This was my 3rd of 3 trips (so far) with JHA. We were fortunate to be put into an outpost camp with Lionel, who had guided me 5 years earlier. The hardestworking guide you will ever meet. I would challenge anyone to keep up with him. If you want a caribou, he will chase one down for you! We were flown into the Pons River camp and replaced a group of 3 hunters that had limited success. The camp was quite comfortable and Lionel did a great job caring for the animals and the camp. The first day, we blew a chance on a small group of bulls that crossed the lake in front of us. The 2nd day, a group of 8 bulls came across and surrounded me. I was able to pick out one of the 2 "shooter" bulls and took him at point blank range with my bow. Another hunter managed to shoot a small bull from this herd with his rifle. A short while later, another guy took 2 bulls from 3 that had crossed. After that, the animals pretty much shut down. A couple of small groups were spotted by others in my group at far distances crossing the lake. We did a lot of hiking but to no avail. At that point, I had no complaints as I had achieved the goal of taking a trophy bull with my bow, finally on my 3rd trip! Of the 5 guys, one guy had filled both tags, and 2 of us had filled one. 2 guys remained empty handed. On the 4th day, Richard decided to move us to nearby camp Wendell. The caribou sightings there weren't great, but the terrain was a lot more open allowing for us to spot the animals more easily. Lionel hadn't hunted there previously, so after making a couple of satellite phone calls, he talked to Richard and the guide usually assigned to camp Wendell. Once we located the ridge a few miles down the lake where the caribou crossed, we saw some nice bulls. I switched to my rifle due to the open terrain and limited animal sightings. We made good on every chance we had. I was able to shoot an average size bull at 453 yards, and another guy took a monster at 501 yards. On the last day, the other two guys took a small bull and a cow. Final result was 3 guys - 2 bulls; 1 guy - 1 (trophy) bull; and 1 guy - 1 cow. On the last day 2 of us were able to hunt ptarmigan and shot 7 within 150 yards of camp. Although the animals weren't plentiful, we did get our opportunities and this trip was truly a great hunt. Richard didn't have to move us, but did anyways in order to increase the odds of filling our remaining tags. That is a sign of a reputable outfitter. I can't say enough about how hard Lionel worked on behalf of his clients. The guides I had previously should take lessons from him.
Thanks for the report.
Some rain each day, some sun, typical northern Quebec weather.
