After much anticipation, preparation and planning, the 2022 Moose Hunting season has finally arrived! As mentioned in the Moose Hunt Preparation article, the season will open early (at least by historical East Coast standards) for the 2nd year in a row on September 10th. We loaded up Friday afternoon and headed down the Southern Shore to MMA 36 to setup our campsite and to do a little scouting for the following (opening) morning.

I was first to arrive so I set up camp which seemed to work out well. Then I climbed aboard Project 6x6 for a run in the country while I waited for the rest of the crew to arrive in a few hours time.

The weather was beautiful and a lot warmer than we're used to for Moose Hunting, the trees haven't even started changing to fall just yet.

French and Stroh were next to arrive and got the second accommodations unit set up as well. Unfortunately it looks like our opening weekend trip may be cut short as Hurricane Earl is forecast to pass very close Saturday lingering through Sunday. There are wind and rainfall warnings in place but it looks like we'll have Saturday morning to hunt before the weather ramps up.

French got a brand new trailer this year, he transferred all the bunks and table out of the old trailer then got everything painted a nice light grey inside the fresh unit. This Mission trailer also features a composite floor which will be easier to keep clean compared to the standard wood floors. The whole interior of this unit is much brighter than the last trailer and will make for excellent accommodations!

Bassan and Matt French were the last to arrive this evening, Andrew French will be coming down early the next morning, while Roger & Bassan's father Peter had other commitments opening weekend.

Bassan fired up my Coleman Hyperflame and cooked up some hotdogs and moose chilli for supper this evening for our eager crew.

We left camp a little later than usual as it was already raining. Bassan hopped on his 1997 Foreman 400 while I piloted Project 6x6 in the dirt road towards the pole line. We seen two animals on the road well over 900m away where they vanished into thick woods, we suspect it was one of the Cow Calf pairs we have seen on prior scouting trips.

Mark, Matthew, Andrew and Stroh first took a look on the Camp Bog then headed further in the road aboard Mark's 2017 Argo Huntmaster.

We made the most we could of the worsening weather and seen no further sign of moose activity all morning. By 8:30am heavy rain arrived so we headed back to camp to pack up and head for home. With storm force winds and 200mm of rain forecasted we decided ride out the storm at home in case there was storm damage, power outage or flooding.

This is the first season with my new Sitka Hudson suit (the pants are actually Sitka Grinder as the Hudson bibs are still out of stock) and I have to say I'm super impressed. The crew at Outdoor Pros were fantastic to deal with, and no, neither OP nor Sitka are a sponsor, I love to promote local business and quality products. The suit is insulated, gortex which is weather proof & breathable, very well constructed, and extremely comfortable even in warmer early fall weather. Paired with my Lacrosse Alphaburry Pro boots I will no longer be uncomfortable during a long cold day in the woods. Getting premium quality hunting gear has been a very long time coming, while not necessary to enjoy our year-round outdoor activities, they are certainly very much appreciated by this hunter.

I'm also using an economical sling pack this year for daily carrying in the woods instead of my full backpack. This forced me to trim down unnecessary equipment I was needlessly carrying around all day long, now I'm taking just the basics. All my extra gear, especially that of which is needed for field dressing an animal is kept in my larger pack in the Argo.

Hurricane Earl passed close to the island as a Tropical Storm Earl Saturday afternoon with the weather effects persisting into the wee hours of Monday morning.

Over 200mm of rain dropped on the region which encompassed the capital city and all the way South through our hunting area. Storm surge and incredible groundwater led to a lot of flooding, fortunately the entire crew escaped with little to no wind damage and no issues with flooding on our properties.

Other parts of the city were not quite as fortunate!

With clear skies and no reports of road washouts on the Southern Shore highway, Mark French, Matt French, Bassan, Roger and I headed back down the shore Monday afternoon to reconvene our opening week hunt.

Action was light on this part of the trip. French put his scope on a cow & calf a long ways off Monday evening.

Rivers, brooks and streams are still quite high due to water run off from Earl.

Tuesday morning Roger and Bassan walked up on a dandy bull at the camp bog, unfortunately it ran into the woods instead of out towards me.

Supper Tuesday evening consisted of Bassan's homemade pasta sauce using his grandmother's recipe. Matt French said it was almost as good as his own infamous Lasagne flavour hamburger helper! LoL, in fact it was absolutely amazing.

Wednesday was absolutely gorgeous, beautiful clear sunny skies and moderately cool fall temperatures. We made a couple of sets in the morning and covered a lot of ground on the machines midday but seen no animals and no real good fresh sign.

Bassan, Roger and Matt French headed back to town Wednesday after dark Mark French and I decided to stay an extra night to have one more crack at a morning hunt, which statistically is our most successful hunting time.

Supper tonight was barbeque steaks for two, mushrooms/onions and rice.

Thursday morning once again netted neither of us a moose, we figure given the wind direction and strength this past weekend most animals are still deep in the woods. They will slowly work their way back to open country. In any case, we loaded up and headed home midday to attend to home & work commitments.

This gave me a chance to drain rainwater accumulated inside the Argo, and give it a chance to dry out inside the garage.

I wanted to hunt Saturday morning but everyone else had other commitments. Not wanting to miss an opportunity during prime Moose Calling season I hooked onto the trailer and headed back down the shore Friday afternoon. This would be another solo adventure akin to my last successful solo hunt in 2020 when I filled our NFP Charity tags.

I better organized my accommodations unit with the purchase of some plastic totes to permanently store grocery dry goods, cooking gear, and misc. gear such as paper towels, garbage bags, plates, bowls, tin foil, etc.

After a quick scouting mission Friday evening, supper today consisted of my famous pan fried Moose/onion/mushroom mix served with French onion rice and a Caesar salad.

My Gearline organizer fit perfectly at the front of the trailer and is very convenient for hanging damp outerwear, pots, pans and more to dry.

Saturday morning I arrived to my choice hunting area, parked the Argo at the beginning of the trail and hiked in just as it was coming legal light one half hour before sunrise. Expectations were high as I found fresh moose tracks in my Argo tire tracks from last nights scouting mission.

I hiked to my chosen spot, set up the caller and made just one round of calls with the FoxPro Spitfire when a beautiful Bull Moose appeared right behind me. There was a decent breeze on this morning creating a lot of ambient noise, and wind direction was in my favour. I paused the caller, raised my Browning BAR 30.06 and connected a single shot to the vitals approximately 120 yards away.

The fatally wounded Bull stumbled along a short distance and went just out of sight. I always wait 10 minutes before going to find an animal in case it decides to sprint on a shot of adrenaline. First I walked to where I shot the Bull then followed the very evident blood trail. 

I ended up walking right up to this large cow! I got to within 100 feet before finally having to shoo her away. The bull was on the ground just to my immediate left peacefully expired.

My new Spypoint Flex trail camera, my latest and greatest cellular trail cam caught the whole thing as the Bull (left) walked in frame, circled and lay down while the cow walked just out of frame to the right where she stayed until I shooed her away!

With the throat cut I made a few phone calls to Bassan, Roger & Dad who all got ready and headed down the shore to lend a hand. I hiked out to the Argo, rode back to the site and positioned it to help with field dressing. The crew will take at least two hours to arrive so I set to work getting another large harvest ready to transport solo.

I positioned the machine side on, used the winch to first pull back the top front leg which I secured to the rear of the Argo with rope, then winched the top rear leg which supported the animal perfectly for field dressing.

In no time I had the paunch out, animal halved, head removed and ready for transport. My Outdoor Edge Razor-pro knife still works amazingly well, their unique gutting blade is like no other and a freshly installed main blade was literally razor sharp.

Not long thereafter Dad, Bassan and Roger all arrived approximately the same time.

In short order we had the rear half strapped to the back of Bassan's 1997 Foreman 400, while the front half, head and knapsacks were all loaded aboard Project 6x6.

The route I chose to the harvest site was pretty much ideal consisting of nice firm bog and low lying brush. This made for an uneventful ride over to the well worn ATV trail without anyone stuck or even so much as a tire spun.

The ATV path took us out to the gravel road and back to camp.

Back at the trucks we skinned out harvest, broke camp, loaded up and headed back to my house where we will hang, quarter and wash down the quarters.

After sawing down the front and rear halves, we trimmed up the quarters removing a very minor amount of bullet damaged tissue, fat and grizzle.

Next the quarters were washed down twice using microfiber cloths with a mix of cold water, vinegar and coarse salt. We've found this to be the easiest and most effective way to remove not only dried blood but also every single moose hair from the meat! The salt & vinegar also helps to kill any possible bacteria laying on the surface.

Hanging moose is always a friends & family affair with many dropping by including our whole crew, French's uncle Arch, and even Mark's daughters Piper & Avery!

Finally our harvest was bagged in cheesecloth and ran over to French's shop where we put Moose Cooler 2.0 to the test! The four quarters were all over 100lbs according to the scale in Mark's shop, in total the animal weighed in at just over 430lbs dressed when we put it in the cooler.

I've been using Hornady ammo since I started Moose hunting (also not a sponsor!) and this 178grain Precision Hunter round did the trick once again logging another clean, single shot, ethical harvest in the books.

I'm super happy with how the season played out, even with a hurricane on opening week (for the 2nd year in a row now!).

• My goal was to work hard and get my tags filled early in the season to free up the rest of the year without worry.

• Hunting days concentrated during prime calling season (for this area) and hard work by the entire crew made this a fantastic season.

• Camping in the trailers was not only comfortable but practical as well. We logged eight days in the woods so far with only three drives down and back. That is a significant savings in both time and fuel, plus camping really added a lot of fun to each trip.

• Pre-season preparations had our hunts take place without any breakdowns or mishaps. Everything we did before the season opened definitely accounted for our success and enjoyment of the hunt.

That brings the first instalment of Moose hunting 2022 to a successful close. There's lots of action still to come as we process our harvest into a finished product and follow along while Mark has a charity license and Matt his own either sex tags to fill.

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith