Expert caribou hunters were asked to participate in focus groups and share their knowledge about how the caribou behaved in different very specific - situations. Deciding exactly what to ask the hunters was one of the trickiest parts of the undertaking. For one, migratory caribou are not the easiest species to study. They do not follow the same migratory routes year after year, and a wide range of factors can affect how they will behave in a particular situation. You do not know where they are going to migrate or when, or the earlier experience of a particular caribou.
Nobody has the word on the caribou.
Smith helped set up the focus groups, along with Jim Tousignant from the Bureau of Statistics and Dorothy Cooley, a regional biologist. The researchers spent a great deal of time coming up with the scenarios used in the focus groups. They would pick known locations along the road, and include details such as the time of day, wind direction and snow depth, and the number of caribou. Each scenario would include some sort of human disturbance, such as an approaching snowmachine or a truck on the highway. The hunters were asked how the caribou would respond in these very specific situations.