Northern Ontario Moose Hunt 2010
Oct 19, 2010 17:30:09 GMT -5
Post by smokeeter on Oct 19, 2010 17:30:09 GMT -5
We just got back from our annual moose hunt in Northern Ontario. This years trip had a bit of a twist. There were only 3 members of our group able to go this year. Myself , my oldest son and the old guy. Two other members had other commitments and my second son couldn't arrange time off of his newly acquired job, he was recently hired by the Toronto Fire Department ( that makes 3 smokeeters in the family now).
This is complete do it yourself hunt and we haul all of our gear, usually in two trucks and trailers. this year we crammed all of our equipment in one truck/trailer. To say we were loaded is an understatement. I wasn't sure how we were going to manage to bring any moose home if we were successful in filling either of the two bull tags we possessed. We left a day earlier than normal since there were only 3 of us to do the work of 5, and departed on Monday, the season opener was on Saturday and we planned to hunt for 2 weeks.
We travel 1600km's which usually takes 16 hrs. then we have to unload and reload to forge a river and continue the last 10 mi.to the end of an old cut road where we set up our camp.
we were about 13 hrs into our trip at around 3:30 AM when I narrowly missed a cow moose with the truck, at least they seemed to be on the move.
We arrived at the transfer location at around 2 PM then started the trek in by ATV.
Our camp consists of a 14X16 ft prospector tent complete with wood stove and cots, and a plywood floor system over plastic, it cuts down on the dampness and makes a nice level surface.
The cook tent is a custom made canvas wall tent with 6 ft sides also with a wood stove and landscape cloth for the floor.We use a generator for lighting and even have an outside dish washing station and shower. All the comforts of home.
When we arrived at our camp destination we set up the sleeping tent first , just to have a place to sleep. We would spend the next 4 days setting up camp, scouting and erecting our stands.
Cutting firewood and partridge was the next order of business. We got enough birds the first day of get out the BO-Gratch ( a cauldron used for cooking outdoors) and whip up our world famous Hungarian Goo lash Ala partridge.
It was unseasonably warm and we were concerned if we got our moose earlier the weather might spoil things in a hurry.
Fortunately success didn't come until the 4 th day, Tuesday morning I called in a mature bull , the shot was 150 yrds and I was using my Bad Boy II with the krieger, and shooting my modified nosler 300 grainers spitzerized and con caved with a veggie wad and 59 gr. charge of H 4198 powder. I hit the bull square in the shoulder and he still managed to travel 40 yrds and was about 60 ft. from the river , which we usually float the beast back to camp with our makeshift catamaran made up of two 16 ft. canoes and 5 hp. motor.
My young lad and myself manhandled the bull into the water and after about 1/2 an hour had it bobbing in the river, while the old guy caught it all on film.
We had him back at camp by noon, we ate lunch then proceeded to dress , skin , and quarter the moose. We had it bagged and hung by 6:00 PM. Not a bad days work.
The following morning had me hunting with the old guy and tried my luck at calling a bull into him, while my son was set up about 500 yrds away on another part of the river. No luck that morning, and we returned to camp for lunch. My son felt that it would be better if he spread out and hunted my original stand while I continued to hunt with the old guy that afternoon. We didn't have any action but while we were walking back to the ATV we heard a shot that could have come from my sons location and low and behold he contacted us on the radio confirming he shot at a bull while paddling back to camp in the canoe, the moose didn't drop after the shot and had travelled at least 100 yrd from what he could guess. We met at camp and downed our dinner and went out to search for the animal in the dark but to no avail. after 2 hrs we retired back to camp and decided to continue in the morning. We were out at daybreak and only found two small deposits of blood near where he first shot the moose. we scoured the area for another 3 hrs when we happened upon the downed bull. a nice 1 1/2 yr old bull and after inspection of the meat with the cold night we had everything looked good. This one couldn't be floated back to camp so we dressed him and skinned and quartered him and bagged him then packed him the 200 or so yrds back to the canoe then paddled back to camp where the meat was hung with the first one.
That concluded this years hunt. It was tough for 3 considering you still require almost the same amount of stuff as for 5 except for the personal stuff.
The old guy dubbed us Two and Half Men. this year, I still haven't figure out who the half guy was,we each did the work of 2 men.
Here are a few pics.
setting up the floor system
The two tents up
inside the tents
after a walk up the road
The BO-Gratch
The shower ( sideways)
First moose with the Krieger
The catamaran
Michael's moose
A view of the river
At sunset
What a 300 grain modified nosler will do ( this is the exit side, never recovered the bullet)
This is complete do it yourself hunt and we haul all of our gear, usually in two trucks and trailers. this year we crammed all of our equipment in one truck/trailer. To say we were loaded is an understatement. I wasn't sure how we were going to manage to bring any moose home if we were successful in filling either of the two bull tags we possessed. We left a day earlier than normal since there were only 3 of us to do the work of 5, and departed on Monday, the season opener was on Saturday and we planned to hunt for 2 weeks.
We travel 1600km's which usually takes 16 hrs. then we have to unload and reload to forge a river and continue the last 10 mi.to the end of an old cut road where we set up our camp.
we were about 13 hrs into our trip at around 3:30 AM when I narrowly missed a cow moose with the truck, at least they seemed to be on the move.
We arrived at the transfer location at around 2 PM then started the trek in by ATV.
Our camp consists of a 14X16 ft prospector tent complete with wood stove and cots, and a plywood floor system over plastic, it cuts down on the dampness and makes a nice level surface.
The cook tent is a custom made canvas wall tent with 6 ft sides also with a wood stove and landscape cloth for the floor.We use a generator for lighting and even have an outside dish washing station and shower. All the comforts of home.
When we arrived at our camp destination we set up the sleeping tent first , just to have a place to sleep. We would spend the next 4 days setting up camp, scouting and erecting our stands.
Cutting firewood and partridge was the next order of business. We got enough birds the first day of get out the BO-Gratch ( a cauldron used for cooking outdoors) and whip up our world famous Hungarian Goo lash Ala partridge.
It was unseasonably warm and we were concerned if we got our moose earlier the weather might spoil things in a hurry.
Fortunately success didn't come until the 4 th day, Tuesday morning I called in a mature bull , the shot was 150 yrds and I was using my Bad Boy II with the krieger, and shooting my modified nosler 300 grainers spitzerized and con caved with a veggie wad and 59 gr. charge of H 4198 powder. I hit the bull square in the shoulder and he still managed to travel 40 yrds and was about 60 ft. from the river , which we usually float the beast back to camp with our makeshift catamaran made up of two 16 ft. canoes and 5 hp. motor.
My young lad and myself manhandled the bull into the water and after about 1/2 an hour had it bobbing in the river, while the old guy caught it all on film.
We had him back at camp by noon, we ate lunch then proceeded to dress , skin , and quarter the moose. We had it bagged and hung by 6:00 PM. Not a bad days work.
The following morning had me hunting with the old guy and tried my luck at calling a bull into him, while my son was set up about 500 yrds away on another part of the river. No luck that morning, and we returned to camp for lunch. My son felt that it would be better if he spread out and hunted my original stand while I continued to hunt with the old guy that afternoon. We didn't have any action but while we were walking back to the ATV we heard a shot that could have come from my sons location and low and behold he contacted us on the radio confirming he shot at a bull while paddling back to camp in the canoe, the moose didn't drop after the shot and had travelled at least 100 yrd from what he could guess. We met at camp and downed our dinner and went out to search for the animal in the dark but to no avail. after 2 hrs we retired back to camp and decided to continue in the morning. We were out at daybreak and only found two small deposits of blood near where he first shot the moose. we scoured the area for another 3 hrs when we happened upon the downed bull. a nice 1 1/2 yr old bull and after inspection of the meat with the cold night we had everything looked good. This one couldn't be floated back to camp so we dressed him and skinned and quartered him and bagged him then packed him the 200 or so yrds back to the canoe then paddled back to camp where the meat was hung with the first one.
That concluded this years hunt. It was tough for 3 considering you still require almost the same amount of stuff as for 5 except for the personal stuff.
The old guy dubbed us Two and Half Men. this year, I still haven't figure out who the half guy was,we each did the work of 2 men.
Here are a few pics.
setting up the floor system
The two tents up
inside the tents
after a walk up the road
The BO-Gratch
The shower ( sideways)
First moose with the Krieger
The catamaran
Michael's moose
A view of the river
At sunset
What a 300 grain modified nosler will do ( this is the exit side, never recovered the bullet)
