As already mentioned on the main page, just one week before the opening day of moose hunting which was September 14, 2024 I severely sprained my ankle. When opening day arrived I could barely limp around on flat ground, but walking in the woods, around camp, climbing in/out of the Argo or even operating the gear shifter on my bike were all a definite no go. Thankfully this year Roger is the license holder for our group so he and Bassan recruited Troy for some 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 thorough scouting mission Friday evening the boys were in the country and set up well before daybreak opening morning. I assisted the crew as best I was able by live monitoring my cellular trail cams to see if anything came through.

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

A little after 8am a curious young cow popped out of the woods well within range of our hunting crew. After waiting what seemed like an eternity for the animal to turn side on, Roger connected a successful shot and as Eddy would 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, halved and ready for transport.

Bassan heading out to grab his 1997 Foreman 400 to transport their harvest out to the trucks.

The boys weren't even in the woods long enough to eat their 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 both gear and hunters in ultimate comfort!

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. It only pains most of the time now instead of all the time. I got the garage all cleared out, moose rack set up and the stainless steel bench cleared off & sanitized for moose meat processing!

The weekend before Sandra and I flew out to Jamaica, Roger and Bassan got to work cutting up and processing this years harvest.

Although the animal this year was on the small side, meat in the freezer is always better than meat still running around the woods! Be sure to stay tuned for more hunting action as I'll be joining French & Stroh who still have licenses to fill, and I will be assisting my Father in filling his tags too, hopefully in just a few weeks time.

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith