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Bowsite.com's Leopard Bowhunt with Dries Visser Safaris

DAY 6

Join Pat Lefemine and Bill Gaunt as they bowhunt Quebec-Lab caribou with Jack Hume Adventures

day 1

day 2

day 3

day 4

day 5

day 6



Discuss this hunt

We saw more caribou yesterday than our entire first four days combined. So it would be an understatement to say that Bill and I had high hopes for our last day. It was still warm, but it was warm yesterday too, so we figured that should not be a factor.

My goal was to stay with bill and we'd tag-team caribou as they came out of the water. Our crossing was the local hotspot - I confirmed that yesterday when I sat at the end of the lake and saw nothing.

At first light we watched 3 mature bulls swim to a far island and then to the shore. They were a mile out. This gave us hope. Perhaps the bulls would be heading down from the hills after the cows and small critters had already passed through.

But as the morning went on that proved to be a false assumption. We saw no caribou at all until a small group of cows crossed during the late afternoon. Occasionally I would jog down to the end of the lake and check the trails. I had wiped them clear yesterday afternoon so I could gauge the activity passing through them. Unfortunately, there too, no caribou had crossed. My trails were still clean 24 hours later.

There was no question by now that we had a shut-out on this trip. We never had a shooter bull within bow range. And it's a reminder about caribou - they seldom do what you want them to.

The other guys in camp saw the same as us. Overall our camp went 6 for 7 (tags) on rifle, and 0 for 5 (tags) for bow. In all honesty we were disappointed in the action. We had high expectations going into this hunt. But caribou always have a mind of their own and I can honestly say that Richard Hume of JHA did everything he promised. I'll be back. I love hunting caribou and know that when you hit it right it's one of the best hunts you'll ever have.

Telling it like it is

Bowsite.com live hunts give you the straight scoop about our adventures. This is what differentiates us from magazine articles and TV/Videos where you don't see the whole picture, and rarely hear about unsuccessful hunts. Here at Bowsite you hear and see the good, bad and the ugly - truthfully.

When Bill and I returned to Schefferville I discussed this semi-live hunt with Richard Hume. I was impressed with his response to me. He obviously knew our hunt was slow, and would have certainly preferred a lot more action. There's no question that this hunt will do little to get bowhunters fired up to hunt caribou. But he was not at all upset when I told him that we would still be running the hunt on Bowsite.com. His response to me was that it was important for people to understand that caribou are wild animals, they are still unpredictable, and it is still hunting. Of the things that Richard could control - he did so to our complete satisfaction. This included the logistics from Montreal, getting to and from the field, food in camp, quality of his guide, and delivering on his promise to provide a mid-week move.

One of the criticisms that we hear often is that we get special treatment because we are providing significant media exposure. I'm not naive. I realize that this can, and does happen with some outfitters. But Richard treated all of his clients equally. There were several camps which were red-hot and other outfitters would have impositioned those lucky hunters to squeeze us in. Richard did not feel that was appropriate, or fair, to his other clients. We never asked, and he never offered. I prefer it that way and appreciated his equal treatment of all his clients. As I evaluated JHA at the end of this hunt I can honestly say that I was 100% satisfied with their services. This isn't my first unsuccessful hunt and it certainly won't be my last.

 

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