# Moose



## sbhooper (Oct 3, 2011)

Here is a picture of my moose rack. This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Newfoundland and was worth every penny spent. The country is beautiful, the people are super and the outfitter's operation was as good as it gets. We were hammered with bad weather or I think that I would also have filled a bear tag. There were four in camp and we all killed bulls in spite of the bad weather periods. 

We drove the whole way so that we could bring back all of the meat and racks with no hassle. It was a long drive, but well worth it for the 300 pounds of meat that I brought back. I only hope that someday I can afford to do it again.


----------



## Fifelaker (Oct 3, 2011)

Very nice moosebugers tonight.


----------



## Buckshot00 (Oct 3, 2011)

Nice one.


----------



## Arrowhead (Oct 4, 2011)

Awesome! Definitely a once in a lifetime.


----------



## Blazin (Oct 4, 2011)

Good deal!


----------



## DANOAM (Oct 4, 2011)

Nice!


----------



## KodiakII (Oct 4, 2011)

Glad you had a good time on "the rock"! Have any screech while you were there? I am also looking forward to the day when I can return to Newfoundland. Would be nice to hunt some other species while there like caribou and black bear ( have heard they are getting to be a pretty fair size on the island)


----------



## sbhooper (Oct 5, 2011)

The bears are big and doing well. There was a 580 pounder killed on the other side of the island while I was there. I had a permit and I think would have filled it if not for several days of bad weather. We glassed one at about a mile that would have been approachable. There were bears seen several times from the same high point. 

I saw two caribou while there. The herd is going to disappear if they do not go to some extremes to control the coyotes. They are descimating the calves every year. The area where I was used to have thousands and I saw two. It is really sad. Their coyotes weigh over 70 pounds, so are having a wolf-style impact. They did a survey in a calving area with thousands of caribou and saw only 10 calves. 

I think that between the coyotes and the bears, the moose are going to start suffering also. They figure that bears are taking 30% of the moose calves now and if you add the coyote kill to that, it has got to make an impact. I saw several cows and never saw a calf. The guides told me that the small game populations have also been hurt pretty badly. There aren't near the birds that they used to see. 

The sad part is that most of them feel like the government put the coyotes there because they feel the moose population is too high with too many car accidents. 

I am not real sure that I would hunt caribou. They are kind of like shooting a milk cow, but they are really a pretty animal. It will be a sad day if they are allowed to disappear from the island.


----------



## KodiakII (Oct 5, 2011)

sbhooper said:


> The bears are big and doing well. There was a 580 pounder killed on the other side of the island while I was there. I had a permit and I think would have filled it if not for several days of bad weather. We glassed one at about a mile that would have been approachable. There were bears seen several times from the same high point.
> 
> I saw two caribou while there. The herd is going to disappear if they do not go to some extremes to control the coyotes. They are descimating the calves every year. The area where I was used to have thousands and I saw two. It is really sad. Their coyotes weigh over 70 pounds, so are having a wolf-style impact. They did a survey in a calving area with thousands of caribou and saw only 10 calves.
> 
> ...


 
Have to really agree with you on that one, but they are very tasty too! Don't know if you will see them do much about the Yote population until it is probably way too late. Most islanders that I know don't hold the Caribou in very high regard.
Where on the Island did you hunt? 
Glad you had a nice, safe, and successful trip!


----------



## sbhooper (Oct 6, 2011)

We hunted a fly-in with Portand Creek Outfitters. Their base is somewhere about a 30 minute drive from Portand Creek. I am not sure where because I did not drive there. 

I was told by several people that the caribou is not even edible during the rut. If they go away, it will be hard to get around in some areas. The only way through some of the black spruce is the old caribou trails.


----------



## KodiakII (Oct 6, 2011)

Sounds like you would have been on the lower part or the "northern arm" of the island, just north (ish) of Gros Morne National Park.


----------



## hearnoevil (Oct 6, 2011)

Bull I shot second weekend of the season.





A bit smaller then I wanted but you really can't fool around when I have a Bull Only license.

Glad you made the trip up here. Hope they treated you well on the ferry ride across too.


----------



## sbhooper (Oct 7, 2011)

That bull is looking at you! There is nothing wrong with that one and he will be some fine eating. That is what is important anyway. The last I checked, it is hard to find recipes for antler soup. 

The ferry ride was a great experience. It is well organized. 

We were north of the park on the Cloude River. I had a guy on the ferry tell me that there are parts of the park that have 12 moose per square kilometer. That is a lot of moose.


----------



## hearnoevil (Oct 7, 2011)

That's true, in the park its unreal the amount of Moose , and the amount of damage done. They opened the park to hunting this year to control the population.

Actually the area I shot this one in, the night before opening season, the guys on the next road over counted 23 Moose on a huge bog.

The coyotes are going to ruin it like you said, Places we use to see Caribou are now empty, and when they finish on the caribou they will be after the Moose.
Government offers 25 bucks a head for Coyote kills, it's not worth the trouble to hunt them at that price, and now we are seeing them in town.


----------



## crowbuster (Oct 8, 2011)

seems if they are doing that much damage i would shoot them for free.


----------



## sbhooper (Oct 9, 2011)

It seems to me that they need to do a winter chopper hunt over the calving areas. When everything is covered with snow, it would be pretty good from the air with a shotgun.


----------

