28.   Having been unsuccessful in my Moose Hunting attempts so far this year, Andrea Bassan (from the Rod and Gun Club) invited me to join him, his father Peter, Troy Coldwell, and his father Blaine on their annual moose hunting trip in Trepassey near the end of November. I graciously took them up on their offer and loaded Project Foreman aboard my Pickup for the drive down the Southern Shore to the Bassan Hunting Lodge in Trepassey.

Over the last couple years, I have been helping Andrea with his own ATV project his 1997 Foreman 400 and I was looking forward to see how our hard work panned out. He had new tires, new disc brakes and a new winch to try out! Troy was sporting his 1988 TRX300 4x4, Peter his 1996 TRX300 4x4, and Blaine had a lend of a 2008 TRX420, it was definitely a Powered by Honda weekend! We had three moose licenses to fill on this trip, mine, Troy's and the Gun Club not for profit License, thankfully they were all either sex.

27.   We arrived in Trepassey Thursday morning and wasted no time in getting the vehicles unloaded and the bikes ready for our first day hunting. By lunch time we were on the trails, with backwoods expert Eddy leading the way. It was about a 40 minute ride to our first hunting area near Doctor's Pond where the three license holders set up strategically while Peter and Eddy drove the woods. In less then 10 munities I heard 3 rifle shots, and over the radio it was confirmed that Troy and his 30-06 Browning BAR had the first Moose of this trip knocked down. We all (minus Bassan) headed over to the kill site and field dressed the dandy cow in record time. Meanwhile Bassan was on the next bog spotting two more Moose taking note of where they entered the woods.

26.   With Troy's harvest field dressed & and halved, Andrea and I set up in strategic locations to hopefully knock down another animal. With Peter and Eddy driving the woods, I only had a short wait when the larger of the two cows emerged from the woods.

25.   Hearing cracking trees sounds coming from the woods I was well prepared. The moose came out of the woods crossing only a 15' wide ATV path less than 60 yards away from where I was standing. I reacted quickly and raised the Tika 300 winmag and connected a successful shot sending tufts of fur everywhere!

24.   I waited a few minutes in case the animal wasn't fully expired, then we followed the blood trail and found the animal expired no more then a dozen yards into the woods! One shot, one moose! I was super stoked and we had the second animal field dressed and halved in short order.

23.   With enough hunting for one day and more work to come, we strapped both halves of my animal to my Foreman which was quite a load! We then went over to Troy's moose and loaded half aboard his TRX 300, and the other half on Andrea's Foreman.

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20.  The guys had fantastic boxes made & fastened to the rear racks of their bikes which easily held half a moose and incorporated a mount for a gun boot. I'll be having one for next year, there's no fooling around with straps or rope and it keeps the animal clean for the ride out.

19.  That evening was quite busy hanging both moose in Eddy's shed where we skinned, quartered, and washed down the meat all while enjoying a few bubbly beverages!

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17.   Friday morning was another early rise as we had a quick breakfast then headed into the country in search of our final moose. It was cold and wet today we were met with snow on the ground in the higher country. I was very appreciative of my newly installed Heated Grips and Thumb Warmer on project Foreman! We travelled a trail well back into the country to black rock stopping and hunting various drokes of woods throughout the morning.

16.   They guys caught a fleeting glimpse of two bull moose just before lunch while walking a trail through dense woods. There was no chance of a successful shot or set-up as the moose were heading deeper into the country. We stopped an had a boil up near one of Eddy's old hunting camps then continued on our way. That afternoon Andrea got to try out his new winch when both he and Troy sunk their bikes in a rather large bog hole. We got the bikes out in no time and were hot on the moose hunt once again. The trail we were following ended up on the same bog we harvested both moose yesterday. We hunted the area again, this time unsuccessfully before heading back to the house for supper.

15.   Saturday morning the decision was made to head out to Cape Mutton.

14.   Apparently it's a rough trail to get there, but the chances of getting a moose were supposedly pretty good. The trail began near the cemetery from there we headed into the woods on ATV crossing a river and some tangly ol' bogs!

13.   I really enjoyed the challenging run on the bikes and we got everyone through the rough places with little trouble.

12.   We hunted a bunch of areas all along the way in and were quite a ways out towards the headland by lunchtime.

11.   That afternoon Bassan, who was set-up in a cutover, connected a dandy 400 yard shot (which could be 600 yards by now if you ask him) with his Browning .308 knocking down our third and final moose. Unfortunately the un-amazing part was that this cow fell in a bit of a tangly area (Eddy sure made this point quite clear! LOL), and we couldn't get the bikes right to it.

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9.   We all trekked in following moose paths and got the animal field dressed, halved then quartered for the manual lug out to the bikes.

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7.   With some cursing and swearing (mostly by yours truly) we managed to get the animal carried out to the bikes following the tangly, twisty old Moose Path to the closest bog. In the future, Project Foreman will be getting to the harvest guaranteed regardless of the perceived difficulty!

6.   That evening we hung, skinned and washed down the quarters in Eddy's shed and found exactly where Andrea hit the moose with his long shot. Suffice it to say, one rear quarter was turned mostly to soup meat, but he did a good job.

5.   With all of our licenses successfully filled, we spent Sunday cleaning the house, washing the worst of the bog off the bikes and loading up our vehicles for the drive back to town.

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