This time we all headed south from camp, instead of north as we had in the morning, and still in the same twosomes. Bob remained in camp on his own, nursing a humdinger of a cold. I wanted to check a really big meadow, probably over a mile long and 1/4 mile wide, so Mike and I lit out for it.

As the sunlight gradually left and shadows claimed the meadow, a black dot appeared at the far end. A short study with my binoculars showed the dot to be a moose, and a bull at that. It was heading generally in our direction but on the opposite side of the meadow.

With the game spotted, it was time for a stalk. I had to backtrack to the tail end of the meadow and cross over out of sight from the moose, around 200 yards. Then I began to close the gap between me and the bull, some 3/4 mile away. I had to stay mainly in the meadow, as the pine trees were thick and noisy to travel, and used the fringe of willow brush as best I could to conceal my movements.

Just when I figured I had one more finger of trees to go around, 2 moose suddenly and unexpectedly appeared less than 50 yards away. It was the bull and a cow he had found in the bush, and he thought she was real pretty. My only option was to freeze on the spot and I was surprised that they did not see me. They both lowered their heads for a bite of grass and I was able to hunker down quick beside a willow bush.

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Alf's huge bull dwarfed both Mike's and mine.

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In only a minute, the cow came into the pasture and began grazing. She worked her way gradually toward me and either didn't see me or just didn't give a toot that I was there. But my legs were getting mighty weak, while the bull was hung up in the trees thrashing some bushes to his specifications. Finally I saw a paddle start to appear from behind the scrub and I stood up for the shot. He dropped instantly and my concern became the cow. She pinned her ears back, strutting stiff-legged around me. Apparently she was not amused by the turn of events.

Just after my shot, another rang out from the direction of Wayne and Alf. They had been watching a group of 2 cows and 2 calves when a real dandy bull walked out. Alf hung his tag on that one and our permits were all used up. Neither of us got our moose to camp that night because of the darkness that had descended, but we were out early the next morning.

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Halving the carcasses with a chainsaw. Note the one in the foreground has already been done.

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Now the real work began. Mike's moose had yet to be skinned while mine and Alf's both had to be transported to camp, hung, then skinned. Splitting into halves was accomplished using a chain saw with vegetable oil in the chain lube reservoir - works like a hot dang. By the time all the trimming and cleanup of equipment was taken care of, 2 more days had zipped by.

After an additional day of hunting grouse and just generally enjoying life around camp, the 3 of us with moose loaded up and headed home. The other 2 stayed an extra couple days. They fished, got lost, and spent a night in the woods. Along the way, they saw what Wayne claims was the biggest moose he's ever seen in 30 years of going there. Must have been massive, so next year....

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