SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Caribou outfitters are still awaiting the fate of their industry, but at least one hunting camp operator says he's still booking hunts with hopes that tags will become available for this year's fall hunt.

"I'm just waiting to see what is going to happen," said Barry Taylor, who runs a hunting camp 320 km north of Yellowknife through Arctic Safaris.

"No one has told us there won't be tags this year, so we're just hoping."

Taylor said the no-tag situation is "pushing people to the edge."

He said making changes to his business, which took him years to establish, isn't something he can do successfully.

The territorial government announced a diversification program last December, the Caribou Outfitter Marketing Program, aimed at weaning outfitters from caribou, while encouraging hunts for other big game animals such as grizzly bears, wolves and muskox instead, or to gear towards fishing and other non-hunting activities. But Taylor said his outfit won't be able to change.

"We cannot switch over to the treehugger market," he said of the government's initiative, which offers funding to re-market outfitting businesses.

"They pulled the rug out from under us."

Currently, outfitters aren't allowed to hunt Bathurst caribou, a main source of their business, mainly from American hunters.

A recently imposed and supposedly temporary no-hunting zone north of Yellowknife spans to Bathurst Inlet. The trouble for outfitters first began in 2006 when the territorial government cut outfitter tags to 75 from 180.

Amanda Peterson, owner of Peterson's Point Lake Lodge, said in order to try and fill the income gap left by the loss of caribou tags, her business opened My Backyard Tours, a company which offers tours of Yellowknife and the Ingraham Trail as well a photography course.

She also said they are developing a culinary program that focuses on country foods like bison and moose.

The launch of a new website March 24 by the NWT Barrenground Caribou Outfitters Association hopes to raise awareness on barren ground caribou and to show people sport hunters care about the survival of the herd for generations to come.

Peterson, who is a member of the association, said while the main point of the website is to create awareness about the state of the caribou herds, it's also a chance to break down the stereotypes associated with sport hunting.

"It's easy for people to fall into the long-running stereotypes," Peterson said. "Outfitters genuinely care about the health and survival of the caribou in the NWT."

The website, caribouforever.com, contains information about the herds and their current state as well as information about outfitters in the territory and the economic benefits of the sport hunting industry on the territory.

Besides bringing in millions in spin-off dollars, outfitters, in 2009, supplied communities with almost 10,000 kg of caribou meat, according to the website.

It's designed around the model used by Ducks Unlimited, a national not-for-profit organization focused on wetland conservation and education.

"Caribou Forever will encourage and support co-operative management programs," said Peterson.

"It will attempt to bring together a community of people dependent on the caribou."