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Well it is time for another hunt travel log from me. In 2011 I reported my WY trip here
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5713412/1

And in 2013 I reported my Dall sheep Yukon trip here
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/8383265/1

This year it is a moose hunt, but also a story of connections between generations. Some background will he necessary. In the late 1950's my Dad started going to Ear Falls Ontario on lac Seul to hunt and fish. Indiana had no deer season at that time so every couple years Dad would hunt deer and moose up there and every summer we would go on a family fishing trip to Lac Seul. In 1972 I took my first deer in Indiana, a massive 4 point, while Dad was moose hunting. He was suprised when he returned that we actually had enough deer to hunt at home. He started deer hunting at home with me, and I saw him take his only Indiana deer, a massive 6 point, and he was with me when I took my first archery deer, a small 8 point.
Dad returned to Lac Seul in 1974 for his last moose hunt and took a 32" bull. Due to school, work and life in general we were never able to hunt Lac Seul together. 2010 would have been Dad's 100th birthday and I decided to go to Lac Seul for a moose hunt. This story starts then and ends last week.
Here is a picture of Mom and Dad from the late 1950's.

In 2010 I booked a moose hunt with Anderson's Lodge out of Sioux Lookout on the Eastern side of Lac Seul. My friend Curt went with me and despite horrible weather, we were impressed with the effort and service provided by Anderson's.Due to extreme high winds and rain the week saw few moose sightings except for a cow and a few calfs. Our tags were good for bull or calf but I just wasn't ready to fill it on this guy.

Or this one

When we left we booked again for 2012.

2012 Curt and I returned to better weather and more moose sightings.

Cow the first day

We saw 11 moose total, Curt took a calf, I passed a spike, missed a chance at a good bull, and missed a shot at a spike the next to the last day. The Anderson crew, Jody, Jackie, Arron, and Kevin continued to impress us with their hard work and great facilities.
Jody fixing walleye shore lunch.


Third time is a charm. I'm coming back in 2014.

So here i am on Oct. 13, 2014 driving up to Souix Lookout by myself. Curt could not make it this year so I am solo. Two day drive and I check in at Anderson's main lodge at 5:00 Tues. the 14th. Wed. morning I get my moose tag and drive over to the boat landing to meet Jody. He has been in the Northern most outpost camp for 2 days and already seen 3 bulls, a cow and a calf. We load my gear into the 21' Bowrider and head North for a two hour boat ride.

Pickrel Narrows camp was rebuilt in 2013 so is all new and very comfortable. Arron was in camp to help along with Mark. We unload my gear into my room and have some lunch.

Then it is into the 16' boat for the first afternoon of scouting and an evening hunt sit and call session.



Back to camp for a chicken dinner. First full day of hunting tomorrow.

It's a great story already. I'm very interested to see how this story develops.

Looking forward to following along. Thanks for posting.

Way to persevere! I'm looking forward to the rest of the story!

Cheers,
Eric

Full day 1, 4:30 am
Aaron and Mark have breakfast ready. We eat, fill our thermos with coffee and head to the boat. Mornings are usually spent sitting on a bay or crossing watching for moose moving out to feed. This morning I am in a pop up blind on what I'll call South bay. The wind is from the South which is perfect for this location.

No moose seen by 9:30 so Jody picks me up and we go to the next bay East which I'll call B bay. After a morning set you cruse likely bays based upon the wind direction. B bay is great for a South wind.

After idling up a side river we see our first moose in a back bay.

Cow, not good on my tag but we putt up to within 40 yards of her and get pictures.

Leaving B bay it is time to catch some walleye for a shore lunch, then go North to cruise back down C bay, where we sat the evening before.


The beavers were busy getting ready for winter, but no moose.


Back to camp where the cabin is warm and the meal hot. Forecast is for a strong front to move in from the North tomorrow with rain and high winds.

Day 2
Weather forecast was right. Started the day in the blind at South bay but the wind was wrong. After an hour Jody picked me up and we moved to a stream on the West side of the lake. Good sign, and we plan to sit here this evening. We move way North and going up a little river we spot 2 moose in a sheltered bay. Quick turn into the back side of the point and we stalk around the point. They are gone, caught our wind. Tracks and droppings indicate a bull, cow and calf. Jody had seen a trio on Tues. about a half mile from here out on a main lake point. Could be the same group. We will keep an eye on this spot the rest of the week when the wind is right.
Finished the day with a set on the East side bay. No moose.
horrible weather day. Didn't even get the camera out. Clearing tonight with South winds tomorrow.

Man I love this! Thanks for posting it!

I like the play by play!! Good luck!

Thanks for sharing, Woody.
Make it happen!

Day 3

I had picked this day as a killing day because the weather front had moved through, wind was to slow and shift to the South, and I thought critters would be on the move. Sat the morning at the West bay with no activity (other than the beavers).

Mid-morning we headed up to C bay because the wind was now from the South. No luck there. Checked the trio bay, then had lunch. Lunch was walleye salad sandwichs and homemade chicken soup. Headed back South West for the afternoon and stopped on the shoreline for a leg stretch and pee break. While talking about the history of the lake Jody says "Look" and points to a bay on an island a couple thousand yards away. A moose has stepped out. I glass it and it is a cow but a second, bigger one follows her. Big bull! We get in the boat an slowly circle to get down wind. The moose cross the shoreline and move into the timber. There are two bays they could be headed to. We pick the back bay and set up. No sound or sign after 20 minutes so we get in the boat and Jody paddles up to the point of the middle bay. We hear a stick break and know they are there. We get out on shore and ease around the point spotting the cow at only 30 yards. She gets a little spooky and moves back around the bay about 80 yards, then settles down. I am on my shooting sticks waiting for the bull to step out.

After about 15 minutes we hear a loud snort/roar from the bush behind her. Never heard a moose make that noise before. Cross between an elephant trumpet and lion roar. Cow looks back toward the noise. Bull calls again and she walks back into the woods to join him. Close,exciting, but somewhat disapointing.

We slip back to the boat and ease away. This is not a big island, maybe 70 acres, and we think as long as they are not spooked we have a good chance to catch them here tomorrow. We circle the back bay and find a narrow opening between this island and an even smaller island. Tomorrow I'll sit on the point of the smaller island and it will give me a good view of the back bay. Jody will take the boat to the opposite side and watch those two bays. If they pop out there he will come around to get me.
I have a good feeling about this. Back to camp for the night.

Day 4

Aaron and Mark have a big breakfast ready again and lots of hot coffee. Jody and I head to the back side of the island well before daylight. We beach the boat in the sand on the small island and walk over to the grassy point. Walking in the dark with no lights I pick my way over some drift wood on the beach, step up into the grass and miss seeing a log in the grass. I trip, fall hard and jam my right knee into another log in from of me and crack my left shin on top of that log. Jody is asking if I am alright and I cannot even answer. I lay there a few seconds, roll over and make sure everything is working, then get set up under a small pine. Jody takes the boat to the other side of the island and I dig in my pack for some Alieve. My shin is killing me. As it gets light I like what I see.

The sand is covered with tracks where they have crossed betweek islands. The morning weather is constantly changing with fronts, a little snow, rain, and mostly South wind.

About 10:00 Jody picks me up. No moose on either side of the island. I point out the tracks and he checks the other beach.

It starts raining and we leave to go cruise B bay. We have lunch there and decide the beach looks too good to ignore. We decide to get the tent blind, set it up there and sit the rest of the day. When we get out on the beach the tracks tell us the bull came through while we were gone. Jody says cows will leave their calves on an island while they go off to breed with a bull. The tracks look like she came over to check on her calf a couple times, the bull followed, she went back to the big island, and the last trip she took the calf with her. Either that or there is another cow and calf in the area. We clear the sand of tracks on both sides and I set here for the rest of the day and all of day 5. No moose. How disapointing. Time for a new plan for the last two days.

Day 6

At the end of day 4 my right knee and left shin were both swollen and brusied from the fall I took. L would limp around some the rest of the week but at least this was not a heavy hiking type hunt.
After supper on Day 5 we looked at the map to decide what to do on day 6. A full day of running and looking in the boat, trying to find moose on the move.
We headed out after breakfast and hit B bay and South bay first, then West bay, then headed North. Wind was from the South. Jody thought he saw one on the distant shore. I declared it a Bigfoot sighting as he described it as "a large dark figure moving into the timber". We hit trio bay and had lunch by the falls.



Then back East into new territory, down Spooky bay. No signs of life here, not even beaver or otters. But the view was nice.




Down to the South East. Some great looking area, but no moose. Sky had cleared, wind was calming as we headed back to camp.
[img]http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l528/54Woody/imagejpg3_zpsa7093fbe.jpg[/img]

Day 7 Last Day

Over supper we had discussed what day 7 would bring after 3 days of not seeing moose. One thing I have learned about moose is they are not predictable. They may suddenly appear where you have not seen them before, or show up in a new spot. I kept telling myself not to give up. Mark said we would see moose on day 7 and I would kill one. His reasons were the wind had been stable from the South and would stay that way, the skys had cleared because the front was through, cool night so they should be out feeding in the morning.
We head out and go to B bay first. At 8:15 we see our first moose as it steps in the timber. We pull over and watch to see if it will walk through to the next shoreline. In 20 minutes we move on and immediately see a cow and calf at the waters edge. They drink then move to cover. I am feeling this is all a good sign. We move on to South bay. I glass the shore and see nothing but notice Jody is turning the boat in behind the tree line. I look at him and he says my new favorite 4 word phrase, "Bull In The Water"!

I took one look through my binos and saw a bull feeding, shoulder deep in the bay. We tie up the boat and move 20 yards through the treeline to the shore. I range him at about 193 yards. I sit up on my shooting sticks but cannot see the moose clearly. The sun is in my eyes and he is behind a large log with a big root wad. Hard to tell what is dark log and what is dark moose. I move to my left and the cattails are too high to see from a sitting position. I try to use a small pine for a rest, too limber. Jody motions me to the right. The wind is in our face strong and the bull continues feeding without knowing we are there. I sit up this time and he is clear of the log. Now I need to wait for more of his chest to clear the water. He will move a couple steps to the left, take a bite of water weeds and raise his head up high to chew. The next couple steps raise his front end out of the water to about mid chest. I put the crosshairs on high shoulder and touch it off.
BOOM, the shot felt good. The next sound I heard was the WHAAP of a 150 grain Nosler Partition hitting a wet moose.
Jody yells "He's down, he's kicking and swirling in the water".

Jody is grabing my hand and slapping my back. "You knocked him down. Wait, he is getting up and stumbling toward the trees. Shoot him again!"
I fire two offhand shots, sure I missed both times. I drop the magazine from my Tikka and reach for my spare to reload. Jody says he made the trees but looked hurt. The first shot hit him hard. We decide to wait 30 minutes.
In the Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald Gordan Lightfoot says "Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?" I could relate to that as we waited, waves lapping the shore. Drank some coffee, peed, checked my gear, paced back and forth. Told Jody I should take up smoking for times like these. My mind kept reviewing what could have been wrong with the shot. Jody assured me he would not be far inside the treeline. We decided to wait till noon, an hour and 15 minutes from the shot.
At noon we get in the boat, ease into the bay, sun in our eyes and glaring off the water. We move past the big log, both of us eyeing the trees, looking for an antler and big black body. Jody pulls into the shore but bumps into a log that keeps us from reaching solid ground. He put the boat in reverse, then back in netrual and says "Hey Mike, look".
I look behind us and 25 yards away this is what I see.

A moosekelunge!

Man, what a flood of emotions. Joy, relief, bewilderment, thoughts of Dad.
After seeing that I had hit the moose in the neck we determined the he had turned back to the lake likely because his rack hitting the trees was too debilitating, so he turned and stumbled back into the water. We did not see this because I was reloading and Jody had turned to talk to me. Would not have needed to wait the hour and 15 minutes of agony. We did not see him in the water when we idled back there because of the glare from the sun, other black stumps in the water and we were watching the treeline.
We will need help with this so back to camp to get Mark, Aaron and the service boat.

Aaron meets us at the dock and I tell him it is just a calf. Jody shakes his head and says "he is a brute, we have a lot of work left".
The service boat is a large jon boat style with a drop down bow, like a WWII landing craft. We all pile in and head back to South Bay.

We pull up to the moose, drop the bow part way down, Mark ties a rope to the antlers and him and Aaron lift the head onto the bow ramp. The antlers just keep coming out of the water. I had no idea how big this guy was.

We tow him out to a small rock island in front of the bay and with manpower, boat power, a come along and pullys we get him up on shore on a sheet of plywood used as a skid board.



It took over an hour. Time for trophy pictures then field dressing.

Perseverance.

Well done man! Thanks for bring us along and congrats on a nice moose!

I may look extremely happy in these pictures.





50 inches wide, 9 points per side, great color to the rack. I told Jody third time is a charm and well worth the wait.

After field dressing we pull the skidder board and moose back into the service boat, head to camp, drop the bow onto the dock and use the 4 wheeler to drag the board and moose to the meat pole. The moose meat never touches the ground.

The way these guys handle this large an animal is amazing. My processor says he never has seen a large game animal this clean. I cape the head, they skin and quarter, then all meat goes into cheeze cloth bags for the trip home. We are done by 7:30 and very tired.

After supper I pull my good luck charm from my pack, my Dad's 1974 Successful Moose Hunter patch.

So this wraps it up. The next morning we load meat, rack and my gear into the 21' Bowrider and head back to the main lodge 2 hours away. Jackie has my export permit and I hit the road for a 2 day drive home.

I cannot overstate how grateful I am to Jody, Jackie, Mark and Aaron for making this dream come true. Their service is expceptional, but more than that they have become friends over the years. I'll be back!

Exceptional backstory and travelogue!

Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations on a Great Hunt and Thanks for sharing the pictures and story with us.

Beautiful Bull.. Great story.

Thanks for sharing. Very nice moose.

Great story! Congrats on a great bull~

Man you did a great job with the hunt, story, and photos. Best ever. Thanks for writing this up for those of us stuck at home.

This is what hunting is all about. Great stories and wonderful memories. Thanks for the fantastic write up.

Well done! Thanks for the write-up, loved the day by day details and the tie to your Dad. I'm sure many of us can relate. Isn't it amazing how at the moment of success, we think of our Dads? I always wish mine could be there.....and actually, I know he is.

Dandy bull! Sounds like you have made great friends up there..

Congrats

A great bull and an even better story!! Was hard to keep the eyes and the scrolling finger from jumping ahead while reading!

Congratulations and thank you for sharing what must have been an incredible trip!

Super story!! Thanks for sharing.

Good for you, great hunt and story. Thanks for sharing all the pics and taking time to post.

Your story and photos are incredible. Thanks very much for sharing and congratulations.

Had moose chili last night, and back straps slow cooked in cream of mushroom soup with mashed potatos tonight. I think I am going to be eating good for a long time.

That was a great story.

Thanks, that was a fantastic read.

Congrats !!!! Great story and great hunt !!! I may want to pick your brain sometime about the camp that you went to.

Enjoyed it! Thanks!

As Robert Ruark said in "the old man and the boy", the best part of hunting is the getting ready to go and the talking about it when back home. You did an admiral job of "talking about it when back home".


Charlie

Im jealous!

Congrats!!! FOrgot to go back and check the thread until I saw it today.

Glad I did!

Jeff

Great presentation of the hunt. Congratulations on a hard earned well deserved trophy!

Bravo
I totally love your ability to shrug off the slow days and years to finally get it done. This is so lacking in today's hunting world where you need to deliver big,fast and easy.
You sir are a hunter

Maybe I missed it but what calibre and gun were you using? Just idle curiosity.

Jim

I used a Tikka T3 stainless in .270, loaded with Federal Preimum 150 grain Nosler Partition. I have several larger bore rifles but like the ease of loading and unloading with the detachable magazine when getting in and out of the boat.

Interesting. While I have used a .338win for the last several years the majority of the moose I have taken were with .270 rifles of one make or another.

Jim

Beautiful story and congratulations on the trophy! Not sure how I missed reading this last month...

54Woody: Congratulations on the fine and well earned trophy!
Good for you.
And enjoy that Moose meat - its one of my favorites.
Thanks for taking the time to so interestingly relaying your Hunt and the telling of it to us.
Many happy returns of that day to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Just read this for the first time....CONGRATULATIONS and thank you for sharing your experiences in such detail - your father and mother would be (are) proud!

PennDog

Now that remark just cracked me up.

Great story and congrats Woody.

All of the above VG saved me a lot of typing lol

50" is a huge Moose rack for Ontario , congratulations

Mooseburger mmmmmmmmmmm great

Regards, Rich

AWESOME! Congrats

Great story and hunt , your Father is Smiling

Fantastic story. One for the bucket list!

Bob

congrats! wonderful!

54Woody
Great narrative and good pictures, a neat memory to you father.
Moose meat is one of my favorite wild game, love a good steak done in a hot cast iron skillet, thanks for the memories. Cheers NC