Wild_Guide_Spring2016

from Dales mouth. “Big boss” came from
Tommy. The bull had a huge boss on its head
with long sweeping horns that faded into ivory
colour with black tips. The long hair on it’s
back started off blonde and faded into chocolate
brown at the ends. “Beautiful animal” were
the words repeated. Minutes later the camp
floatplane flew overhead and landed near our
boat. The pilot had heard the shot ring out as
he was loading up another hunter’s animal that
had been taken a short time before and only a
mile away. ”Busy morning” replied the pilot,
as three other hunters had already tagged out.
Day two of the trip began with pancakes,
eggs and bacon and stories of the previous day
hunt. All 7 of the hunters in camp had tagged
out on trophy size Muskox the day before. I was
the only one left without my animal but that
was ok because today was to be my anniversary
bull. A year today I was married and my wife
was not too happy that I was going to spend
my one-year wedding anniversary with the
Muskox. Hey, what better way to never forget
an anniversary again then to have it associate
with this day.
Travelling the shorelines like the day before
we looked at several herds with great bulls in
them that would have without a doubt made the
books. It was early in the day and I had time to
find that one that I wanted. We rounded a bend
in the shoreline to find two big bulls standing
on a hillside grazing on their own. We stopped
the boat and looked them over to see if it was
worth a stalk, “Big boss” replied the guide but
unlike the other bulls we saw that day he was
standing up. As we were taking a closer look,
Dale had noticed more Muskox about a quarter
of a mile away, “Let’s check out that herd first
before anything to make sure there’s not a
bigger one in that group” Now we could tell
our guide was getting excited as this was the
most he had spoken so far. As we looked over
the herd Dale spotted, I had noticed that the two
big bulls on the hillside we had just looked at
turned into three. There were some real nice
bulls in this group but that third spot on the
hillside just had to be check out. The closer we
got to the animal the larger it appeared and soon
I realized that this was the trophy I was after.”
Good thing we came back” replied dale, “Big
boss” replied Tommy with his binoculars glued
to his eyes. We pulled the boat up on shore and
followed Tommy in the direction of the bulls.
Now picture this, Tommy never left the boat
without his life jacket on and Dale and I could
not figure out why, but we were soon about to.
We crawled within 200 yards of two of the
bulls, “where’s the third one?” I asked “not
sure” replied Tommy. One of the two was
exactly what I was after, he was larger than
the other two we had originally seen earlier.
I set up my shooting sticks and got ready for
the shot as Dale began to video the set-up. My
bull was bedded down next to the other one but
still no sign of the third one. “ Be ready guys,
things can change in a hurry,” replied Tommy
as he was glassing the tundra. Seconds later
Tommy yelled out “RUN!!” and began to run
for the boat, now I’m thinking, are you crazy?
What for? My trophy Muskox is still here! But
as an experienced guide myself I know better
than to argue with your guide, so if he runs than
so do I. Things were happening so fast that the
only thing we ran with were our rifles and the
video camera in Dale’s hand, the rest stayed
behind. “Hurry, hurry get in the boat” Tommy
replied with excitement in his voice. As we
were quickly climbing into the boat I could
hear the heavy footsteps of a charging Muskox.
We pushed the boat off into the water and
looked back to see the bull only feet from the
waters edge hoofing at the ground and rearing
his head back and forth, It was now clear to us
that wearing a lifejacket while hunting Muskox
may not have been such a bad idea especially
if the boat is not close enough to get to. The
bull slowly made his way out of sight over
an esker. Tommy decided to move the boat a
couple of hundred yards along the shoreline to
head them off again as now they were on the
move. Again, we parked the boat and made our
way up a steep shore bank. Just as we crested
the hill we spotted all three Muskox quartering
away from us at about 250 yards. I quickly set
up my shooting sticks for the shot with my 300
Weatherby mag. I asked Tommy and Dale to
tell me which one was the big one as I wanted
to make sure I was looking at the right bull
being difficult to tell with their heads facing
away and all three being so big. “The one on
the far right” replied Tommy, “That’s the one
Jay” from Dale. A deep breath and a squeeze
on the trigger, my shot rang out followed by
the sound of a solid hit, the Muskox stopped
and stood there as if nothing had happened. A
second and then a third shot all on target and yet
there stood my trophy Muskox. “What’s going
on, I hit him all three times didn’t I?” “Yup!
He’s about to go down” replied my guide. Sure
enough seconds later he tipped over. Now I
have been on several hunts from east to west,
north to south but this was the most excited I
had ever been. This was definitely going to be
an easy day to remember for the rest of my life.
We spent the next hour or so taking pictures
and video as our guide got ready to cape out the
hide for the life-size mount I was after. I was so
overwhelmed in the whole experience. What a
rare trophy to hunt, one of Canada’s exotics!
We had tasted the meat the day before in camp
from another hunters harvest and could hardly
wait to try it again. As Tommy was caping out
the Muskox, Dale and I walked back to the
place we had left behind our gear after being
chased back to the boat. It was easy to laugh
and joke about it now but at the time it was no
laughing matter. From here we could see the
camp float plane flying towards us and within a
few minutes like before he had landed near the
boat and walked to us.” I see you got one” with
a smile on his face. “Yup!” I replied. We loaded
up everything and headed back to camp. That
night in camp everyone was celebrating the
awesome experiences we had all encountered.
The rest of the trip was spent fishing for
huge lake trout and photographing Muskox
and caribou and not to mention the occasional
Arctic fox. On our last day at the lodge, the
outfitter flew us by floatplane to fresh water
rivers that flow to the Arctic Ocean that hold
huge Arctic Char. We would wade out into the
river and cast down stream only to have these
bright red bellied char fight like there was
no tomorrow. We stopped at several of these
places and caught loads of fish. At the end of
the river where the fresh water and salt water
meet are Polar Bears hunting for seals on the
Ice fields that move with the tides. Later that
day back at camp we had the experience of
trying some raw arctic char dipped in soy
sauce, fantastic!!
Our five-day adventure on the Arctic seemed
to fly by, we enjoyed the hospitality from
the outfitter and all his staff and learned to
appreciate their life style in the Arctic. I’m
glad I had a chance to experience it all and
one day plan to do it all again!
Wild Guide . Spring 2016 56