October 14-15, 2022: Moose Hunting with the French's (26 Photos)
Moose hunting season 2022 is going well so far. Despite being hurricane'd out opening weekend (two years in a row) I filled my tags on the second weekend of the season. Since then the French crew have made a number of trips down the Southern Shore. Weekends filled up quickly for the crew with work, hobbles, family camping, weddings and events scheduled on the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. Mark managed to take some additional time off for some midweek hunts while the rest the crew toiled on with the unrelenting task of working for a living.
Now in the middle of October, this weekends forecast of great weather with light wind, decent temperatures and finally no rain led us to head down the shore for another crack at Matthew's tags!
I loaded up Project Foreman and headed down the shore just after lunch on Friday well ahead of the crew. This would give me time to do some spotting in our usual areas, as well as checking out potential new to us hunting areas along the recently opened extension of the Southern Shore Trailway in Renews/Cappahayden.
This brand new section of Trailway is a welcome addition to the area, it connects over to the wind farm road and beyond!
By mid afternoon French & Stroh arrived with his 2017 Argo Huntmaster and our camping accommodations in tow. We quickly got his machine unloaded, formulated a plan, got back in the country and set-up for an evening hunt.
Conditions were fantastic and Mark did a great job calling but alas there was no sign of Moose this evening.
Mark and I prepared supper tonight which consisted of a dandy feed of my recently made Wild Game - Jalapeño - Cheddar Cheese moose sausages, Noodles and a Cesar Salad.
Matthew & Andrew French arrived early Saturday morning and everyone suited up for the morning hunt. Unfortunately my ankle, which has been acting up since my last moose hunting outing, flared up something fierce after Friday's intense walking/scouting leaving me unable to get in the woods with the 'byes.
With no success this morning Matthew cooked up a feed of Lasagne flavoured hamburger helper which made for a dandy hearty meal back at camp.
I was of no help to the crew not being able to walk or stand very long, so after lunch I loaded up Project Foreman and headed back to town to rest my now very swollen ankle.
The boys went on to have a great afternoon/evening in the woods. Stroh and Matthew made a long circling trek way back in the country and even came upon a pair of animals. Unfortunately having bushwhacked for over half an hour it was unwise to make a shot and risk not getting the harvest back to the truck through some pretty hellish woods.
Saturday night Matthew & Andrew also headed back to town while Stroh and Mark stayed up one more night for another hunt early Sunday morning. Despite great weather, awesome food, amazing memories and near ideal hunting conditions the fortune of Moose being in the right place at the right time evaded us this trip.
Cheers, MIKE
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