Lewisporte, Newfoundland – It seemed like a good idea at the time. On five previous successful moose, Woodland caribou and black bear hunts in the same area, there had been ample opportunities to harvest game well within muzzleloader range.
Besides, hunting partners John Marino and Don Brown of Colorado and Pat McCann of Ohio would all be toting high-velocity centerfire rifles capable of reaching out there and touching something at long, long ranges. They would handle the long shots; the T/C Omega muzzleloader would handle the short-range chores.
Newfoundland is a hunter’s paradise. Highly prized Woodland caribou wander over much of the higher elevations.
Almost a quarter million Eastern Canada moose inhabit spruce, maple and birch ridges and lowland bogs, ensuring visiting hunters close to an 85 percent success rate.
Black bear populations are soaring to the point their predation on moose calves during birthing season is beginning to take a noticeable toll. Coupled with an average size far above the norm for black bear, their predation on moose numbers is considered detrimental to Newfoundland’s thriving hunting economy.
With all the game about, Newfoundland has become a popular destination of choice for U.S. hunters. Consequently, it was with high expectations that the Colorado contingent hit the field first day.
A gray, early-morning mist was hanging heavy on Long Pond when guide Wade Nicholas slid his battered and rock-scarred aluminum canoe softly across the weedy shallows, parking the bow silently against the low bank at the marshy mouth of Birchy Run.
Nicholas, one of the senior guides working out of RiverRun Outfitting, knew from years of experience the bogs surrounding the lake were home to several bulls and their harem.
The trickle of the small creek bubbling over the last of its gravel basin before blending with the amber lake waters gave an almost musical touch to the flat fickle light of predawn.
Nicholas silently motioned that this was my exit. By previous arrangement, it was agreed the best bet for this black-powder shooter was to watch the narrow end of the bog a quarter-mile inland, while Marino and our guide would continue to paddle another half-mile uplake, hike in and explore the wide end of the same bog.
Once in place, Wade would use his well-weathered birch-bark call to imitate the seductive siren call of a female moose. Rutting bulls will often come over a mile to a call. If Plan A worked out right, a bull would enter the bog either on John’s wide end or my narrow end.
Then, in the near distance a shot, a solid thump, a pause, and a repeat. Then, silence.
“A 10-point bull on the ground,” Marino reported by radio. He had connected. He hit an incoming bull at 350 yards with his .300 Winchester Magnum. Plan A was working to perfection.
The following morning, Brown, of Windsor, was the designated long-shooter partner. He was toting one of the new .300 Ultra Magnums, so when he parked on a low ridge overlooking our next bog of choice, Nicholas used his Bushnell rangefinder to call off landmarks at 400, 300, 200 and 100 yards.
With a solid rest on his pack, Don was confident and comfortable at any of those ranges. At the narrow end of the bog only a few hundred yards off, the guide and this black-powder shooter settled in and began to call.
Our long shooter was no sooner in position when out of the far end of the bog sauntered an amorous 12-point bull, then a second bull, then a third, all three coming directly at him right up the center of the bog.
From his hidden vantage point, Don was prepared to shoot when they passed the 400 mark, the 300, the 200, the 100, and still they kept coming. Was this really happening?
It was beginning to be point-blank black-powder range, and our short-range shooter was at the other end of the bog biting his nails in disbelief. At only 7 yards, bull and .300 Ultra Magnum collided. Bull No. 2 in the bag.
On to McCann, designated long-shooter partner No. 3. We traveled north to the Isles where moose cross saltwater flats at low tide to feast on barely disturbed forage on nearby islands.
Our assistant guides now were brothers, lobster fishers by choice and heritage, having been brought up at ocean side, the fifth generation to grow up in the same house. The day’s plan was to venture out onto the North Atlantic in their lobster boat, checking for muddy tracks in the tidal flats, using the birch-bark call on some islands, putting on drives on others.
Now it was Ohio long-shooter McCann’s turn with his .300 Winchester Mag. On another black spruce-decked island, we called plaintively, and across a tidal flat and out of the cattails roared an angry bull, eyes rolled back, wide beams flattening everything in his path. Pat put him down at 18 yards at the insistence of the guide who was afraid they might get run over and trampled. Are we beginning to see a pattern here?
Now in the hunt’s fading minutes, the boys were going to launch a drive through a dense tangle of black spruce on a long, narrow island. Odds were, anything erupting off that island was going to be flat flying. The earlier quick-leaning, bullet-stopping white birch and the flying black blur were still fresh in the memory. Reluctantly, the Omega stayed in the boat and the Weatherby aught 6 came out.
Considering conditions and time restraints, it proved the correct choice. When an island-exiting moose hit the beach and tidal flats, it was carrying the mail; but this time, there was nothing but crisp North Atlantic open air between swinging muzzle and moose. At 200 yards moose and mail somersaulted in a crash that sent saltwater spraying all the way to Ireland, the next stop east.
Bob Good is a freelance writer from Buena Vista.
Bound for
Newfoundland
Getting there is relatively easy. Air Canada flights leave Denver early in the morning, with passengers clearing customs and firearms inspections in Toronto. Receipt of firearm permit applications may be arranged in advance through RiverRun Outfitting (709-535-8770 or www.riverrun.nf.net). Connecting flights put hunters in Gander, Newfoundland, the same evening, where they are picked up for the short drive to the lodge.
No black powder or primers are allowed on commercial flights. RiverRun Outfitting retains a supply of each for muzzleloader hunters. There is no Sunday hunting allowed, so clients usually arrive and depart on Sundays although other arrangements may be made.
