As already mentioned on the main page, just one week out from the opening day of moose hunting which was September 14, 2024, I severely sprained my ankle. By opening day I could limp around on flat ground, but walking in the woods, around camp or even operating the gear shifter on my bike were a definite no go. Thankfully this year Roger is the license holder for our group so he and Bassan recruited Troy for extra help. Friday evening they headed down the shore to Troy & Valerie's summer home in Aquaforte which would be their base of operations opening weekend.

After a scouting mission Friday evening the boys were in and set up well before daybreak opening morning. I assisted the crew by remote monitoring my cellular trail cams to see if anything came through.

(2023 pic)

I lent Bassan my Cocall moose caller which worked great last year in its inaugural moose hunt so he put it to work again this year cycling through the various calls periodically throughout the morning.

A little after 8am a curious young cow popped out of the woods well within range of our shooter. Roger connected a successful shot and as Eddy used to say, "the meat is on the ground"!

Roger and Troy with our crew's successful harvest!

In no time at all the boys had the young animal field dressed and halved.

Bassan heading out to grab his Honda Foreman ATV.

The boys weren't in the woods long enough to even eat lunch!

The crew headed back to Troy & Valerie's to hang, skin and clean up the quarters in their garage before heading back to town.

Troy's Honda Pioneer side by side sure came in handy for transporting gear and hunters alike!

Our harvest hanging out for a couple weeks in Mark's dandy meat cooler, again huge thanks to Mark for use of this vital piece of early season hunting equipment.

A couple weeks later and my ankle is better, not cured, but definitely a big improvement. I got the garage all cleared out, moose rack set up and bench cleared & sanitized for moose meat processing! Be sure to stay tuned for more hunting action as I'll be hunting with French & Stroh who still have licenses to fill, and I will be assisting my Father in filling his tags too in a couple weeks time.

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2011 Michael Smith