One thing common to all caribou hunting is big, lonely country. When the caribou are there, you may glass the bulls' white capes at distances of several miles. When they're not there, that big country is still beautiful and majestic but it can seem mighty empty and lonely. We're fortunate to have really fine caribou hunting all across North America, from the island of Newfoundland to Alaska's Western Arctic.

All caribou hunting requires intensive glassing. Caribou racks have more features to look at than any other antlered game.

The animals we call "caribou" are actually several North American races of Rangifer tarandus, a species that circumnavigates the globe in the taiga, tundra, and sub-Arctic regions of the northern hemisphere. They are spectacular creatures with dramatic multi-faceted antlers that, in relation to body weight, represent the world's largest annual growth of bone. Interestingly, the type specimen of this animal, Rangifer tarandus tarandus, is not a caribou at all, but good old Santa's reindeer of Scandinavia. Farther east, in northern Siberia, the reindeer start looking exactly like our caribou. When you cross the Bering Strait into Alaska, you'll find what we think of as caribou. They range across northern Canada to the island province of Newfoundland. And, I suppose, to Greenland as well.

Across this broad range biologists have identified numerous races and subspecies. Realistically, all caribou are quite similar in habit, habitat and appearance. Also realistically, if randomly selected average specimens of each subspecies were mounted and hung side by side on a wall, it would be very, very difficult to accurately identify which was which. Even so, there are regional differences in antler configuration and habitat that have led us to a traditional grouping of five different caribou. I call this a "hunter's grouping" because the subspecies lines agreed to by most biologists are followed imperfectly or ignored altogether--but, again, from a hunter's standpoint the differences are subtle.

The five categories recognized by Boone & Crockett, east to west, include woodland caribou; Quebec-Labrador caribou; central Canada barren-ground caribou; mountain caribou; and barren-ground caribou. (Safari Club International adds a sixth caribou, the smaller Arctic Islands caribou of Canada's offshore islands.)

Woodland Caribou
Biologists and hunters don't agree on this one. The former place woodland caribou across much of Canada right at the treeline, with the government of The Northwest Territories formally referring to MacKenzie Mountain caribou as "woodland" vice hunters' preferred "mountain" designation. For hunters, woodland caribou means the island province of Newfoundland.

TROPY POTENTIAL A little scrutiny can yield big rewards.

Male and female caribou have antlers, though the headgear of female caribou is spindly. All caribou bulls look big at first. When caribou are on the move you can't stockpile them, and in fact a basic premise is that you must hunt caribou from the front, never from behind. So you shouldn't pass a huge caribou on the first day (or the last day), but in order to avoid mistakes you must do your homework and know what you're looking for. Height of the rack should approximate height of body. Watch out for beams that go straight up with little curve. The more top points and the longer the better. Double shovels are nice, but not critical; shovels should be broad and at least approach the end of the nose. Bez formations are important. Look for a bez well beyond the shovel, with multiple outstretched points. Back points are "bonus points." Few caribou have them, but if you see back points coming back off the main beam, you'd better look close at the rest. Be careful of caribou in velvet--they look much bigger than they really are. Compromise. Only the very best caribou have all features in equal proportions. If you like long beams, go for it. If you like double shovels, search for them. If you like top points, keep looking. But if you want a nice caribou, look at the whole rack, and understand that even the world record caribou in the various categories are "weak" in some of these key areas.

The woodland is typically a big-bodied caribou with compact antlers characterized by multiple points. Double shovels are common, but only rarely are they especially large. By record book standards, this is far the smallest caribou. At one time it was also the most difficult to obtain because it was confined to Newfoundland and because well within living memory, Newfoundland's population was greatly reduced and caribou permits were very limited.

Newfoundland's herds have rebounded dramatically. The legacy of days of scarcity is that nonresident caribou licenses are more expensive than any other caribou license in North America, but there is no shortage of caribou.

Newfoundland is a mosaic of bog, wooded bottoms and tundra ridges. There is typically more woodland than one might find in much Alaskan caribou country, but you don't really look for these caribou in the woodlands. The larger numbers are up on the central plateau during the summer, then making short migrations to lower winter pastures near the coast.

Newfoundland has an active outfitting industry that offers generally affordable hunting. A caribou/moose combination hunt is very practical, but avoid this pitfall: The best moose country is not the best caribou country, and vice versa. To find a good woodland bull you need to be in the more open country and hunt them them just like any other caribou: glassing, stalking, judging, eliminating. Rarely are woodland caribou in large groups.