop on the sleds, uh, me and my buddy that uh were after them, the other buddy that had the frozen gun at this point he's like I'm gonna stay behind, kind of watch the herd see what they do yeah so we hop on the same sled because I've got a four-stroke. Buddy that was with me, he had a two-stroke and they're pretty loud.
Speaker 1:Let's leave the two-stroke. They're not that reliable. You guys take two-strokes way out in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2:Most of us have four-strokes now this guy's got a two-stroke. They're great for starting in the cold, though, because they get the pull start where the four-strokes don't. Yeah, where the four strokes don't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, okay, that's another story I can tell you if we have time. Okay, sure.
Speaker 2:Anyway. So we hop on my sled, and I was not nice to the sled at this point, like I was. I was hungry. I was like Lee, hold on, we're going. I ripped down this boulder field 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.
Speaker 2:Kept going and then, for whatever reason, I ditched him. I'm not sure if, at this point, if he was like, okay, like I'm done. I can't remember the conversation we had because my adrenaline was so high.
Speaker 1:You ditched him, like I'm not bringing you. Or you ditched him no, no, I was like okay, you stay with the sled I'm going.
Speaker 2:And I started walking up the ridge a little bit, found the herd and, uh, my bull kind of stopped for half a second and I was like I'm taking them and I think I was about 200, 250 yards out, dropped down on one knee, dropped them.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, dropped them One shot.
Speaker 2:I, I hit him, dropped it on one knee, shot and I I looked up and I saw him do this really weird thing with his head and then he took a couple of steps and I'm like I'm going to hammer him again, shot him and he fell like a bag of bricks. And that, that was it that was it Didn't even move, didn't kick nothing down, antlers down.
Speaker 2:I was like, yes, the curse is broken yeah, yeah looked at my buddy and my buddy just had his hands up like this, and and the first thing I did, I ran up to it, 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, like his mannerisms were different than the cows. He was much bigger, like he wasn't a huge bull by any means, but he was way bigger than any cow that was next to him.
Speaker 2:And so I was like that's a bull. I didn't see a penis on him when I shot him, and that's the only thing in my mind where I was like oh, it's 2025.
Speaker 1:Now he can identify as whatever yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know how conservation would think about that. Yeah, yeah. So when I pulled up the legs and saw a penis on there, I will say this I've never been so happy to see a penis in my life. Yeah and yeah. So that was great. And then my buddy came up to me and I was like Lee, like the herd is still kind of staying around, we can go after them again. We hopped on, tried to get a little closer, but after hearing the gunshot, and seeing that they're a bit spooky, they sure yeah, they were no longer curious.
Speaker 2:I think they they knew yeah yeah, so we uh gutted them, just took the guts out and left them whole bodied, threw them in the back of the skimmer and got out of there. This was like the skimmer. Skimmer like a toboggan that you'd haul behind it.
Speaker 1:Are they big like wooden?
Speaker 2:Mine's like a rough plastic. Okay, yeah, and it's not a good one by any means, but I beat the shit out of it. But it's hauled two bison out of the woods and now a caribou can't be all right. I gotta ask what you're using for a sled then. So I had originally a skidoo expedition 550 fan, two stroke. Okay, and then I upgraded in 2022 to a 2020 skidoo expedition 600, four stroke okay, you guys don't have like those skidoo, like the trapper edition I, I don't know about the skidoo brand, uh well, I mean a skandik would, I think would be.
Speaker 1:I don't know my slides real well that would, but they're they're much heavier than the expedition okay, the expedition's kind of a crossover between like trail and summit.
Speaker 2:Like I could take mine up into the summit and do okay all right skandik, the shocks in the front are much different, the tracks wider, so you're not going to do great in high country, but they can.
Speaker 1:Deep powder what you got, it can pull. Oh yeah, it's a good work like yeah like I said, two bison now yeah, and a caribou and it did very well, it's a work I love that sled. Yeah, I'd buy another one tomorrow okay it's and it's sips fuel yeah, sips fuel like I think I'm getting.
Speaker 2: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 one way.
Speaker 1:To work, to work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, and we did that we left at 4.30 in the morning and I made it there and back no problem. I think I lost two or three bars and there's 10 bars on my fuel gauge. So I would, I would say like once you get below a half tank, you start losing the bars much faster.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I would be safe to say I think I would get close to 300 kilometers to a tank.
Speaker 1:That's really good yeah.
Speaker 2:Which my uh two stroke. I was getting like a hundred 110 and they're 50 liter tanks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jeez. That's something yeah, um, yeah. So you guys got it. You, you put it on the skimmer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, put it on the skimmer and got out of there and this was at like 3, 48 pm and you could see the moon and it's like getting dark yeah, and this is 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 it and, uh, put the whole body in my skimmer and just got out of there and it took us about an hour and a half to get back to the truck and we already couldn't see our trail from from.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, a couple hours ago, like the wind had just blown over it.
Speaker 1:That's what I figured. The wind would be hard to see, even tracks as well, yeah.
Speaker 2:I had no idea where we were going, so I'm happy that my other buddy did.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Buddy that was in the front, uh led for about 20 kilometers. He got us going the right direction up until about five kilometers before the truck we went the wrong way. And then buddy that was behind me I don't know what landmark he picked up, but he's like we're going the wrong way. He's like we're going northwest.
Speaker 2:Right now we need to be going the other way and if he if he wouldn't have said that like I was like oh, we're going the right way yeah but, uh, he turned us around and I I actually looked at the gps and I'm like, oh, you're right, like we were going the wrong way and we were getting cold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, I imagine. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wear bunny boots. I don't know if you've ever heard of them.
Speaker 1:I have not. Could you explain that?
Speaker 2:So bunny boots Alaskan gear company bought them out now but they're like 70s and 80s winter boots, are like black or white and they're just like. They look like rubber and they're amazing boots and I had them on and my feet were cold and they're rated for like minus 70.
Speaker 1:And they're cold. Do you wear much fur? Because I mean people were trying to get all these other products caught and all that Wool and actual real fur it's. You can't beat it. You really can't beat it. It's so warm.
Speaker 2: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 thermal layer, yep, underneath, and then I'll wear um wearing underneath that big bills okay yeah, I wear those and then I'll. Sometimes I won't even wear anything over the the big bills I did on this trip I wore like a windbreaker snow pant yeah, and then I wear.
Speaker 2:So I got my thermal up top and then 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 a nice parka though and I'll start wearing. That's a cabela's parka. Yeah, longer that goes down okay so really nice on the skidoo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, with the wind and all that, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, yeah. So it was a very cold trip on the way back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You couldn't see shit. You couldn't see anything like my buddy that was in front of me. I couldn't see his lights on the skidoo.
Speaker 1:Really. No, no, couldn't see the wind, the wind, yeah, 60 kilometer winds yeah.
Speaker 2:Buddy behind me could barely see me. Yeah, it was rough and then we got out. I can't remember what time we got out, but it was like pitch black and there was one truck left at our truck and we're like, oh man, like if somebody's behind us, that's not good. Like we thought we'd be the last ones out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there be the last ones out. Yeah, there was another group of two guys that were still out there, so we took a picture of their license plate and like if, if they didn't show up at the hotel at a certain time, we were going to let the people at the hotel know like you might want to get search and rescue really but we were in having a beer at the restaurant. They have a little restaurant there they rolled in probably two hours after us it looked pretty cold they looked rough and they're like oh, we're like.
Speaker 2:We took a picture of your license plate just to know we got your back. And they said it was rough.
Speaker 1:Oh it was rough. Did they get one?
Speaker 2:They did get two. Oh, really Okay yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they had some success. Yeah, wow, that's crazy, I joke. I mean the cold, severe temperatures and stuff. You got to be, uh, paying attention. Yeah, you know the weather and dressing for it and being prepared if you're stranded or something like that.
Speaker 2:I had a close call on that trip too. Uh, after we were finished gutting the caribou, I grabbed my tag and I tagged it on the antlers yeah and on the tag there you have to carve out the month, the zone and the day that you shot the caribou. I was using one of those replaceable blades.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Not outdoor edge. I like outdoor edge.
Speaker 1:Is it Avalon?
Speaker 2:I can't remember because it wasn't mine. It was my buddy's that he'd given me.
Speaker 1:A lot of companies make those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was pressing down and it broke and came back and hit me right underneath my eye. Really yeah, just right underneath 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:Yeah, yeah, really Wow.
Speaker 2:So that was scary. Yeah, I guess, and I wasn't pressing hard on the. I was just kind of carving it out a little bit.
Speaker 1:I wonder what company that was. Now I don't know. Spread the word.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I was like I don't think I'm ever going to use one of those again, not for that anyways.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:But yeah, like I wasn't wrenching down on it. I think just kind of carving it out a little bit.
Speaker 1:The cold made it even more brittle yeah. Wow, Still it should be tougher than that you would think Wow, so what were you seeing early, but the four stroke and two stroke?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do things, yeah, so um we got a little time, you know. Yeah, so me and my buddy, we were bison hunting in 2021 or 22. I can't remember, but I had my two stroke five 50 fan and my buddy had a 500 Polaris wide track.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So both of us had two strokes and, uh, we were out bison hunting. We were 90 kilometers in on this trail.
Speaker 1:We were wall tenting on this trip and it was cold, cool yeah yeah, it was cold, but uh, the two strokes are so damn loud yes like we were getting close to the herd of bison because we were finding like steaming piles of shit, fresh tracks.
Speaker 2:You know we ditched the sleds like we'd look on the map and be like, okay, we're about two kilometers away from a pothole lake, we'll ditch the sleds here, we'll snowshoe in, we'd do that, and by the time we'd be quiet. You know those last two kilometers, but at the end of the trip we figured they're here in the sleds from two kilometers out and the way we know.
Speaker 2:That is on one of these lakes that we ditched the sleds on. We were hiking in and my buddy was in front of me and in our peripheral, about 75 or 75 yards away from us, two, four strokes went right by us and we didn't hear them. We saw them really they sounded like hair dryers going by yeah, they were so quiet and in my mind what they were doing.
Speaker 2:they saw us, they went around us and they went in on the trail, which was kind of a kind of a dick move a little bit, because you know they should have stopped and been like. You know what's your plan here. Yeah 10 minutes after they passed us, we heard two gunshots. You know we were on steaming piles of shit. Real sports know we were on steaming piles. It's not like real sportsman, no, like right.
Speaker 1: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: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 my buddy I was like man, I'm ditching, ditching the two stroke, like they were on four strokes. We didn't even hear them yeah like they went right by us. So then the next year I got my four stroke and sure enough, I came up over a hill and like a hundred yards away from me were four bison laying down.
Speaker 1:They didn't even get up, so it is worth a hundred percent. Yes, yeah, I'm a four stroke guy now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm still scared about um the cold starts? Yeah, because there's no pull cord on the four strokes I'm still scared about that because I've driven my two stroke in like minus 56 and like you can just kind of pull on it slowly, warm up the crank a little bit and then give her a good pull and she's going and minus 56.
Speaker 1:You can't plug them in. No, no.
Speaker 2: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 a generator with you.
Speaker 1:No no.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that's something to think about, for sure, I have started my four stroke, though in minus 40, and it did well.
Speaker 1:Really yeah, wow so.
Speaker 2:I think I'm a full-blown four-stroke guy now. Yeah, I think what I'm going to do is, like every two, three years I don't even care what the battery life is I'm going to put a new battery on. Yeah, oh, yeah I think that's the kind of guy I'm going to be she.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm fine with that. I'll drop the $175 on a battery.
Speaker 1:Wow, can you have a snowmobile much? Can you boost sleds? Yeah, you can. Okay, no problem.
Speaker 2: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 secondhand from my father-in-law. Uh, it was kind of a weak battery when I first got it and my wife and I were uhidooing not too far from our house and I had to boost it like pretty much every time we stopped.
Speaker 1:Oh really I gotta get.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is my first experience with a four-stroke too, so I was like oh, no, we're not off to a good start, but it just was the battery, is that?
Speaker 1:yeah, okay, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So then the next year, after buying a four-stroke, rode right up on four buys and that didn't even get get up.
Speaker 1:They were laying down they didn't, they didn't notice, they didn't even see him, like I.
Speaker 2:They were on a little kind of in the tree line on a little pothole lake and I came up from one lake into the woods up onto the other side of the lake and they were 100 yards away didn't even hear me.
Speaker 1:It was worth it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100, yeah, my buddy got one in in that herd.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's yeah, yeah, that's cool. Yeah, caleb, I can't thank you enough for coming on. It's a great story. I obviously plan on having you come on again, because I know you have more than just your caribou story. It's been really interesting learning about such a different way and area of hunting.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And it's good to be cultured.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, yeah, so all right. Well, thanks, anytime.
Speaker 1:All right Perfect.