Hunting Journal

We woke up to the best morning of the week so far. Although it wasn’t exactly chilly, it was cooler than the last few days and much less windy. We went up the mountain behind camp and dad and Chuck headed to Lucky rock across the lake.

When we got to the top of the mountain we were welcomed with a magnificent sunrise.

When we got to the lookout, we spotted two moose down below us and two more on the mountain to the east. There was a bull and a cow in each group.

After splitting up for a few minutes, Duane saw a good bull moving along the edge of the timber down below us. We quickly got on a caribou trail and followed it through the timber until we came out on a bog. The bull was nowhere to be seen. Although it couldn’t have gone too far, we were unsure where it was hiding.

We waited  few minutes before deciding to move to the knob in front of us and glass the edge of the timber. Duane began rubbing his ax on a tree when we got to the knob. Instantly, I could hear antlers smashing a tree in the timber. Moments later the moose was heading right toward us. I could see its antlers, but not its body.

When the moose didn’t see another bull racking its antlers on the trees, it got nervous and took off. We raced to our right and got ready for it to run out of the timber below us.

When it appeared it was going full tilt across the bog. Duane yelled for me to shoot, so I shouldered the gun, put the crosshairs at the top of its antlers and in front of the nose, and pulled the trigger. At the sound of the gun it fell to the ground and I had my first bull moose. After range finding the distance he was approximately 450 yards. I shot him with a Browning X-Bolt 30.06 and a 180 grain Fusion bullet.

As we were taking pictures, we heard some gunshots. A quick conversation on the radio confirmed that my dad had also killed a nice bull. It was 9:00 a.m. and dad and I were celebrating our first moose kills on opposite ends of the lake.

This trip has been nothing short of phenomenal. I was hesitant about spending the money, but even if I didn’t shoot a moose it would have been worth every cent. Some things are priceless and this hunt has surely been one of those things. I hope I’m able to do it again at some point in my life.

I’m going out with Brad tomorrow to take some video and tag along on his hunt. He’s the only one who hasn’t gotten a moose yet.  I hope tomorrow is his day. He has worked hard and his guide Hector is the oldest of the guides. He is 68 years old, followed by Duane at 43, Jason at 41, and Chuck at 26. They are all fantastic guys. They are some of Newfoundland’s best people.

The week is fading too fast. We haven’t seen many animals, but this trip has still been incredible. It surely has been a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Unfortunately, the action has been extremely slow. Dad and I hunted together today. We saw a big shooter bull around 10:30 a.m. in the honey hole. We weren’t able to get a shot off before he disappeared. He just didn’t want to come out in the open. As he meandered in and out of the trees on the other side of the drainage it was next to impossible to get him in the crosshairs long enough to squeeze off a good shot.

I’m feeling like nothing is going to happen, but I guess you never know. The worst week of hunting you’ve ever experienced can turn into the best one in a few seconds. That’s what draws me in and keeps me going every day. I hope that happens sometime soon. I have a very good feeling that both of us will be successful. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be the coldest day of the week. The forecast is calling for temperatures in the low 40s. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Dale broke the ice today with a nice 8-point bull. He shot it on the plywood. Maybe somebody will join him in the winner’s circle tomorrow. I don’t have any pictures of Dale’s bull at this point in time.

The torrential rains stopped this morning. It was nice but got way too warm for good hunting. After covering a lot of ground, the sign leads me to believe we are going to be hard pressed to see a big bull moose. I don’t see any clues that the big boys are moving too far yet.

I saw a handful of cows and a few small bulls today. I could have stalked the bulls, but chose not to because they were immature animals. It got up to 70 degrees today. It’s way too hot. I will be really surprised if we tag out. Filling four tags seems unlikely right now, but I’ve been known to be wrong in the past. Things can change with the flick of a switch.

No matter how I look at it, this trip has been awesome and I’m only a few days into it. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Today was my first day of moose hunting and it was awesome. The morning was nice. We saw a handful of moose on the boat ride to where we hunted. After getting to the spot, we saw a cow in a pond. I took a lot of video of her while she played in the water.

After the cow ventured into the timber, we left for another place called the plywood. We sat until the rain steadily increased to a downpour, and begin walking and glassing.

Eventually, we spotted a few cows scattered across a bog below us. Shortly after settling into a place to watch them, a nice 8-point bull materialized out of the thick cover. I could have taken him but chose to hold off. I took video instead. The rain was brutal at times and never stopped before we left the woods for the day. The timber is almost impassable here unless you can find a game trail to follow. It makes it easy to see how the animals can stay hidden.

Dad saw some moose today and passed up a 6-point bull at 25 yards. This day was awesome and I’m glad I came on this hunt. The other guys in camp all had great days, too. Everyone is talking about how wild the country seems to be. I’m looking forward to tomorrow already.

We were unsure if we would get flown in this morning. The fog hung on like a heavy blanket. As the day moved on the cloud bank wouldn’t move. The pilots of the float planes don’t fly with instruments. Everything is visually aided and without extended visibility flying isn’t an option. Finally, around 3 p.m. we go flown into camp. The scenery was nothing short of spectacular. I’ve never been to the wilderness of Alaska, but I can only imagine that this is similar to that.

Since there’s no hunting allowed on Sundays right now we took the rest of the day to make sure our bows were still sighted in accurately. After launching a few arrows, dad and I were assured the arrows are going to hit where we aim.

Our lodge mates for the week seem like nice people. We’re staying with a guy about my age named Brad. He’s from Connecticut. Dale and his wife Cindy are our other two lodge mates. They’re a little older than me. It looks like dad’s the oldest and I’m the youngest. I think we’ll have a good time with these folks. Dale and Cindy are from Pennsylvania down near Gettysburg.

Well,

Hunting season is upon us. Although I’m usually in Colorado this time of year, I finally decided to change it up a little this year and go after moose in Newfoundland. Over the last year I’ve become more fascinated with moose and I want to see what it’s like to hunt them.

I arrived in Deer Lake, Newfoundland, Canada today with my dad. We drove 15 hours through rain and fog before we arrived at the ferry in Nova Scotia. The ferry ride went well since we got a room for the night.

The weather is sloppy in Deer Lake. It’s raining and windy. We are flying into Island Pond tomorrow with Dean MacDonald and Moose Valley Outfitters.

Dad and I have never been with an outfitter so it should be interesting. Since you can’t hunt moose in Newfoundland without an outfitter we didn’t have much of a choice. We chose Moose Valley Outfitters because Dean seemed like a normal guy without any BS.

Here’s a picture of the ferry.