I was lucky this year and managed to draw a moose tag here in NB. A few years ago our group switched and started applying in a new zone where my cousin had an old family camp that we've recently taken over. We've managed to have someone get a tag every year for the past 3 years and have shot a moose each year on the first day before noon. One of the best part of hunting this area is that there are very few people around. There's usually 1 or 2 other groups in the nearby camps but this year no one else drew a tag so the whole camp cluster was empty except for us.
We had been up to the area a few weeks before do do some extra scouting, find some backup spots and see which areas have fresh clearcuts. It's been super dry in the province this summer so finding anything green and wet was the game plan. There is a small swamp that always has lots of track and sign around that is our main stand location and we decided on an old cut road that ran through a wet area and down towards a swamp that had lots of tracks up and down as our plan B.
This year with the season starting on tuesday 3 of us headed up to the camp sunday afternoon. We got unpacked, set up our ladder stands and then did some work fixing up some things around the camp that had been neglected over the years and settled in for a week looking for a moose.
The gameplan for monday was to get up early and just go for a drive around and see if we see any moose in an area we didn't think about or drove past without exploring thinking it wasn't a place that would hold any. In a nearby clearcut that is more or less on the way to our setup at the small swamp we saw a small spike bull immediately as soon as we pulled in to the close end of the cut. we watch it for a few seconds and then continue on. as we pull up to the far end of the cut we see movement to our right and have two bulls (one medium sized and one big boy) and two cows on the edge of the tree line. We watch them for a few minutes before they wandered off in to the trees.
After they left we drove to a few other clearcuts around and saw two different cows in different spots but no more bulls. Later in the day the other 2 of our group met us at the camp.
On tuesday morning as the season opens where we saw so many moose on in the cuts on the way to our swamp we decide to head to that cut where we saw the two bulls about an hour before first light and see if we can find them again and if we don't see anything within the first 20 minutes or so head to our swamp setup.
We pull in to a spot where we have decent sight of the end of the cut where we saw the bulls and we get out of the truck to wait.
About 10 or 15 minutes before light we can see a big dark shape moving along the cut around 150 yards away from us but it's too dark to tell much beside it's a moose. it walks from the left, out to the road and then off the road to the right where we lose sight of it in the darker shadows. Around the time we lose sight of it another dark shape of a moose comes out on the road and starts walking right towards us. We think it was a small bull, It came from around the same spot we saw the first one (that we now assume was a cow) and was walking the same line following the first one and i think i saw our shapes and thought we were the other moose and started walking towards us. it came to around 50 yards away before it smelled or heard something it didn't like and turned to our left and melted into the shadows.
At this point we're 5 minutes from first light so we can make out that it was a moose but not much else and we're hoping he hangs out in the cut to our left or the big boy comes out behind him once it's light enough to see. As the light finally comes up though and we can see what is around us there are no moose in sight. we called a couple of time, waited a bit and then decided to carry on to the swamp so we jump in the truck and continue on.
As we drive down the road and come out to the next clearcut where we had gotten a cow 2 years before we slowed down just in case we see something here and as we come up over the crest of a small hill we see 2 younger bulls right off of the side of the cut road. We hopped out and got one shot off on the bigger of the two before they started to run back down in to the cut. about half way to the tree line the one we hit stopped and we got a second shot in it and it went another 60 or so yards and tipped over before it made it to the tree line.
After that the real work started. We got it field dressed pretty quickly but the cut was full of foot high stumps and foot deep skidder ruts so there was lots of chainsaw work to cut the stump tops off and tossing them in to the deepest holes to get the side by side out to where we could reach it with the winch. When we finally got a strap around it attached it was a quick drag out, on to a trailer and back to the camp to be skinned and quartered and piled in the cooler with all the extra ice blocks we brought.
After it was all said and done we now had another 5 days worth of food to cook and eat before we packed up and headed for home the next morning.
We had been up to the area a few weeks before do do some extra scouting, find some backup spots and see which areas have fresh clearcuts. It's been super dry in the province this summer so finding anything green and wet was the game plan. There is a small swamp that always has lots of track and sign around that is our main stand location and we decided on an old cut road that ran through a wet area and down towards a swamp that had lots of tracks up and down as our plan B.
This year with the season starting on tuesday 3 of us headed up to the camp sunday afternoon. We got unpacked, set up our ladder stands and then did some work fixing up some things around the camp that had been neglected over the years and settled in for a week looking for a moose.
The gameplan for monday was to get up early and just go for a drive around and see if we see any moose in an area we didn't think about or drove past without exploring thinking it wasn't a place that would hold any. In a nearby clearcut that is more or less on the way to our setup at the small swamp we saw a small spike bull immediately as soon as we pulled in to the close end of the cut. we watch it for a few seconds and then continue on. as we pull up to the far end of the cut we see movement to our right and have two bulls (one medium sized and one big boy) and two cows on the edge of the tree line. We watch them for a few minutes before they wandered off in to the trees.
After they left we drove to a few other clearcuts around and saw two different cows in different spots but no more bulls. Later in the day the other 2 of our group met us at the camp.
On tuesday morning as the season opens where we saw so many moose on in the cuts on the way to our swamp we decide to head to that cut where we saw the two bulls about an hour before first light and see if we can find them again and if we don't see anything within the first 20 minutes or so head to our swamp setup.
We pull in to a spot where we have decent sight of the end of the cut where we saw the bulls and we get out of the truck to wait.
About 10 or 15 minutes before light we can see a big dark shape moving along the cut around 150 yards away from us but it's too dark to tell much beside it's a moose. it walks from the left, out to the road and then off the road to the right where we lose sight of it in the darker shadows. Around the time we lose sight of it another dark shape of a moose comes out on the road and starts walking right towards us. We think it was a small bull, It came from around the same spot we saw the first one (that we now assume was a cow) and was walking the same line following the first one and i think i saw our shapes and thought we were the other moose and started walking towards us. it came to around 50 yards away before it smelled or heard something it didn't like and turned to our left and melted into the shadows.
At this point we're 5 minutes from first light so we can make out that it was a moose but not much else and we're hoping he hangs out in the cut to our left or the big boy comes out behind him once it's light enough to see. As the light finally comes up though and we can see what is around us there are no moose in sight. we called a couple of time, waited a bit and then decided to carry on to the swamp so we jump in the truck and continue on.
As we drive down the road and come out to the next clearcut where we had gotten a cow 2 years before we slowed down just in case we see something here and as we come up over the crest of a small hill we see 2 younger bulls right off of the side of the cut road. We hopped out and got one shot off on the bigger of the two before they started to run back down in to the cut. about half way to the tree line the one we hit stopped and we got a second shot in it and it went another 60 or so yards and tipped over before it made it to the tree line.
After that the real work started. We got it field dressed pretty quickly but the cut was full of foot high stumps and foot deep skidder ruts so there was lots of chainsaw work to cut the stump tops off and tossing them in to the deepest holes to get the side by side out to where we could reach it with the winch. When we finally got a strap around it attached it was a quick drag out, on to a trailer and back to the camp to be skinned and quartered and piled in the cooler with all the extra ice blocks we brought.
After it was all said and done we now had another 5 days worth of food to cook and eat before we packed up and headed for home the next morning.
