My first fly in trip

[Elkhound]

Part1

Okay, been back for a week. Time to tell a long story. This was a trip that had alot of ups and downs. Settle back in your chair, the post is a little long.

It all started with my buddy Ivan inviting me on a fly in Moose trip cause our other buddy was now in school and could not go this year. So I was offered his seat on the plane. Like I would turn that down. So I had a restless spring and summer in anticipation of the hunt to come. Finally Sept 20th rolled around so I got up at 4:30am quickly packed the truck and said good- bye to the wife cause it's a long 2 weeks without her. ;)
Off to catch the 6:20am ferry from the coast to Horshoe Bay. Met my dad in Abbotsford where I gassed up and he bought me breakfast. This was a good morning all around so far. So off I go to meet up with my buddy Ivan. He moved to Horsefly 1 month prior so I was meeting him at his new place. Outside of Hope I get a speeding ticket. Great. :mad: It was my own fault. I was doing 105km Thought that would be okay in a 100km zone. Little did I notice it was a 90km zone. So I was nailed. Rest of the trip was good. Reached Ivan's at 3:30pm. 6hrs of driving. We loaded my stuff to his truck. Shot the breeze all night and left for Tatogga Lake (just south of Dease lake) at 7:00am. 12hrs of driving later and we were there. Spent the night and left by float plane around 10:00am.

The airport

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1083/airport3rz.jpg
The scenery was unbelievable. Being in that little beaver was thrilling. (No jokes please :p ) Was only 1/2hr of flying and we were there. A little lake with a 3500ft elevation called Nuttlude.
So we made camp, chopped wood, ate, inflated the boat, did all that needed to be done so we could waste 6hrs to go hunting in the evening. We went out for only a few hrs to scout around. Found alot of moose tracks on the beaches of the lake but worse was all the wolf tracks. I should have taken a pic but some of the wolf tracks I could put my whole hand in, fingers stretched wide, and you could still see the outline of the track bigger than my hand. Headed back to camp, had supper, turned in early so we could hunt at first light.

[Elkhound]

Part2

Day 2
Get up early and the wind was just howling. Waves on the lake looked like the open sea. This is a problem cause our camp is in a little sheltered bay
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9210/camp0zn.jpg
which is good for staying out of the wind but we are surrounded by rocky cliff on one side and boggy swamps on the other. We needed to get accross the lake to hunt where the moose are. The weather prevented us from hunting that day.
:( Which was horrible cause we saw 2 bulls in the lake on the other shore and walk into the timber.

Day 3
Lake was choppy but manageable. I should mention that the guys hunting on these lakes have it rough. They sit out on a sandy spit in chairs and glass 3/4 of the lake. You see a moose walk out on a beach and you check to see if it is a bull or a cow. If it's a bull you jump in the boat, motor across the lake, beach the boat, get out and shoot the bull on the beach or just inside the buck brush before the timber. I know doesn't sound very sporting or difficult does it. Well it's not much different than watching a large cut block all day or the side of a mountain waiting for the game animal to show up. So we are sitting and glassing for about 1/2 hour when I spot a moose come feeding along a beach. We think it's one of the young bulls we saw the day before. So off we go in the boat. Ivan drops me off on the beach so I can stalk up the beach cause at this point the moose has entered the timber. Ivan motors the boat past the moose and gets out so we can come at the moose from two sides. I lost track of the bull but Ivan is pointing in the timber at it. He doesn't have a clear shot so they just stare at one another. I decide to follow a wide moose trail into the timber hoping to get a clear shot. I am walking through yellow grass up to my knees following this trail, when all of a sudden the ground breaks beneath me and I am swimming for my life. I could not touch bottom. There I am rifle in one hand, full heavy camo parka, with bib pants trying to swim to ground. Problem was every piece of earth I grabbed just broke away revealing more water. I have this sinking feeling in my gut (no pun intended) that I am in deep trouble. What felt like a long time but was probably a minute or so I finally drag my body up a log and layed there on my back hoping the ground was solid. I inch may way back towards the beach and Ivan is waiting for me. Moose is gone. The water on the camo is starting to frost over. I tell him what happened. He gives me hell for not yelling for help. I tell him I didn't yell cause I didn't want to scare away the bull. I think I went into shock on the boat ride back to camp coming so close to a drowning experience.. I was fine, boots and feet frozen wet but my new camo kept me dry from shins to neck. Very happy with that purchase. (Coleman camo) Just mad at my self cause one moose is gone and we should be quartering him right now. Didn't see anything for the rest of the day except for our pilot dropping in to check on us. Here he is leaving
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8169/dougleaving9ls.jpg
Days 4,5,6,and 7 were unbearable. Very high winds. Found out later that the pilot was grounded and a few other huting camps were blown away pretty good on other lakes. Day 4 in the morning I saw a huge bull on a far beach running. Looked like he should be on a cover of a magazine. Could not get to him. We would have died trying to cross the lake
This is the hard part, All four days at 10:15 this big bull kept coming out on the same beach to show off for a cow and her calf. For at least an hour he would strut his stuff like a big Peacock and she would have nothing to do with him. But boy did he put on a show. You could set your watch by him. 4 days in a row we watched. Drove us nuts
All we could do was watch and wait
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/8520/sitandwait5zh.jpg

[Elkhound]

part3
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4913/windyandchoppy3zp.jpg
Lake doesn't look bad here because it is sheltered a bit but the middle was unbelievable.
We knew that we needed to get over there and set up an ambush. We knew the time, the place, how far, and the who. But we were stuck on our beach, glassing and taking pics
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7894/dipper4ym.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9879/beaver3sv.jpg
The fishing was great 6 casts and I had lunch on day 6 Rainbow trout.... Mmmmmmmm.
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8914/rainbowlunch8ep.jpg
The mountain behind our camp was loaded, and I mean loaded with goats. We would glass a couple dozen every day. If I ever go back I will bring a goat tag. Probably one of the easiest goat hunts ever.
Finally on day 8 we had the weather we would take a chanc on. We get over to the other side of the lake and set up our ambush. Ivan was going to video tape the whole thing. The showing off, his prancing around, and me taking my first moose ever. It was exciting. 10:30 rolls around. No bull. 11:00. No bull.

[Elkhound]

part4
Figures, we watch the same show for 4 days in a row and now I get nothing. We decide to walk up the beach where he usually comes out. As we are walking we notice a mound in the water. Looks like a moose. We head over to it. There he is. Dead in the water. My bull
:(
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/426/foundmoose3jf.jpg
This sucks. We figure wolves but there was no blood. We check it out. Body is still very warm. Floating in extremely cold water. So we decide to use the come along and bring it up on the beach for a closer look. The only wounds we found were from another bull
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/8391/scar6hi.jpg

This one penetrated into his skull
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/989/penetration6ul.jpg

[Elkhound]

part5

We checked out his trail and he staggered to the water like a drunken sailor, weaving all over. But with a body a few hrs old and no other wounds we cut a tag and got to work
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8527/gettingtowork3jb.jpg
We worked till dark. We would take two quarters at a time and we were still taking on water back to camp. But with alot of care and time we managed. With the autopsy finished we learned a lot. It turns out that a bigger? but stronger bull beat the other moose so bad he died of internal damage. His liver was hit so hard it was twice the size. The intestines were blood red from the bleading inside and his whole right side was mush. From his front leg back through his ribs. We had to cut out a lot of meat. So we have two theories. Ivans is a stronger bull hurt him so bad he wondered onto his favorite beach to die, and mine. A roaming band of sasquatches with trees for clubs used him like a Pinata and he came to his favorite beach to die. Back at camp we hung the meat. Set out the signal tarp and waited for the pilot. Doug our pilot came in the morning. Said he could pick us up the next day. Off he went.
Me and the antlers
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/36/daveandantlers1se.jpg
Last night here
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8928/lastlight1yx.jpg

[Elkhound]

part 6

Day 10 was the best day for weather we could have. I think it was because we were leaving.
Woke up to this
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4294/fogandfrost5uu.jpg
and the fog lifted and burned off in two hrs
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9945/foglifting12ir.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/5290/foglifting24cg.jpg

[Elkhound]

part7

Ivans favorite pic. Little did I know he was reflecting on the very recent passing of his brother.
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/7435/reflectingonlife5jz.jpg
Waiting for our ride. Pilot was 5hrs late
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/3733/waitingforourride9hm.jpg
Finall picked up. Two trips and we were out of there.
Trip home went well except that I had planned my trip home perfectly so I would drive right onto the 3:20pm ferry. However, BC Ferries gave up our ferry cause the Naniamo ferry broke down. So the 3:20 was cancelled and I had to wait in a very hot parking lot from 3:00 -5:45 with my meat spoiling in the back. I got as much ice as I could but still lost some.

[Elkhound]

part 8

BBq bones for my boy
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1146/bbqbones7ug.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8579/lokiandbone2no.jpg

So I had the best trip and the worst trip all rolled into one.
We know in our hearts we would have shot that bull if the Sasquatches didn't kill it first. My first bull would have been a dandy
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7620/mooseracksmaller0zq.jpg
Measured 51 inches.
But we came home safe and sound and the bull didn't go to waste.
Hope you enjoyed the events and the pics.

Dave

[BlacktailStalker]

Congrats on a trip successful, in other ways. Just the experience of being "out there" and time in the woods with family and friends is priceless, and you got some moose home with a cool story to tell where it came from!
Goin on my first moose trip next wednesday, hope I have a story to tell when I get back.

[yote]

Great Pics and awesome story. That bull is still a trophy even though you didn't squeez the the trigger on that big boy. I can't wait till I take on a trip like that. Thank you very much for taking the time to post.

[Hambone]

Great story Elkhound! hard to imagine how big that other bull must have been...Yikes! All in all sounds like a memorable experience, i hope to one day go on a fly-in hunt myself.

I'm also from the sunshine coast, we make sure to get our meat butchered and frozen solid (in chetwynd) and then drive through the night with our meat in toats/coolers wrapped with sleeping bags. We have to deal with the long drive and the summer heat through areas like the fraser canyon. So far the meat has always made it to the deepfreeze unharmed. however, the butchering and freezing process does take time and money.

[Ronforca]

Wow!!!What a trip.I sure envy you. Congrats.It was a trip of a lifetime for you and I wish you many more.:mrgreen:

[elkster]

A very good story. Sounds like a great trip. I too went on a fly in hunt. Not as exciting as yours. I'll post it up when I get my pics. Conrats

[Seeadler]

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

I'd like to see the bull that laid a lickin' on him!

Who'd you use for air charter?

[Rob]

great story, your lucky you didnt get hurt more serious when you fell! Looks like some beautiful country!

[Elkhound]

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

I'd like to see the bull that laid a lickin' on him!

Who'd you use for air charter?

North Pacific seaplanes. Pilot's name Doug Beaumont
Great trip. Very happy

[rollingrock]

I really enjoyed reading your story. Great pix too! I think you'd put it this way: nothing is better than easy meat like what you got!

[huntersdad]

Hey
great story and great pics

[Freshtracks]

Thanx for the story and pics Dave. Enjoyed the read to an unusual result. Makes for a great story around the fire.;-)

[fozzy]

Wow what an adventure! Congrats on the moose. Someday I would like to do a trip like that.

[Offroad]

Very nice sounds like fun. Good on ya for taking that moose. Very classy. What region were you in?

[Thunderstix]

That was hands down one of the best stories with pics I have ever read!

[Sikanni Stalker]

great story man, well one thing is good anyways. that bull didn't go to waste like alot of them do.It's nice to shoot one but it's also nice to save one like that!

thanks eh!

[Elkhound]

Thanks for all the replies guys. It was a trip and a half. Glad you enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the feedback just as much.

[hitch]

Sounds like a fun trip. I guide in that general area and find it to be some of the best country in BC. i've flown with Doug on several occasions and while he isn't the most personable fella he is a good pilot. We have many wolves in our area and we shoot them when we can.:smile: