Part 2 of our 2020 Moose Hunting Extravaganza actually began much like the first just a few weeks later. For the first weeks of moose hunting season Stroh had been carrying Harry's Remington 7mm magnum rifle as his own recently purchased rifle had not yet arrived. However that changed this week when the crew from Complete Gun Repairs called and said it was ready. On October 3rd Stroh and I headed out to the St. John's Rod and Gun Club so he could shoot his new rifle, but more importantly practice & become comfortable with it.

His new shooting stick is a Sako Grey Wolf chambered in 30.06 with a 3.5-10x40 Leupold VX3i scope, an absolutely beautiful and stout combination that will serve him well for decades to come.

Stroh put a lot rounds down range that evening in small groups letting the barrel cool between sets. Once comfortable using the bench I had him practice shooting how he would be in the woods standing or kneeling, and without a gun rest.

In between sets while Stroh let his barrel cool I took advantage of the downtime in supervising my guest to throw some lead down range. Today I took my recently acquired Marlin 30-30 lever action which was real fun to shoot, and my trusty Stevens .223 which is outfitted with a beautiful Boyd's thumbhole laminated stock.

The following morning French, Stroh, Harry, Matthew and I headed back down the Southern Shore for another kick at filling a set of tags.

We never had any luck that morning and today Matthew was on lunch duty cooking up a feed of his new personally crafted moose sausages with beans/bacon on Stroh's propane stove. It was another amazing backwoods meal!

After lunch we took a run further in the road as far as a big lookout before making our way back to our usual grounds to set up for the evening hunt.

I don't remember where French, Harry & Matthew set up but Stroh and I headed to the long skinny bog and set up using my iPhone moose caller app. After awhile Stroh headed in the trail towards the big clearing where he spooked a cow and bull back into the woods long before he could even take a shot. He came back to the long skinny bog and we tried calling them out. They called back a lot and made a bunch of noise in the woods but wouldn't show themselves.

However, from the complete opposite direction we kept hearing branches breaking every time I made a bawl with the caller. I was using a free iPhone app and nothing other than my phone's speaker making bawls at 5ish minute intervals. Legal light was coming to a close but the animal was getting closer and closer. Finally with only seven minutes to spare a young bull popped out onto the bog 100 yards away. Stroh put his new light gathering Leupold scope to the test and connected a successful single shot harvest of this young bull!

These two photos are from one of our game cameras that just so happened to be located on the very trail the young bull chose to walk out on! It looks dark in these photos due to dwindling daylight and the camera's infrared flash reflecting off nearby branches in the foreground.

French, Matthew and Harry soon arrived and we set to work field dressing the animal under flashlight power.

This was Stroh's very first moose harvest and of course the first harvest for his new Sako rifle!

With the moose all loaded up in French's 8x8 Argo we threw the rest of the gear in my machine and headed back to the trucks.

The only downside to an evening hunt is that it made for a late night of skinning, trimming and washing by the time you get back to town. Once again Harry's fantastic moose processing facility was put to good use.

One main difference this time is that French & Stroh's dandy creation was finally finished, a semi portable refrigerated cooling room which will keep the quarters chilled regardless of the weather.

It's an absolutely dandy set up that allowed us to hang the quarters for a week before processing. Next up is my Thanksgiving Hunt!

Cheers, MIKE

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