Caribou Rifles..

[Anonymous]

My latest piece in The Alaska Life.

https://www.thealaskalife.com/outdoors/the-perfect-caribou-rifle-hunting-rangifer-tarandus/

 

[Guy Miner]

Nice article with great photos. Thanks!

Guess if I ever get up there for caribou, I'll bring the trusty 30-06 rifle!

Guy

 

[Blkram]

Well written!

I'd take my custom Remington 700 LH in 280 Rem topped with a Swarovski Z3 3-10x42 loaded with 140 gr AB's.

As a sidenote, I harvested my caribou last fall at 150 yards with my Sako 85 LH Hunter in 6.5x55 topped with a Leupold VX-3 3.5-10x40 loaded with 140 gr Bergers.

 

[mjcmichigan]

Love reading your stuff Mike!

You do a great job!


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[Thankful Otter]

I always enjoy your articles Mike. Very well written. I was able to find several of your articles and have enjoyed reading each of them.

We are currently using the 275 H & H with a fixed 6X scope for Caribou, Goat and Sheep. We use 160 gr and 175gr Woodleigh. Today was 175

 

[Thankful Otter]

I always enjoy your articles Mike. Very well written. I was able to find several of your articles and have enjoyed reading each of them.

We are currently using the 275 H & H with a fixed 6X scope for Caribou, Goat and Sheep. We use 160 gr and 175gr Woodleigh. Today was 175

 

[Thebear_78]

Pretty sound advice. If I had to pick one rifle as an ideal caribou rig from my current stable of rifles it would be the 270 Winchester featherweight that my wife has laid claim to. Running a 130gr TTSX @ 3025fps. Plenty of horsepower, flat shooting, and easy to carry. It’s smaller twin in 25 WSSM being another viable option.

Being as I normally have a mixed bag hunt where moose, and bears are in the equation I have used a 30 cal on all my caribou. The 300 RUM with 168 TTSX on most and last year a 308 using 168gr berger.

My newfound love a suppressors has my abandoning my old faithful hunting rifles. Im slowly piecing together a lighter weight all arounder. Thinking of a carbon fiber barreled 300 WSM in my manners elite mcs-t with a 22-24” barrel w/suppressor.

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[DrMike]

Another fine and informative article. Well done.

 

[JD338]

Nice read, thanks for the link.

JD338

 

[diverdown]

Great article. I read it twice and gleaned everything needed for a great Bou hunt!

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Nice Article. Some day soon I hope to head North to do this hunt. I would like a area with a 2 Caribou bag limit, since this will most likely be a once in a lifetime hunt. Any Sugestions for Guided or Drop Hunt would be appreciated, open to either Alaska or Canada ? I would also like to bring all the meat home as I have never tried it and always wondered how it is for table fair. Are the Caribou coming back in numbers ?
I would most likely take my old deer & antelope rifle Model .70 264 Win Mag. seems like it would be right for the job at hand. I just need to get busy loading the Nosler 130gr AB I picked up and see how they shoot.

 

[hunternyny]

enjoyable read, thank you for posting it.

I would use the 270 Weatherby

1100remington man, I think Cheyenne mentioned in the past that some herds were growing in numbers and some were declining, We hope to hunt them in Canada, but an Alaska hunt would also be enjoyable. I think you can hunt them without a guide in Alaska but not in Canada, but perhaps Gerry, Gil or Dr Mike can enlighten us on whether this is true or not

 

[Gun nut]

Thank you for the excellent article. Well done!
Duane

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks everybody- that was a fun piece to write.

Cheyenne- a .275H&H is a classy and unusual rifle. That's a choice with panache!

Guy, Bear and Gerry- an '06, 270 and a 280 are all outstanding choices.

hunterny and rem1100- The 270WBY and .264WM are both well suited to the terrain up here where these critters roam...not a requirement, but that'd do nicely.

 

[Europe]

What a well written article. Thank you Mike for posting one of your articles. If you dont mind, you should post some of the others as well, as all the ones I have read are very well written and enjoyable to read. Many of us can only enjoy Alaska through your eyes.

I also enjoyed the pictures and from memory I think Bear has a young daughter that hunts as well.

I always love how smoothly the 275 H & H ( as well as the 300 and 375 ) operate. I would think that 175 gr Woodleigh would hit like a sledge hammer.

1100rem and John. Mike, Bear, Dr Mike and others should be able to answer your question about herd size, but from memory I think Cheyenne said one if the herds were increasing in numbers and others were shrinking. Also, I think and again others here would know more than I, but my guess is a Canadian hunt would cost more than an Alaska hunt, as I dont think you would be allowed to hunt in Canada without a guide.

Thanks again Mike

 

[BretN]

Great article Mike. Thanks for sharing it. I also liked the family caribou hunt articles that were linked to it.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I have a question as I have read some herds are down, did they ever get to the truth as to why.
Since I have heard Global Warming to Predators and they just flew the wrong areas and missed the herds to count.
My thoughts if you want the population to rebound hammer the Predators by air, you will never wipe them out but you could for the immediate future speed up the recovery of Game Animals. Caribou and Moose.

 

[truck driver]

Enjoyed that very much thanks for sharing.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a question as I have read some herds are down, did they ever get to the truth as to why.
Since I have heard Global Warming to Predators and they just flew the wrong areas and missed the herds to count.
My thoughts if you want the population to rebound hammer the Predators by air, you will never wipe them out but you could for the immediate future speed up the recovery of Game Animals. Caribou and Moose.

One thing to remember is that caribou populations are pretty cyclical in general.They mostly eat themselves out of house and home and the numbers plummet. Some herds are increasing and some are decreasing but overall numbers are pretty stable.

 

[Thankful Otter]

I have a question as I have read some herds are down, did they ever get to the truth as to why.
Since I have heard Global Warming to Predators and they just flew the wrong areas and missed the herds to count.
My thoughts if you want the population to rebound hammer the Predators by air, you will never wipe them out but you could for the immediate future speed up the recovery of Game Animals. Caribou and Moose.

I agree with Mike. The Porcupine and Forty Mile herds have continued to increase in numbers. Most of the other herds, here in Canada are in decline. I personally believe that urban creep, mining, logging, oil exploration, industrial complexes, that stupid highway in the Yukon/NW Territories are the culprits, not predators. Calving site's, migration routes have been disturbed as well as a decline in habitat. Which brings us to Mike's comment. With less habitat they eat themselves out of house and home.

Why are the other two herds increasing. Take a trip to the far Northern Yukon/Alaska border. It is still God's country. Along with huge Caribou herd's there are also huge Wolf packs. Predators are not the problem