deer_shooter
Well-known member
Even though my moose hunt was guided I thought I do a brief write up in case anyone is interested in doing the same. My wife and I drove with a truck bed full of coolers and surprisingly, the distance from our place south of Pittsburgh to North Sydney, Nova Scotia is just a couple miles further than from our place to Casper, Wyoming, roughly 1350 miles. I had never crossed into Canada with a firearm before so I was a little nervous but the folks at the border were very helpful and the whole process was simple. The form you need to complete is available on line and is very straightforward and asks for the make of the rifle, serial number and barrel length. Each person who will use a firearm needs to complete the form so my wife had to complete a form also. They suggested we each list both rifles to we could each use either one and for ID, they suggested Drivers license over passport as you are supposed to keep the signed, stamped form with ID on your person when hunting. Cost was $25.
The drive to North Sydney was uneventful and the scenery through Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was beautiful. We arrived the night before the ferry crossing and due to some impending weather, I changed our reservation to a morning crossing instead of evening and that turned out to be a good decision as the evening crossing was cancelled as was the next days trip.
The ferry boarding process was smooth and the ferry has a restaurant and bar so we ate and had a beer. The trip averages around 7 hours and was very smooth, almost like a cruise ship. We made it to Newfoundland around 7pm and drove a couple hours north and got a hotel then drove to the outfitters lodge the next day. There was one access ‘road’ and the outfitter was around 15 miles in. I use quotes on road as large parts of it were more like a washed out stream bed. After we got there we settled in, checked rifles and met our guides. It’s a very nice little outfit and they run 4 hunters per week. I almost wish I had a tale of hardship and a little misery for the hunt itself but I tagged my bull about 20 minutes in as we were heading to a calling location. Best part was he tipped over on the side of the access road so recovery was a breeze; I’ve been at this long enough to appreciate the easy recoveries, especially on something as big as a moose! I was shooting my 300wm with 165gr Hammers. It was a slightly quartering to shot and the bullet entered just behind the right shoulder and exited towards the back of the ribcage on the opposite side. Exit wound was about the size of a tennis ball. The bull staggered about 20 yards before going down for good. The outfitter and guide got the bull halved and onto quads for the short trip back to camp. Once there I spent several hours caping while the rest of the bull was hung, skinned and cleaned. Day 2 and my wife, who had an either sex tag was after a cow for the meat, had an opportunity but did not get the magazine fully seated in her rifle and stroked the bolt over top of a round so the gun went click on a huge cow. She tried to recover but the cow bolted. A brief encounter with a decent bull in the afternoon ended with no shots fired. She was pretty down that evening as the other 2 guys in camp tagged bulls. Day three we went to the same marsh we were in the day before and after about 40 minutes of calling, a spike bull stepped out at 45 yards. She made a perfect shot with her 308 and our hunt was complete. The outfitter got her bull and mine to the processor and we had 2 ½ days in camp to relax and take a couple hikes and quad rides then beers around the campfire in the evenings. The drive back was equally uneventful and crossing back into the US was a breeze. The folks at the border were very nice, and the paperwork easy.
It was odd not to be doing all the work as I’ve spent the last 20 years doing it on my own. It was nice coming back to camp and having dinner already done, fire going etc. A guy could get used to that!
PM me with questions if anyone is interested in doing this hunt.
The drive to North Sydney was uneventful and the scenery through Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was beautiful. We arrived the night before the ferry crossing and due to some impending weather, I changed our reservation to a morning crossing instead of evening and that turned out to be a good decision as the evening crossing was cancelled as was the next days trip.
The ferry boarding process was smooth and the ferry has a restaurant and bar so we ate and had a beer. The trip averages around 7 hours and was very smooth, almost like a cruise ship. We made it to Newfoundland around 7pm and drove a couple hours north and got a hotel then drove to the outfitters lodge the next day. There was one access ‘road’ and the outfitter was around 15 miles in. I use quotes on road as large parts of it were more like a washed out stream bed. After we got there we settled in, checked rifles and met our guides. It’s a very nice little outfit and they run 4 hunters per week. I almost wish I had a tale of hardship and a little misery for the hunt itself but I tagged my bull about 20 minutes in as we were heading to a calling location. Best part was he tipped over on the side of the access road so recovery was a breeze; I’ve been at this long enough to appreciate the easy recoveries, especially on something as big as a moose! I was shooting my 300wm with 165gr Hammers. It was a slightly quartering to shot and the bullet entered just behind the right shoulder and exited towards the back of the ribcage on the opposite side. Exit wound was about the size of a tennis ball. The bull staggered about 20 yards before going down for good. The outfitter and guide got the bull halved and onto quads for the short trip back to camp. Once there I spent several hours caping while the rest of the bull was hung, skinned and cleaned. Day 2 and my wife, who had an either sex tag was after a cow for the meat, had an opportunity but did not get the magazine fully seated in her rifle and stroked the bolt over top of a round so the gun went click on a huge cow. She tried to recover but the cow bolted. A brief encounter with a decent bull in the afternoon ended with no shots fired. She was pretty down that evening as the other 2 guys in camp tagged bulls. Day three we went to the same marsh we were in the day before and after about 40 minutes of calling, a spike bull stepped out at 45 yards. She made a perfect shot with her 308 and our hunt was complete. The outfitter got her bull and mine to the processor and we had 2 ½ days in camp to relax and take a couple hikes and quad rides then beers around the campfire in the evenings. The drive back was equally uneventful and crossing back into the US was a breeze. The folks at the border were very nice, and the paperwork easy.
It was odd not to be doing all the work as I’ve spent the last 20 years doing it on my own. It was nice coming back to camp and having dinner already done, fire going etc. A guy could get used to that!
PM me with questions if anyone is interested in doing this hunt.
