Enjoy your vacation Dragoniade!! I know you won't see this till you come back but it's just an appreciative have fun on your holidays message. See you when your back!
We swear your website will be in one piece when you get back We'll all be good!!!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 30/09/2008 09:57:55

Back from my first 'half' of my vacations.
Hunting went well. The group managed to get the 4 moose we had permits for, one which was mine.

Day 1: Saturday
Took the cab at 05h30 for the airport. Flight took off at 07h00 and landed at 09h00. My father was there to pick me up at the Nemiscau Airfield. We drove to our main camp, which was 2 hours and an half away and stopped for some business my father still had before his own vacations. Once there, I unpacked and we started to load the ATV with the stuff we would need for our week at our mirador, which is about 5 km away in the wood. In the evening, we drove to the construction camp for the La Sarcelle powerhouse project, which is about 30 km away) to meet my mother and drove back to the camp for the night.

Day 2: Sunday
We get up at sun rise, finish packing the extra stuff and drive to our mirador in ATV, stopping about 1 km away and finishing the trip by foot, to make as less noise as possible. Now, this year, I realize I really got to get a smaller laptop. Mine is way too HEAVY and carrying it, along with an extra heavy riffle, was a real burden. On at our mirador, we decided to take a nap, since it was already noon and hadn't called yet. Close to 14h00, I get up and look through the window... and spotted one! One moose cow was grazing in the water right in front of the mirador, at about 300 feet away. However, the season was only for buck, so it was only a photo hunting session. My father called and she slowly walked toward us, at about 100 feet from our place. She watched a little, then resumed grazing until she decided to leave.

2 hours later, she was back, at the same spot. However, she was a bit nervous and we were wondering if the buck wasn't around. We were answered half an hour later when... a second cow showed up! It was really nice to watch. They grazed for another hour before slowly moving away by the river bank. We went to sleep at night.

http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Females/IMG_0242.JPG
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Day 3 Monday: We watched in turn, one watching movies or reading while the other watched. I used my laptop for the small amount of time the powerpack and the batteries lasted, which was about only 4 hours, even with the solar panel we installed on the top. Nothing really showed and we called all day. With night coming and without much power left, we decided to watch a movie... buried under about 2 sleeping bags and covers, as the temperature was dropping bellow zero during the night. We stayed late as of 21h00 watching the movie.

http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Mirador1/IMG_0286.JPG
http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Mirador1/IMG_0293.JPG

Distance from where the moose was.
http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Mirador1/IMG_0309.JPG

Day 4 Tuesday: My father woke up first from that late night at 07h00. We were still half asleep when he decided to peek through the window... and spotted another moose! I rose up and picked the binocular and we confirmed: it was a buck. My father was closer to the door, so he went out and fired. 1 bullet and it was over. He was very lucky (and good) and managed to hit it right in the heart. We waited an hour, then went to cut the moose in quarter. It took the whole morning to do so and move it to the main camp for hanging. We then went back to empty the mirador. With a beast down, the commotion usually drive the other moose away.

Day 5 Wednesday : We finished packing the stuff from the mirador to the main camp. Some friends were arriving that day and went to see them. We spent the remaining time paroling the road.


Day 6 Thursday : We finally heard news from the other parties. They got 2 bucks themselves on the reservoir. We keep the day patrolling and meet other hunters.

Day 7 Friday : It was a day off, as my father was need at work. We spent the day at the construction camp and spend some time coding, since I had power.

The hunt result so far 3 down, 1 left to go. Plenty of meat so far. Moose meat beats beef anytime.
http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Results/IMG_0317.JPG

Day 8 Saturday: It was a day off for my mother. We took the freighter boat and tried to located the second mirador we bought from a late friend of my parent. We had 2 sets of coordinates: 1 from google and 1 from the maps, but we didn't remembered which GPS had them. The first led us to a bay close to our starting point, but it wasn't it. The second set were much farther. The water was low and we it bottom on the way, busting one propeller. We decided to move away, even though the path was filled with dead flooded tree from 20 years ago. We were rewarded a hour later with the mirador. We spent some time

Day 9 Sunday: We took the day easy, packing and getting ready for the next week which would be spent at the second camp. We patrolled a bit then head for the construction camp for the rest of the night.

Day 10 Monday: We left early on the morning and boated to the second camp. We got there near to noon and unpacked and got set. We called a bit and went to sleep.

Day 11 Tuesday: We called most of the day, playing cards and watching. During the afternoon, I took a fake set of antler and took a walk in the wood to make some noise. Nothing showed up and there hasn't been any new fresh track. And the resurrecting flies trapped in the wall keep making random buzzing noise that were really close to a buck bleat call.

Day 12 Wednesday It was my father turn to take a walk and me to stay at the mirador. I had to be close, since I was the only one with a riffle, my father being only there as a guide since he killed his during the first week. The day was drawing near it's end and still nothing. The lack of new tracks really was putting us down. Near 16h00, we heard a louder bleat than the normal 'buzzing' bleat and I went outside... to be greeted 15 minutes later with a set of antlers in the bushed and some breaking branch. I shoot and we had our second moose! We hurried up to prepare it, since it was past 16h30 and the sun was going down at 18h30.

http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Mirador2/IMG_0344.JPG
Distance from where the moose was.
http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Mirador2/IMG_0363.JPG

Day 13: Thursday: It was a rainy day. The day before, I was reading one of the Hunting magazine left at the mirador which was mentioning that moose were more receptive to call during a depression, which meant rain. Coincidence? Maybe, or maybe not. We took the time to pack everything and load the boat, leaving by past noon. Back at the camp, we quickly hung the moose.

Me by the antler. It was a 42 inches. Not bad for my first.
http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Results/IMG_0370.JPG

Day 13: Friday: Mostly a day off, we packed a few things and went to see my mother at the construction camp. I borrowed a PC and browsed a bit, though most of the stuff were blocked and I had to dig through a SSH tunnel at home to access most of my stuff (email, site, etc).

Day 14: Saturday: We went boating on the small platform boat my father got himself before heading north. It was the first time he actually used it for a long ride. We spotted a bay with quite a few fresh track on one of the bay, which were BIG. On our way back, we meet a group of hunters that were returning from their own expedition. However, they had a mirador on that bay, so we will have to look elsewhere next year. My father decided to pull the boat out of the water since he had help at the time, aka me. We drove back to the camp and parked it there.

http://images.dragoniade.com:8081/Chasse2008/Boat/IMG_0374.JPG

Day 15: Sunday: It was day off for everyone (the construction camp is a 6/7 days of work), so some people came to visit us at the camp. Past noon, we left to Radisson (about 300 km north) to meed the widow of our late friend which we bought the mirador and freighter boat. We made some purchases, packed them up and stayed quite late. We drove back and arrived close to 23h00.

Day 16: Monday: Canada Thanksgiving day. We unpacked the truck (the pick up platform was full) from the previous day purchases. My mother stayed at the camp while my father and I headed to the airport. We stopped by the Eastmain installation to see the power house, dam and water regulator the 2 latest which I helped build during my summers. I flew back home and spend the day catching up.

Day 17: Tuesday: Day off. I spent the day catching up on the stuff that happened during my 2 weeks away. My PVR only had 10 hours left so I had to dig through some of the stuff

Tomorrow, I'll be packing again and getting stuff ready for Fur Fright. I'll be leaving Thursday and I really hope things will all goes well. My last US East Coast con were awful, filled with betrayal and con peoples. Which is sort of why I only attended Canadian con of late. But with C-Ace gone and Anthrofest practically dead, Fur Fright is the only remaining SANE con in the East Cost I'm aware of.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 14/10/2008 20:03:22

Wow Sounds like you never stop! Nice pictures by the way (Except for some of the slaughtered moose - I wouldn't be a hunting fan lol). Enjoy the Fur Fright!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 15/10/2008 12:56:24