Where to hunt Reindeer
Reindeer is, for all practical purposes, the same animal as Caribou, but we prefer to use the word “Caribou” for the populations that dwell in North America, and “Reindeer” for those that inhabit Europe and Asia. Like Caribou, Reindeer are divided into woodland and tundra, the difference being in habitat and behavior rather than genetics. Most Reindeer hunts take place in Russia, although there also are hunting opportunities in other Eurupean countries that stretch into the Arctic Circle, and even Greenland (which is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark).
Price distribution
Reindeer habitat is found far away from civilization, and the biggest part of the hunt’s price is travel and camping. Depending on the number of hunt days, trophies, hunters in camp and whether a helicopter transfer is required, a Reindeer hunt in Russia may cost between $2,500 and $19,000. It can be combined with a moose and wolf hunt as well.
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Learn more from our blog story
It’s amazing how creatures can adapt to living in the harshest of environments. You’d never thought that something as unappetizing and unnourishing as lichen can support tens of thousands of robust and hard-going deer. Yet, here they are, all over the Northern Hemisphere: known as Reindeer in Eurasia and Caribou in North America, the Arctic deer is the source of life for many indigenous peoples, and an irresistible attraction for hunters from the developed countries.
4 Oct 2018 CaribouWhen to hunt Reindeer?
Reindeer hunting seasons are usually generous, to give the local hunters a better chance to fill their larders. They may open as early as May and close as late as December. However, a trophy hunter should focus on September or October. Not only it is the best time to visit the boreal landscapes, with the weather still relatively warm but mosquitos on the way out, but in order to harvest a bull with antlers in prime shape, the hunter has to schedule the hunt in after the antlers are out of the velvet stage, but before the bulls shed them, which happens immediately after the rut.
Hunting methods
Indigenous people of the Arctic invented many ingenious ways of Reindeer hunting, but for a modern hunter the primary way to get a Reindeer is by spot and stalk. Reindeer are not very alert, but it may not be easy to approach a large herd with thousands of eyes looking in all directions, ready to flee from any danger. The alternative method is to ambush a herd. This usually works best during migration, but even when not migrating Reindeer are always on the move, so as not to exhaust their staple food, lichen. The hunter and the guide can predict the motions of the herd, get in front of it, and wait for its arrival in an ambush. The most successful guides combine these methods and switch from one to the other according to circumstances.
Why hunt Reindeer?
Reindeer is an amazing animal well adapted to the harsh environment of the Arctic. The adaptations go beyond its beautiful thick coat that partly consists of semi-hollow hairs. Take antlers for example. Both bull and cow Reindeer carry antlers, with a unique and very individual shape combining a palm and numerous points with well developed eye guards, but the bulls drop their antlers before winter, and cows retain them until springtime (to protect their calving ground). But this is hard to say whether it’s the antlers that attract people to Reindeer hunting, or the opportunity to see and live in the amazing, out-of-this-planet Reindeer habitat in the tundra and the boreal forest.
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