2022 Newfoundland Moose Hunt

[Novahunter]

Wrapping up our time here in Newfoundland, and starting the drive (and ferry ride) home tomorrow.

We had a fantastic hunt. Bulls were rutting, weather was amazing and the camp we hunted with was an awesome group of people.

Day 1: After getting in a day early we hunted hard on Saturday. 4 guys were in our camp and one got a 14 pt bull that evening. I hiked the furtherest and hardest of our group with my guides, and was rewarded with great views from the top of a mountain. We heard a bull calling back to our cow call, bur he never showed. Good start start to the trip.

Day 2:

Big Moose Down!!!

My guides took me up on a different hill where I could see a panorama from 300 yards to 640 yards.

I ranged multiple locations, and memorized my dope for different places.

Guides set up the call. About 4:30pm, we heard a bull answering the cow call. Later, we heard a cow call, and the bull calling back to her.

We waited. A little after 6pm, a cow, calf and little 4 pt appeared 100 yards in front.

The guide stopped the 4 point, asked if I wanted the shot. I passed.

10 minutes later, we heard grunting in the bog below us.

Out stepped this bull at 200 yards. I swung the gun on him, aimed high center mass, and sent it.

He lunged, I knew it was a good hit. We watched for him to run, and we didn't want him to run into the thick trees. Got off multiple other shots to put him down. The 300 RUM did it's job.

Day 3:

Started as a windy day in camp. Two hunters left to get a moose, my uncle being one of them.

He went out to a bog quite a ways away from camp. Around 10:30am, a nice 14pt bull made it's appearance, and after waiting to get a clear shot my Uncle put him down with one shot to the neck with my .308 I'd lent to him for this hunt. The last hunter at camp got a nice 6pt bull that evening.

So, the whole camp was done in 3 days!

I can't recommend our Outfitter enough. Warren Keough with Leslie Lake Outfitters runs a great operation, and his guide's hunt hard to get you a moose. From hunting to hauling the meat, they don't stop working pretty much ever. Highly recommend this camp to anyone looking for a good hunt at a pretty reasonable cost.

Few pictures from our hunt:

 

[keller]

Congrats NL is a cool place had fun their last year and would love to go back

 

[Tyson]

4 bulls in 3 days! Amazing, congrats on the great hunt

 

[Novahunter]

We just got off the Ferry for the first leg of the drive home.

My ice experiment is turning out well. We took 3 coolers up, and a 5 cu. ft chest freezer with 1400 watt small camping generator, and gas can. 2 days prior to leaving, I filled the freezer with water bottles (almost 200 bottles), and froze them solid. For the trip up, we plugged the freezer in at whatever motel/hotel we were at which kept the bottles pretty frozen. While hunting, our truck was parked 1.5 miles from camp. My Uncle and I stopped by the truck to fill and run the generator each day, and our outfitter had whichever guide was going by the truck that day fill our generator with gas, and start it. This allowed the little generator to run for 7 to 8 hours per day, and kept all the water bottles except a few at the very top frozen solid.

When we got our meat to the truck, we put a layer of bottles on the bottom of each cooler, set meat on top, and packed frozen bottles around the meat. The chest freezer then became a 4th cooler.

We checked one of the coolers this morning, and 18 hours after packing the bottles have a large core of ice still. The added bonus is all the melting water is contained in the bottles and is not water logging the meat. We're hopeful we can make it back to Upstate NY without having to buy ice.

Pics attached.

 

[Novahunter]

Made it to our butchering facility in upstate NY. Took 54 hours from time of packing coolers to get to the facility.

Ice cores in the bottles were about 30% to 50% when we rolled the coolers in the walk in freezers.

All in all, this plan worked pretty well. We didn't have to buy ice, and had it available right at camp.

Had I wrapped the coolers in sleeping bags or blankets, I think we could have slowed the melt even more, but for purposes of our trip it worked.

 

[CRJR45]

Wow , nice job ! And I will remember the bottle trick , thank you .

 

[MJVAN]

Wow , nice job ! And I will remember the bottle trick , thank you .

Sounds like you guys had an awesome hunt ! Congrats !

 

[Slugz]

Congrats and thanks for the water bottle tip!!

 

[bgbuck153]

We just got back too. I built a plywood box and insulated it with 1 1/2 foam board with silver reflective face facing inwards. We had the meat butchered and frozen. We put it in and pushed the floating top piece of insulation down on top of the meat. We put 4 moose in it and it would have held about 3 more. We drove from northern Newfoundland 4 1/2 hours to the ferry, 7 hour ferry ride and 25 hours to home. So 36 1/2 hours and when we un boxed it it didn’t even have any indication of starting to thaw. I got the idea from another member on here about the box. Boarder patrol going either direction didn’t bother opening it.

 

[Novahunter]

We just got back too. I built a plywood box and insulated it with 1 1/2 foam board with silver reflective face facing inwards. We had the meat butchered and frozen. We put it in and pushed the floating top piece of insulation down on top of the meat. We put 4 moose in it and it would have held about 3 more. We drove from northern Newfoundland 4 1/2 hours to the ferry, 7 hour ferry ride and 25 hours to home. So 36 1/2 hours and when we un boxed it it didn’t even have any indication of starting to thaw. I got the idea from another member on here about the box. Boarder patrol going either direction didn’t bother opening it.

4 moose is ALOT of weight.

We figure we had 600lbs of moose + 200lbs of ice in my Uncle's Silverado, plus guns and gear in the cab. It did fine, but I don't think it would have handled 2 more moose.

Did you all drive up with a trailer?

 

[bgbuck153]

993 pounds of deboned meat to be precise

 

[Novahunter]

993 pounds of deboned meat to be precise

Nice. Congrats!!!

 

[bgbuck153]

We called it the “meat coffin “ lol

 

[3darcher2]

We just got back too. I built a plywood box and insulated it with 1 1/2 foam board with silver reflective face facing inwards. We had the meat butchered and frozen. We put it in and pushed the floating top piece of insulation down on top of the meat. We put 4 moose in it and it would have held about 3 more. We drove from northern Newfoundland 4 1/2 hours to the ferry, 7 hour ferry ride and 25 hours to home. So 36 1/2 hours and when we un boxed it it didn’t even have any indication of starting to thaw. I got the idea from another member on here about the box. Boarder patrol going either direction didn’t bother opening it.

We did the same thing with elk back in 1999 coming from AZ to PA after September archery. We broke down on the way home and had to wait two days to get repaired. We added some dry ice once. Got home and all solid.

After we dropped the meat at the processor, we went to the hardware store and bought a sheet of blue board. Duct tape and some plywood and we were set. Picked up frozen meat and filled it up. Sleeping bag on top, used an enclosed cargo trailer to build it into using the side wall and back door as two of the sides.

 

[FlyinRyan411]

Wrapping up our time here in Newfoundland, and starting the drive (and ferry ride) home tomorrow.

We had a fantastic hunt. Bulls were rutting, weather was amazing and the camp we hunted with was an awesome group of people.

Day 1: After getting in a day early we hunted hard on Saturday. 4 guys were in our camp and one got a 14 pt bull that evening. I hiked the furtherest and hardest of our group with my guides, and was rewarded with great views from the top of a mountain. We heard a bull calling back to our cow call, bur he never showed. Good start start to the trip.

Day 2:

Big Moose Down!!!

My guides took me up on a different hill where I could see a panorama from 300 yards to 640 yards.

I ranged multiple locations, and memorized my dope for different places.

Guides set up the call. About 4:30pm, we heard a bull answering the cow call. Later, we heard a cow call, and the bull calling back to her.

We waited. A little after 6pm, a cow, calf and little 4 pt appeared 100 yards in front.

The guide stopped the 4 point, asked if I wanted the shot. I passed.

10 minutes later, we heard grunting in the bog below us.

Out stepped this bull at 200 yards. I swung the gun on him, aimed high center mass, and sent it.

He lunged, I knew it was a good hit. We watched for him to run, and we didn't want him to run into the thick trees. Got off multiple other shots to put him down. The 300 RUM did it's job.

Day 3:

Started as a windy day in camp. Two hunters left to get a moose, my uncle being one of them.

He went out to a bog quite a ways away from camp. Around 10:30am, a nice 14pt bull made it's appearance, and after waiting to get a clear shot my Uncle put him down with one shot to the neck with my .308 I'd lent to him for this hunt. The last hunter at camp got a nice 6pt bull that evening.

So, the whole camp was done in 3 days!

I can't recommend our Outfitter enough. Warren Keough with Leslie Lake Outfitters runs a great operation, and his guide's hunt hard to get you a moose. From hunting to hauling the meat, they don't stop working pretty much ever. Highly recommend this camp to anyone looking for a good hunt at a pretty reasonable cost.

Few pictures from our hunt:

Congrats! great story and pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Short Track]

Those are nice Moose for NL !! I only saw smaller ones in our camp.

 

[Novahunter]

Those are nice Moose for NL !! I only saw smaller ones in our camp.

My Uncle and I went 5 years ago, and got a 6 point and 4 point. Biggest bull our camp saw that week was an 8pt.

Were are thrilled with these two!

 

[kiyooga]

Wrapping up our time here in Newfoundland, and starting the drive (and ferry ride) home tomorrow.

We had a fantastic hunt. Bulls were rutting, weather was amazing and the camp we hunted with was an awesome group of people.

Day 1: After getting in a day early we hunted hard on Saturday. 4 guys were in our camp and one got a 14 pt bull that evening. I hiked the furtherest and hardest of our group with my guides, and was rewarded with great views from the top of a mountain. We heard a bull calling back to our cow call, bur he never showed. Good start start to the trip.

Day 2:

Big Moose Down!!!

My guides took me up on a different hill where I could see a panorama from 300 yards to 640 yards.

I ranged multiple locations, and memorized my dope for different places.

Guides set up the call. About 4:30pm, we heard a bull answering the cow call. Later, we heard a cow call, and the bull calling back to her.

We waited. A little after 6pm, a cow, calf and little 4 pt appeared 100 yards in front.

The guide stopped the 4 point, asked if I wanted the shot. I passed.

10 minutes later, we heard grunting in the bog below us.

Out stepped this bull at 200 yards. I swung the gun on him, aimed high center mass, and sent it.

He lunged, I knew it was a good hit. We watched for him to run, and we didn't want him to run into the thick trees. Got off multiple other shots to put him down. The 300 RUM did it's job.

Day 3:

Started as a windy day in camp. Two hunters left to get a moose, my uncle being one of them.

He went out to a bog quite a ways away from camp. Around 10:30am, a nice 14pt bull made it's appearance, and after waiting to get a clear shot my Uncle put him down with one shot to the neck with my .308 I'd lent to him for this hunt. The last hunter at camp got a nice 6pt bull that evening.

So, the whole camp was done in 3 days!

I can't recommend our Outfitter enough. Warren Keough with Leslie Lake Outfitters runs a great operation, and his guide's hunt hard to get you a moose. From hunting to hauling the meat, they don't stop working pretty much ever. Highly recommend this camp to anyone looking for a good hunt at a pretty reasonable cost.

Few pictures from our hunt:

Looking for 2025 hunt. I will check them out.

 

[kiyooga]

Congrats NL is a cool place had fun their last year and would love to go back

Who did you hunt with and was it a good hunt?

 

[keller]

Steel mountain lodge

Who did you hunt with and was it a good hunt?