The 2024 big game guiding season started as all the others do. I arrive at main camp, see some folks I haven’t spoken to since last fall, have a bowl of soup while waiting for the helicopter to arrive. I scan my maps, look at old waypoints and day dream about calling in a 20 point bull with a 55” spread. Not common mind you, but I still dream. I dress casual for the fly day, with my Red Indian Lake dress shirt and jeans, I also pick up a new Red Indian Lake cap to wear guiding, and another to wear around home for the rest of the year. Cant have a bloody, sweaty cap on all year long, so I need two. 

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Arriving To Camp, Seeing Familiar Faces

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Before long my hunters show up at camp. Two young men from Pittsburgh, I like it. They can hike with me. I always enjoyed when I get hunter’s who can beat the country day in day out without using the argo. Personally, I feel more enriched when we hunt on foot. I understand not every hunter has the same capabilities, ands that’s a part of what separates good guides from others, the ability to adapt to your hunters capabilities. Which I will touch on in week two. 

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We land in camp, the first thing I do is go see Betty and Fred, we have been together in camps for three years now and I always love seeing them when I arrive.  We then get situated as per usual. It’s a beautiful sunny day and I figure we should get the licences filled out early, just incase we see an animal close to camp. Once the licences and paperwork is done we have our big Jigg’s dinner, loaded with turkey, potatoes, turnip, cabbage, carrots, peas pudding, topped with beats, pickled onions and gravy. We hardly had enough energy to get up from the table when I mentioned to the boys that we should go up behind camp to a lookout and glass for an hour just before sunset. Sam and Ben agreed enthusiastically, just as I would if I were in a new place hunting a new species for the first time.  

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We took our binos, they took their guns and we headed up behind camp a short ways. The early fall sun was setting over the western horizon and that was the direction we were glassing. As beautiful of a sunset as it was, it somewhat impeded our view of the country. Nonetheless we managed to spot 6 bears feeding on the open blueberry patches in the distance. It was a great sign and got the guys amped up to get up early and lay boots to the ground. 

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First Day Out On The Open Country

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The next morning started as most do when guiding for moose. I'll spare you the details as you know them from my previous writings. Breakfast, double check my kit, roll out. We went back up to the hill we were on the previous evening. The sun rose to our backs, illuminating the distant hillside, painting the green, red, and yellow foliage almost totally orange for a short time. As the morning progressed we spotted 4 moose. Two sets of cows with calves. After watching for an hour or so we decided to get down in the thick of it. The animals stopped moving when the temperature started to rise.  So we had to get on the move. We didn’t have to move far though. We walked about 200 yards down to the next bench to peer down into the valley more. As we rose up to the height of the next hill or bench as we like to call it, I immediately spotted a bull looking at us. I estimated this bull to be about 8-10 points. We watched it for a bit as the boys decided whether they wanted it or not. We decided I would call and if it came within 200 yards, we had some major decisions to make. The bull evidently made the decision easy as it didn't come into range and the boys decided to pass and not put a stalk on it. Not the end of the world, but I have to admit, it was hard to let him walk. 

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We then moved down to the valley and followed the river upstream about a mile. We crossed, walked up the other side of the river bank and onto the area we had glassed the moose and bears the night before. Once again, we set up and started glassing and calling, but to no avail. We moved on to our last setup for the day. I tried to play the wind, as it wasn’t ideal for the area we were in. We hiked to a nice lookout area where we could see quite a ways. We set up, did some calling and glassing. It was an eventful afternoon and evening as we watched countless caribou meander through the fur and spruce trees. At one point I noticed one caribou running at full speed towards the lake's edge. It swam across the lake and galloped off into the woods. Strange actions for a caribou, unless it was being chased. My bet was a bear had spooked it. 

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Before long a respectable bear emerged from the thick timber at 800 yards out. We watched it and the boys decided it wasn’t a shooter at this point, but we kept an eye on it. No moose were to be seen this evening and I knew we had a long hike back to camp. We already decided in the day that we were all comfortable with hiking back in the dark.

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I watched the bear for a few more minutes when I noticed it acting strange. He kept looking behind him and walking faster. Then, out of nowhere, the lone boar took off like a bullet sprung from a rifle. Kicking up water and grass as it crossed the bog. Once again it seemed like a strange behaviour. I figured there must have been a sow with cubs in the area. This changed our plan slightly, I wanted to get to the river by dark, meaning we wouldn’t walk through the area with the potential sow and cubs. We packed our things and hiked down to the river. This was a beautiful walk going from tuckamore, to bog, to berry ground, then finally the river in the valley. We traversed the river to find a suitable place to wade across. We ended up crossing the river some ten to fifteen times before reaching the shoreline of Alex Pond.

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Evening Rest Before Doing It All Again

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Finally back at camp, we got our gear off, settled in for supper and chatted with Betty and Fred about todays events. Before long, we all retired to our separate quarters in anticipation of another eventful day. The sky was clear, I wandered outside as there was a high likelihood of northern lights, one of my favourite experiences in nature, and although I have witnessed the northern lights many times in Nunavut, I have yet to see them in my home province. No luck, but the moon was bright, the second brightest of 2024, it almost seemed like daylight outside. 

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The next morning was quite foggy, but we decided to leave half an hour early. It isn’t that far from the previous days setup, but our plan is to focus on a different area of the valley. The valley itself runs some 12 kilometres in length. The morning fog lifts and immediately Sam spots a moose walking though the tuckamore toward us. A lonely cow. We watch for some time before the fog rolls in again. Not much glassing to be done with the fog, but we're treated with a surprise. I watch a 250 pound bear walk in close to us, I don’t ell the boys as I want them to get a bit of a surprise. The bear has no idea we are here. When the bear gets into about 100 yards, I let the guys know. They make sure their guns are ready just incase the bear gets a little too curios. We don’t move a muscle, the bear comes into 40 yards, stands up, scratches his back on a tree, rubs his head with his paw, then slowly walks off into the trees. What an experience. 

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The rest of the day is much the same. Another close encounter with a bear, again at around 40 yards, as well as various50 to 60 yard encounters with caribou, but no moose. Once again, making our return in the dark, we return back to camp. the bright moon lights our way home, with the moonlight illuminating the camp. 

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The Decision Was Made

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Day three starts as per usual. We decide today we will head up to the highest lookout. The morning was as stunning as ever, the sun peaking over the horizon on one side and the moon still hanging high on the other. We made our way to the lookout and began glassing. The amount of country we could see was overwhelming. I would find a section of land, glass it and study it, then move on to another. Sam spotted a cow at around 1300 yards out. We watched her bed down, then Ben spotted another at around 500 yards. 

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The boys debated taking the cow, four two tags consisted of a bull only and either sex. After some deliberation they decided to take the cow to get some meat on the ground and spend the remaining time focusing on a bull. The cow had bedded, so I had to make a play. I managed to make enough commotion while sticking close to Ben so that the cow would stand up. We had already changed positions to get a closer shot and better angle as she stood up. Ben took the shot and down she went. The boys were fired up to have a moose down and meat to take home. We all love a large set of antlers, but as Fred aways tells me, you can’t eat antlers.

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The moose was a large dry cow, meaning no calf in tow. We made quick work cleaning and quartering the animal, as we didn’t want to waste a beautiful morning. As we cleaned, Sam kept glassing. He spotted bears, caribou, ducks, and geese, but no moose. We decided to head back to camp, get the meat hung up and in the shade, then make a play for the evening. 

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On the way back to camp we cleaned off in the river, it was scorching hot when we got out of the wind. We needed to get that meat cool and hanging. It wasn’t long before we rolled into camp. Greeted by Fred, he knew we had an animal, as we wouldn’t have been back until dark otherwise. It was a welcome sight to get the first animal of the season down. 

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Is There Time For Another One?

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Once cleaned, we packed our bags once again, had a quick bowl of soup, and headed back out into the country. Given that time wasn’t necessarily on our side, as we were closing in on 4:00 PM, we made our way to the first area we hunted Monday morning. We set up on the bench where we had seen a moose Monday morning and I began to call. Ben hiked to the ridge parallel in order to gain a wider view of the valley below. 

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We had set up for approximately half an hour, when sam touched my shoulder. I was sitting on a rock and I looked up at him, he pointed towards a bull staring at us to our right. The bull was 90 yards away, but facing us head on. I told Sam to wait and that the bull would come closer after another call. I called once more and he turned broad side, walking within 50 yards in an attempt to wind us, when Sam pulled the trigger. The bull ran 30 yards and collapsed at the edge of the tree line. 

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The high fives and hugs when we finally made our way to the moose was straight from the heart. Sam had finally bagged his bull and after all the hiking, glassing, and calling, we had two moose down and the boys had their tags filled. Sam was ecstatic. Ben finally made his way to us, stating he didn't know if the bull was hit or killed. He didn’t want to move as he had another bull, a spike, standing right next to him at 20 yards.  

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We laughed about how things work out eventually, everything happens for a reason, and a few more cliches while we admired Sam’s moose. A respectable 8 point bull. We figured it was the same moose as Monday morning, as neither of us got the greatest look as his antlers to count. I shared my gift for the boys by giving them each a shot of screech. We posed for a few photos and I hoofed it back to get the argo. 

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I quickly realized as daylight was fading that this task, although not far from camp, was going to be tricky. We had followed a caribou trail into this area, which was great for walking. However, the trail cut through a patch of tuckamore. I knew walking back through it, we were going to have problems. Once I got back I explained the situation to the fellas. We loaded the moose and picked our way meticulously through the woods. It was dark by the time we reached the tuckamore. With headlamps on and trying to figure out the easiest path through, it was evident there wasn't one. Eventually we decided on the easiest looking route. However, this was not so. I will save you from going through the pain that we did. It took us an hour and a half to gain no more than 50 yards once we reached the treacherous tuckamore. We finally made it back to camp at around 9:30 PM. The rain had started to come down heavy and once again we made quick work of hanging the moose. When the meat was cleaned, dried and hung, we kicked back in camp, chatted and laughed about the days stories, shared some personal experiences, and enjoyed a successful day of moose hunting. 

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For the remaining days, we decided to not waste our time sitting in camp doing nothing. We got out sight seeing. We watched caribou, bears and moose for the rest of the week. I couldn’t have asked for a better week of guiding and the amount of wildlife we witnessed was extraordinary.

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