For a lot of hunting enthusiasts November's whitetail rut epitomizes their sport but for others who pursue different species across the country or around the world, for that matter, the fall hunting season may start as early as August and last until January. In that perspective the 2005 season is well underway and it has been an interesting one so far, to say the least.

Caribou season on the northern tundra of Quebec begins the second weekend in August and reports coming out of the region suggest a tougher hunt than what has been typical of the last couple of years. Uncharacteristically hunters in camp the first couple of weeks of the season reported good numbers of caribou while those who chose September dates had to work harder for their bulls. The first four weeks of the seven week season saw temperatures climbing into the 80's for much of the period. It certainly was one of those years where you would have been glad to have booked with an outfitter who guarantees to move you if the caribou dry up around your camp as this was the case for a lot of hunters. While most hunters venturing north from our neck of the woods had successful trips despite the weather, a few had exceptional adventures. Bucky Barany of Danville, VT shot the incredible bull pictured on this page at Ungava adventure's Charlie camp. They first noticed the animal's huge rack from over a mile away and Bucky was able to stalk up to within 80 yards for his shot. The bull had an inside spread of 62 inches!

Newfoundland is a popular moose destination for hunters from the northeast. The early weeks of the season, which opens the middle of September, were a carbon copy of the same warm weather experienced by the caribou hunters in Quebec and when its hot moose hold up in thick cover. Weather is often a factor when hunting Newfoundland's rugged northern peninsula or its lake riddled interior. One reason for this is that the island lays prey to almost every hurricane that hits the US east coast. Although normally downgraded to just a nasty storm by the time it gets there, hurricanes like Camille which hit the Carolinas in mid September rolled across Newfoundland several days later making it impossible to get guys in and out of camp with floatplanes. Despite the weather, moose hunting in both Newfoundland and Quebec turned out to be pretty darn good this season.

As this column is going to press it's to early to tell what kind if an elk season we are going to end up with although this year's archery season which coincides with the bugle in most states appears to have been at least as good if not better than average. In Colorado, the D.O.W. moved the first rifle season back a week this year and everyone is anxious about how this change will affect hunter success. We should know soon enough.

But what about whitetails? If you live in central Vermont you need only look as far as the nearest apple tree to recognize that 2005 holds greater promise than we've seen in the last two seasons. Bowhunters in particular are already reaping the rewards of a mild winter followed by this fall's good apple crop. That said, we'll leave the local hunt forecast to those more qualified.
For deer hunters who travel out of state for their venison the outlook is generally good for this year. Quebec's Anticosti Island has all but fully recovered from the severe winter kill of 2002-2003. In fact, last year's harvest was near normal and with an average to mild winter just passed all three of the island's outfitters are optimistic about the 2005 season.

Further west, in Saskatchewan, everyone is banking on colder weather than was experienced during November 2004. Last fall's warm temperatures altered normal rut activity, made it dramatically more difficult to lure deer to baiting areas and resulted in a lower than normal buck kill throughout most of the province. With a relatively mild winter behind us, deer numbers are up and if this November's weather is anything but warm, it should be a great year for hunting the monster boreal bucks that have made this region famous among deer hunters.

Finally, if you are gearing up for a Midwest hunt your opportunities for success this season are also going to have a lot to do with weather. Much of the country's breadbasket has been suffering under drought conditions all summer. It is anticipated that corn and soy crops will be down substantially from last year's record harvests. How will this affect the hunting? Vermonter Jake Roach, who with his brother Justin owns Performance Outdoors, recently commented that water will be a key magnet this season, concentrating deer on farms that have rivers and ponds that did not go dry during the arid summer months. The dry conditions have also hampered food plot development although Jake was quick to point, "we've had a good amount of rain already this fall and the plots are catching-up fast." It is also anticipated that the rut may be a little later in many areas.
On the plus side, the mast crop is huge in Illinois and if you are hunting an area with good water systems then your chances for bagging a booner are probably on par with last season.