Muskox Hunt 09

[ramcam]

Finally getting around to posting some pictures and a bit of a story...

This is from a hunt that my wife and I went on in August 2009. We hunted muskox 200 miles north of the Arctic circle in Nunavut. We flew out of Edmonton AB to Yellowknife NWT and then onto Cambridge Bay Nunavut. A float plane then took us to camp out on the tundra.

No hunting took place on day 1 due to flight times but many muskox were spotted on the way in. Day 2 started off with a short flight down the lake to where our boat was waiting for us. Mandy, my wife, Bobby, my guide, and myself boated the shores of the lake looking for muskox and caribou. After stalking two other herds we came upon the herd with the bull I took in it. He was one of 8 bulls and there was also 10-12 cows with them. This is quite common during the rut for many bulls to congregate around a group of cows.

I was very fortunate to take a very good bull on this hunt. I am the only guy I know who has killed a muskox. My wife was very fortunate to capture many amazing shots with her camera while we were there - I think she enoyed herself more than I did at certain points. What a way to celebrate our 28 Anniversary. She is already planning our next hunting trip (caribou I hope!!).

All in all it was an amazing trip, made all the more amazing by our guide, Bobby Klengenberg. Bobby also happened to start his own outfitting business for muskox and caribou, Haogak Outfitting. I just may have to convince my wife to go back and try for caribou with Bobby.

[ramcam]

Sorry about the size of the pictures but I had a tough time with the high resolution.

[7mag700]

Wow that's awesome, congrats. How's it taste?

7m7

[ramcam]

Thanks 700, the meat is not that different than beef but with a little more marbling.

[guest]

Very cool experience for you and the wife, I sure wish my wife would plan a Dall Sheep hunt for me .... well any hunt for that matter.

Congrats to you.

CT

[Blainer]

What a great hunt.
Congratulations!
I sure hope someone can help with those pictures and make them bigger?

[BlacktailStalker]

Cool indeed. I know two guys with a muskox.
Are you mounting him ? One guy did a life size lol

[trigger]

That's aweome. I also know a guy that has got muskox. He's got two. And both are life sized.
Oh and booooo to the size of the pics

[todbartell]

upload them to photobucket and link them to your post

[Tanya]

Very cool. Musk Oxen is way up on my list. You have a PM

[IronNoggin]

I am the only guy I know who has killed a muskox.

Kind of a select club methinks ramcam!

Many years ago I was stationed in the Western Arctic. One of the older Gentz I worked with had a dated rifle he had inherited from his grandfather - an 1878 Springfield 3-Band Trap-door 45-70. His own ladz were terrified of the old piece's recoil, and so he decided to hand it down to someone who would use and appreciate her... Me! :mrgreen:

Shortly after I got my hands on that rifle, I began to notice a serious itch to get her out, and take something of size with her. As we had damn few buffalo (as in none!) that far North, and getting an LEH tag there was even tougher than BC (sigh!), I began to cast about for the next best thing. Finally settling on Musk-ox as an appropriate approximation, I wandered up to Banks Island (well north offshore the Yukon North Slope)...

Staying with Buddies there, we discussed just how the hunts had been going (several of these Gentz guide for musk-ox and Polar bears). The Hunters' & Trappers' Committee (HTC) was generous with their tag dispersal, and so we set off a day or so later to see what the capabilities of the ancient cannon really were...

Encountered several herds that first morning, but none held what I was looking for. Late afternoon, actually on the way back to Sach's Harbor, we encountered two old lone bulls off by themselves, feeding along a hillside. One of them looked to be damn fine through the spotting scope, and so the stalk was on!

We crawled within 80 years, at which distance that ol' Bull looked IMMENSE! Loaded the 45-70, rolled back the heavy external hammer, centered the front pin behind the shoulder, and let fly! The results were as impressive as I could have hoped for! The bull executed a one and a half sideways roll in mid-air, then dropped on his side without so much as a single wiggle! WOW! :-D

We quickly skinned him out (GOTTA be quick in those temperatures!), loaded the meat, and ran back to town. I never did "mount" that one, but his skull will always adorn my home office:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Muskok_1.sized.jpg

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Muskok_2.sized.jpg

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Muskok_3.sized.jpg

And of course, I'll never part with the rifle that performed so well that day! And I do very much hope to eventually take down a buff with here!

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/1878_Springfield.jpg

I did take a couple others, yearlings, and my-oh-my they WERE tasty! :mrgreen:

The fella I was staying with was a Good Friend. He was as impressed as I at the rifle's performance - so much so he expressed a desire to see just how well it would perform on a bear. Polar that is. 2 days later another of the guides noted he had seen a "12 foot or better" about half a day's run to the Northwest. So, the day following we did just that. We located that bear almost instantly upon arrival (I still marvel just how one guide can relay such precise coordinates to another in such a huge area- without GPS!), and another stalk ensued. Long story short, that bear stretched just over 13 feet. He took but one round from the aged cannon, at 100 yards, and dropped as if a foot had stomped him from the sky! Excellent performance!

Sounds like you had quite the adventure ramcam! Excellent report! And that Lady of yours is a KEEPER for sure! Arranging hunts and accompanying! Wow! Any chance she has a sister... LOL! :twisted:

Some of the caribou hunting up there is absolutely outstanding! Here's just a little incentive for your next hunt:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Caribou.jpg

Cheers,
Nog

[ramcam]

Nog, that is a great story of your hunt. Sounds like a really cool experience. You are right, my wife is definitely a keeper! The picture of that Caribou did not hurt my cause for another hunt - with or maybe without my wife.
Cam

[hillclimber]

nice musk ox. sounds like you had a good time!

cheers
stefan

[alecvg]

That is awesome, those are towards the top of my list of animals to shoot!

[hunter1947]

Ramcam thats a big Muskox you got there must have been an experience on its own to see the people up there and the country ,thanks for posting up your story and the pic ,they are http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon6.gif http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif..

[kennyj]

What an awesome hunt you had.Congratulations an your excellent muskox. Hope you cad make those photos larger.
kenny

[Jager]

Very nice, very nice. As a side note, I just visited with a cousin that was down from Inuvik and she had a scarf made from muskox wool. Apparently it is softer than cashmere and 8 times warmer than sheeps wool.

[BiG Boar]

I would suggest opening a photobucket.com account and uploading your pics there. Then just copy the IMG number and put it in your post. Its very easy to do. And they will show up full size.

[tomahawk]

Nice bull, my buddy from PG got one with his bow.

[riflebuilder]

I will be huntung muskox next year on the north arm of Great Bear lake. We had a muskox bull in camp this year when unting cribou in the NWT. They are some of the best tasting wild meat there is.

[BCHunterFSJ]

Thanks for the story and pics. My wife and I are seriously thinking about doing a musk ox hunt in the near future...

[bigneily]

come on man, quit slackin :mrgreen: and post the pics full size. and that is a good woman you got for sure. look after her buddy, just might steal her from you....:mrgreen:

[ramcam]

Bigneily, I will look after her especially after the new rifle I got for x-mas. No scope though, have a good one. Cam

[Darksith]

isn't hunting muskox kinda like hunting a cow? They just stand around and you walk up to them and shoot it?

[835]

isn't hunting muskox kinda like hunting a cow? They just stand around and you walk up to them and shoot it?

maby like hunting a cow that lives on baffin island.
who cares the challenge there is not the animal but the location

[IronNoggin]

isn't hunting muskox kinda like hunting a cow? They just stand around and you walk up to them and shoot it?

Not all of them :wink:
I was investigating an ancient Copper Inuit site on Victoria Island with a handful of Inuit Buddies one day. Got completely absorbed in the task at hand, and wandered away from the rest of the crew. Looking at the ground mostly, I stumbled right into a massive bull musk-ox while cresting a hill. First I knew of his presence was a LOUD snort. WTF???

Looked up to see him in the classic aggressive stance, and rubbing his horns from one fore-leg to the other. YIKES! :-?
I bolted downhill towards the rest of our crew, all laughing like hell of course, with that bull about 30 feet behind me. Realizing I might not be able to out-run him, I spun, and shouldered the 25-06. NOOO came the yells from below. As I centered the sights on his forehead, it occurred to me that particular bullet wasn't likely to do any damage whatsoever.
So, I slung the rifle, and continued my downhill run. The bull turned off when he saw the group, and I was mightily relieved! :mrgreen:

To put his size in perspective, had he nailed me, his boss would have hit me right in the solar plexus! Damn happy he didn't!

Cheers,
Nog

[835]

Ironnoggin
why did you have a 25-06? seems a strange choice for that neck of the woods. Sure isnt the chosen defense cal. for polars.

[7mag700]

Thanks 700, the meat is not that different than beef but with a little more marbling.

Sounds delicious :-D

7m7

[IronNoggin]

Ironnoggin
why did you have a 25-06?

That time of year the Big Bears are largely well North of the location we were in, so I wasn't packing as a "defense" mechanism. Way back then, a Whitey could still shoot Perry Caribou (smaller, lighter colored species that inhabit the Islands mostly). For them, wolves and some Fun with the Artic Hares, the 25 was perfect. Definitely didn't expect the musk-ox!

300 Weatherby was down the hill, next to the console of my ocean rig. If it had been in my hands, the story would have been quite different methinks! :twisted:

Cheers,
Nog

[835]

ahhh i get it.
i'd love to go up there.