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2022 is done. The dock is empty, the airplanes are put away, the camps are all closed, the boats have been washed and everything has been put away for the winter. We had a pretty nice fall to get everything done before and after the moose hunt. Pretty warm and mostly dry, besides a big snow storm that held us up for an extra day…
Moose Hunt 2022
This year a typical moose season. The moose decided to stay tight to the bush the first week and then started to become more aggressive the second week. This year we also had some hunters out during the third week which turned out to be the best hunting week of them all. We had 2 guided hunts and a few unguided hunts. We went 1 for 2 on the guided and no moose for the unguided, although the Shearstone hunters passed up on a couple small bulls, had tons of action and saw the big one they were after on an excrutiating last night of the hunt.
Janet and Bruce have hunted with us a number of times, Bruce harvested one moose during that time but Janet and I have been snake bitten so many times over the years. This year we had lots of action as we normally have. We saw a cow and calf, heard bulls fighting, and a number of other answers but no luck….. until day 5 when it was a perfect evening. We were hunting where we had had some action earlier in the week but no answers and it was getting to be prime time. We made the call to move right by the cabin, where we had been hearing moose for 2 weeks. After moving and making a couple calls, I decided to Zig when I should have zagged. We moved again an hour before dark, right where we heard the bulls fighting earlier in the week.
As soon as we called, we had an answer. A huge bull walked right down to the shore with a cow right away. Janet’s dream of pulling the trigger on a big bull came to fruition. One well placed shot and the silence was broken. The bull shuttered and faced away from us, the cow went this way and that way before eventually taking off. The bull stood with his ass to us for a couple of minutes before taking a step to his right. Janet didn’t have to be told to give him another one. Done. It was an epic hunt. Bruce and Aaron were on the other end of the lake so we had to wait until they got back at dark to go get him. Janet played coy when they returned and got them good. She was wearing the moose hat and talking about drinking Jagermeister before they clued in that she had shot one 🙂 It was a late night but an easy haul as he was right on the sand beach.
This bull must have been the one to win the fight as he had the cow with him but he had many wounds on his face. One of his eyes was poked pretty bad and his nose was full of cuts.
During our 2 weeks at Loree, we heard moose right beside and across from the camp off and on. Once the hunters left we had to come back and close camps. The day the hunters left we were back at Loree. Another beautiful evening. We had a plan to hunt way down on the west end. We wanted to get the last few things done before hunting and then the wind went down. We made a few calls while we were working and the cow fired up right across from the camp. We hopped in the boat and went and set up at the narrows a quarter mile from camp. It wasn’t long before we were able to call in this nice little bull. One shot, done.
Once we knew he was down, we had to go and grab a motor from a portage lake and were back in about 45 minutes. This was guy standing about 150 yards from the spot where we had just shot the spike bull.
There had to be at least 3 bulls right there for a long time. The spiker and this bull were most likely hanging around a cow and then a larger bull came in and pushed them away. These moose had not moved more than a 1/4 mile in over 2 weeks. This one will be a 50 inch moose next year. He won’t be too far away.
It was perfect to get a moose right away because this year as we had a pretty big list of jobs to do.
Throughout the fall we accomplished a ton of things.
Daniels got new front windows and deck painted.
Morleys got a new portion of the dock replaced and deck painted.
At Cherrington we painted the floors and replaced the countertops. The lodge got a new dock.
Findlay has a new dock as well as a new boat ramp.
The River got some new board walks and we fixed up the fish cleaning house.
The inside of the Blackbirch cabin is now completed. The floor is varnished and it looks awesome.
All the camps are ready for a busy year in 2023. We are pretty booked already but as always our schedule is everchanging and there are holes to fill here and there.
It feels great to be finished another season of showing people a good time. We look forward to next year. Thanks to all of our great guests who made it possible.
For 2 weeks, Aaron and I went pretty hard, knowing that some sort of weather was going to catch us sooner or later. We got it all done and put the Otter away while the weather held off. We had one last trip up north to do the last few jobs.
There was one last warm day and we decided to play hookey and go lake trout fishing. We only caught and released one but it was the last 70 degree, calm day of the year. We enjoyed it. Then 2 days later we had this and got stuck at Cherrington for an extra day. The extra beer came in handy that day 🙂
On your travels to and from Red Lake, there is a great little restaurant between Vermillion Bay and Ear Falls called The Whiskey Jack. It is a family run place and the food is great.
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