Forget work dude. We've gots to get the skinny!
Fair enough
Ask and you shall receive..... So the first leg of the trip started with sitting at the gate for 1.5hrs because of a mechanical issue with the plane at DFW; then change planes and land in Winnipeg where we are met by the our camp cook/guide.
Remember kids expect the unexpected.... After the pain of getting through Canadian customs with guns we made it to Vermilion Bay and spent the night there and boarded the turbo otter float plane and went to camp.- Thank god I threw in a couple of metal blades for my meat saw, the locks for my rifle case ended up jamming and wouldn't open with the correct combination and I had to cut 2 of them off.
We landed 3 days before the non-resident moose season started and used that time for scouting and I got a black bear tag so I could hunt bear for the first 3 days before the season, since I've never shot a bear I thought it was worth the $250 gamble on buying the tag..... so I spent 2 hrs setting up a bait stand and blind and get a bear coming in only to have a Canadian resident illegally park his boat tied to my bait marker - the boat was there and they accessed this area by illegal means.
As I understand it people can fish and hunt this lake that the outfitter has leased, they just have to remove any mechanized equipment every day when they are done and cannot leave any equipment over night and we're talking about having to pack everything in for 1.5miles from an old logging road.... So this clown comes in and has his moose hunting boat tied to the tree my bear bait marker in on and completely screws over my bear hunting on this stand and since he is a resident he gets to start hunting 3 days before us.... for the same moose we paid $$$$ to hunt and needless to say we were not happy about this and the outfitter left a note on the boat informing him he was trespassing and telling him it had been reported - Which said poacher ignored and he continued to hunt despite 2 more face to face confrontations with every other member of our hunting party except me.... The guide thought it best that I not have contact with him due to my "Texas Personality"
Notice how he left boat, motor, fuel tank, lunch cooler, rifle, shells and muck boots.
Opening Morning - The hunt is on and were out looking for Moose, the weather is windy which made calling all but impossible although I was able to locate tracks and other sign.
That morning Rich who is one of my hunting buddies spots 3 moose and a black bear at a lake connected to the one were hunting by a 45min ride up a shallow river that's filled with beaver damns; we found this place while scouting and there is moose sign everywhere and there are 2 stands the "point" & the "rock" I found the rock and its 20' tall granite outcrop that you can walk up and see 600yds in every direction.... So the plan is made that I will come in with rich in the morning and we will sit on both stands and sit there ALL DAY.
When we get to the mouth of this remote lake at 6:45 the next morning and Rich asks me which stand I want to hunt..... and I tell him I want to hunt the Rock stand, he tells me "Hunt either one you want, but I think the point is the better option and you'll probably have a better shot at a moose there."
Rich has killed moose before and he is old enough to be my dad and wanted to set me up for success so I told him "I want to hunt the rock but if you think my better option is hunting the point and you want me to have the best odds of getting a shot then I'll hunt the point"..... Well 3hrs of sitting on the point with the north wind blowing in my face straight off the lake and freezing me to the bone I hear the tail tale BOOM-WHOPPP! of Rich's .300wby fire and the sound of the bullet hitting- followed by 2 more shots and Rich has a bull moose down.
Rich picks me up and we go and look for the downed bull..... it didn't go 20yds and 2 of the three shots hit home both of which were lung and the second one severed the heart from the aorta. .300wby 180gr. Barnes TSX at 200yds
Now the work begins..... This Bull is estimated to be 1,100ish pounds and its time to break out the meat saw and knives; there were conflicting opinions on how best to handle the quartering process - My self and Rich would have preferred to lay out a tarp and use the game bags we brought to skin the animal and lay out the skinned hind quarters, front shoulders, back straps, loins and rib meat and since it was 10am we had all day to make this happen and could simply return to camp with skinned quarters and rib sections cleaned and in game bags to hang.....
The guide/cook insisted the best way was to take the quarters with hide and ribs still attached to the quarters all the way back to camp..... he breaks out a kids snow sled to drag out the quarters - which was laughable and I just ended up throwing the quarters over my shoulder and hauling them to the boats.
That's one hind quarter on my shoulder....and I'm 6'3" 275lbs
I do not recommend this method because you end up having to haul 200ish lbs of hide and bone that is not needed at all! - Then you get to handle everything again when you get back to camp..... sitting on the dock skinning a front shoulder quarter out.
So with one bull down and another cow tag to go we all continue hunting as we had a truck and coolers waiting to haul all the moose meat home we could; we never could connect with a cow..... if this hunt had a theme song it would be "against the wind" because it was windy the entire time; except for the morning we leave to fly out - COLD & CALM
So we fly out and stop at the bait shop in Vermilion Bay to get a "Moose export permit" because the Canadian government loves to hit you with every fee and tax they can.... Example - A single can of Copenhagen Long Cut costs $26.75 Canadian ($21.40 American!)
While walking out of the bait shop one member of my hunting party yells "did you get the export permit" and then the 2 Canadian game wardens getting gas at the bait shop descend on us like flying monkeys on the Wizard of OZ and I sit there answering questions about our hunt for 45min before they agree my paperwork is in order and we can begin the 24hr straight drive back to Dallas.
