Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Into The Wild: A Father's 20-Year Wait For Moose
When patience meets preparation, magic happens in the wilderness. After twenty painstaking years of waiting in New Brunswick's moose lottery system, Jesse Ells' father finally received his coveted tag—and what followed was nothing short of extraordinary.
Jesse takes us deep into the Mountains of northern New Brunswick, where three generations of his family embarked on this long-awaited hunt. With meticulous planning that began months in advance—salt blocks strategically placed in spring, trail cameras monitoring activity—they were ready when opening day arrived. Within just twenty minutes of legal shooting time, their patience was rewarded with a magnificent bull moose that dressed out at exactly 900 pounds.
But the story doesn't end there. What makes this tale remarkable is what happened next: despite having filled their personal tag, Jesse and his father immediately transitioned to guiding others. By the end of the brief five-day season, their camp had achieved perfection—seven tags, seven successful hunts. Jesse shares the triumphs, the challenges of extracting enormous animals from difficult terrain, and the lessons learned when clients don't heed their guides' expertise.
The most memorable moment comes as Jesse recounts "the one that got away"—standing just 15 yards from the largest bull he's ever seen, watching helplessly as it slipped away before a shot could be taken. His vivid storytelling puts you right beside him in the field, feeling both the exhilaration of success and the sting of missed opportunity that keeps hunters coming back year after year.
Whether you're planning your own moose hunt or simply enjoy authentic wilderness adventures, Jesse's experiences offer valuable insights and pure entertainment. Listen now to experience the highs and lows of chasing giants in the Canadian wilderness—and don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoy the episode!
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this is hunts on outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken mara. I love everything, hunting, the outdoors and all things associated with it. Stories to how to's you'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, thanks for listening in to this podcast. We're happy to have you listening in, as always. Also, if you guys had the time, it'd be great to leave a rating or review on Apple or Spotify. It's much appreciated.
Speaker 1:So this week on the podcast we are talking to forestry technician extraordinaire Jesse Els. Jesse is a past guest of the podcast, talking about some guiding before for bear and also trivia. He's been on this week, though. Jesse is recapping his 2024 moose season, and it was a great one. He's got some awesome stories. He talks about going with his dad, whose dad has waited 20 years to win the lottery to get his moose tag. He gets it. They make it happen spoiler alert, but it's a great story to go with it, and not only that.
Speaker 1:They then get out, hammer down and start guiding. This is only a five-day season and they make the most of it and they do a great job, and well, I'll let Jesse tell you. So, jesse, thanks again for coming out. You were here last year on the podcast and you were here for the bear hunting trivia. If someone hasn't listened to that, go check it out. Jesse, you guys ended up winning, but it's interesting. So, when you're not starting new chapters for Delta Waterfowl, you guide bear and you guide moose, and last year you guys you and your dad had a great year. You ended up well, I'll let you tell it. You guys had a good moose season. You got yours and you got guiding.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had seven tags in the camp and we filled seven tags. Seven, yeah, so it was a busy week.
Speaker 1:So, jesse, you're hunting, you're guiding in new brunswick, canada, yeah uh, northern brunswick, which is in brunswick up by mount carlton area, christmas mountains that area okay, yeah, yeah, so it's so in the middle of nowhere. I mean walk me through. You know who got their tag your dad, yeah, my father got his tag after 20 years of applying 20 years.
Speaker 2:So in New Brunswick it's a lottery system, yeah, and once you hit the 20-year mark with no tag, you're pretty much a guarantee.
Speaker 1:That's crazy, though, and then you know you and I both know people that it seems like they get theirs every five. If that, oh yeah it's crazy.
Speaker 2:Every year he was hoping to get it, and then this was his milestone 20 years. So he had the max amount of ballots into the draw. Yeah, so we kind of knew it was going to happen this year.
Speaker 1:Let's see, I find that hard. Uh, it's hard, you know, when they go hunting it's all about the experience and it's not about the kill and all that. You wait 20 years to get something. You want to kill it. Oh yeah, you know. So it puts so much pressure on, I find that the hunt can be harder to enjoy. I know when I went on my moose hunt with my uncle because, I mean, you never know, it could be another 20 years before you get your tag again.
Speaker 2:You kind of don't of that pressure. I find For us it's nice that we get to guide every year, because we definitely got the experience. And you're around the moose and around the moose, we got to go through hunts for quite a few years now.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:So once we got our tag, we pretty much kind of knew how to run a moose hunt.
Speaker 1:You got each other, yeah, yeah, so walk me through that. So you guys knew he got his tag, you knew that. You guys knew you're going to be guiding, so you're like, all right, how are we going to juggle all this? Because here in new brunswick it used to be a three-day season, now it's five, yeah, um, which is still relatively short compared to some places in the states and you know this and that, and even Canada.
Speaker 2:It's a short season, but it's a long week. Yes, when you're out there the whole week, it's a long week. Well put, jesse.
Speaker 1:Very well put. Yeah, you've practiced saying that before because you've lived it. So what were you guys thinking Like? All right, you guys had an idea. You weren't guiding and hunting yourselves in the same area.
Speaker 2:So last, the season before he got his tag, we were guiding moose, so we were out there the week of the moose hunt and we got to go check out, like lots of spots, and I found one spot. I marked it on my maps. We knew that my father would be getting his moose tag the next year. It was pretty much a guarantee. So I like, I really liked this spot, it was perfect, which I guarantee. So I like I really liked this spot, it was perfect. So once he got his tag drawn, first thing I said I said we're going to shoot a moose down at the spot we found last season. So we went down there probably three weeks before the season opened up and set out a camera. We put salt blocks out in the spring and everything. And then check the camera the day before the hunt, two days before the hunt, and there were some bulls, lots of cows, everything. So we knew that it was good enough to hunt.
Speaker 1:we're gonna try her out. It's game time, see you. So the season starts in uh, september yeah, I think it was september 24th you guys put salt blocks out in the spring. Yeah, so you guys were. You guys were planning it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, long in advance oh yeah, okay, we knew we were going to be hunting the area, so you want to get, you want to do a little bit of inventory oh, yeah, I guess it doesn't like. Putting cameras out for moose doesn't do anything for you except give you a little excitement like, yeah, you don't see those moose in the season. Honestly, yeah, it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1:You finally, try you find they once they're running, they're going around everywhere, yeah yeah, well, it's like you and I talking about uh, you know we're just talking about turkey season. You know, the turkeys, everyone see these big flocks and all that and right now our season starts in three, four days and the turkeys are completely spread out. They're completely unpredictable right now. They're just everywhere because they're running right now and, uh, it's anybody's guess where they're going to pop up and start gobbling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they could be anywhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's similar to moose. Yeah, I've heard a lot of people compare turkey hunting to moose hunting, Calling the interacting, or they call it a poor man's elk hunt, I guess, but I think that's because more people hunt elk than moose.
Speaker 2:But same idea? Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:So he got his tag and you guys knew the area, so you guys were hunting a swamp area.
Speaker 2:It was actually a clear like there was three different clear cuts and then this center section that was made for a buffer for a small brook, so it was 30 meters basically both sides and that was just like a gateway for the moose to access all these clear cuts.
Speaker 2:Yeah so anyways, it was a perfect funnel, perfect situation. You park down the hill, you walk up the hill and then you're basically on top looking down and calling into this valley, and then at the next hill over it was provincial park so nobody could hunt the north side of it.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So you're basically you've got the whole area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, Huh. So were you guys hunting out of a blind or you guys were kind of spot in stock?
Speaker 2:We talked about putting blinds up. We kind of made a makeshift blind in the woods but I kind of knew we weren't going to be using that. I I figured we weren't going to be using it you're going to be walking and calling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, is that how you guide yeah most?
Speaker 2:of the time we go and we walk into a spot, kind of sit at the edge of the cut or whatever call over it and then try to get the moose out in front of us. Yeah, some places we got stands but don't use them very much okay, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:You guys want to keep it uh, versatile yeah, for sure um. So what are you guys shooting for guns?
Speaker 2:so I had a seven mil rem mag. It's a browning x bolt nice and uh, father had a trophy. I don't know who makes it.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a custom-built gun.
Speaker 1:Yep, what caliber.
Speaker 2:It's a .300 Win Mag. Okay, yeah, perfect, moose guns, pretty big guns yeah yeah, all right, so walk me through.
Speaker 1:You guys were scouting, you knew roughly. I mean the moose that you guys shot, was it on camera?
Speaker 2:knew roughly I mean the moose that you got shot.
Speaker 1:Was it on camera? No, never had. Okay, all right really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even after having the cameras out that long, we had probably about honestly three different bulls on camera, so it didn't look good yeah like with the trail cameras didn't look good like a good spot well, three bulls, though it's not yeah bad, but oh yeah yeah and uh.
Speaker 2:So basically the way we play the hunt the morning of the morning, we get out there about an hour early before the sun comes up. We had, uh, two side-by-sides Uh. We drove into the spot, parked about three, 400 meters away from the area we're going to hunt, yep, and then parked there, got out of the side the side by sides and just stood around and listened. So right away we heard a moose like to the left, probably about 15, 20 yards in the cut storm off that close, yeah, like it was a nice bull. You could hear the sticks hitting the boards and stuff.
Speaker 1:Really, oh yeah, wow, you guys were that close to him.
Speaker 2:That close Accidentally Mo and stuff. Really oh yeah. Wow, you guys were that close to them, that close Accidentally Moose up, there are like mice basically.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They're everywhere. So then we started just listening to that moose go off. We could hear a cow down at the spot where we wanted to get to, right in the bottom of the valley. She was bawling and there was bulls everywhere Trying to call at her. Yeah, you hear them all going towards her. So then about half an hour before like legal shooting time, we started to walk super slow over there because it was kind of fire, but not that bad, yeah. So, anyways, legal light comes up. We're just about to crest over the hill to go down to the valley and, uh, we hear most to the right side of the road. We all stop. You can hear walking around.
Speaker 2:Anyways, I didn't hear no, no, like boards or nothing hitting the trees. Everybody's like standing there looking at it. And then I was like, well, let's keep going and I'll tell you if people that are not used to hunting up there, it's hard to leave that moose. Yeah, like it really is. But you could hear a bunch of moose down the valley. So we kept on going, probably made about 50 yards, another moose on their left side of the road, walking in the bushes. This time you could hear the antlers here like dinging off the trees and stuff. So we kind of stood there for a bit and that cow kept on bawling, kept on bawling and the moose were just like going to her quite quickly and we had to get there, cut them off so that moose wasn't coming up the road, it was going down the cut. So I said, well, let's get going, let's get in front of this thing and it's going to come across the road to get to her.
Speaker 2:So we got down to that intersection and there was a cow standing on the road down there, just a small one. I looked at her for a bit. She walked off the road right in the perfect spot where our camera was. She walked off the road right in the perfect spot where our camera was. It was probably about a minute. I had nothing going on. You could hear moose walking in the trees and stuff, and then you could hear a bull coming through, grunting, just coming on the left side of the road, and, anyways, was to stand there, had the rifles ready. We were just waiting to see him pop up and then, right behind us, that moose that we heard coming through on the way by started to catch up to us and he was going to cross the road right because we were on a T intersection.
Speaker 2:He was about to cross the road there and he was coming on us real fast. So I turned around and all I seen was one board.
Speaker 1:You knew like this is a good bull, just on that one board, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I'd just seen the board and I turned around, pointed the gun that way, forgot about the other moose. And then my father come right next to me and it was like a slope down the road.
Speaker 2:So I said man, we've got to get down there about 20 feet or whatever, because it was kind of a bad shot where we were at. So we walked down the road a little bit, set up. This moose was coming and right at that time you could see like just the head and the boards. It's pretty nice moose. And so my father told me he said it's your choice if we're going to shoot moose or not. Anyways, I said yeah, it's your choice if we're going to shoot moose or not. Anyways, I said yeah, it's a shooter.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, the thing come out broadside and, uh, he told me take the shot. He wanted me to take.
Speaker 1:The first shot he said put it right through the lungs and then I'll do the rest, like I've waited 20 years for this, so don't miss yeah, yeah, so I was pretty confident in my gun yeah and it was about 60 yards away at this time.
Speaker 2:So I said, all right, got it lined up. As soon as it walked out, like nothing in the way, put it right through the lungs and we opened fire. It was like a war zone oh yeah, we were like 20 minutes into the hunt, like maximum, yeah, anyways, I had three shells in my gun, he had four and uh, you guys were empty and we were empty. If I had another one, I would have put in it. I tried, I mean, that's what.
Speaker 1:Because remember, when I was with my uncle on the moose hunt, I was told just keep shooting until they're down. I mean they are big and the further they go. I remember him and I did the old one, two, three right shot and it was a good shot. We found out later. We did hit him in the heart and it took off reloaded and just shit luck and a hair trigger and I popped him right behind the ear yeah and that piled him up there.
Speaker 1:But I mean, yeah, because I was told that just keep shooting. If he went, say, another 50 yards, I bet you would have added almost an hour to getting him out, because it was so it was so wet?
Speaker 2:definitely right. That's why you want to get him down as quick as possible you guys did that. You guys were just so yeah, first shot I put through the lungs and then I was so excited just start shooting, basically, yeah, I didn't know like.
Speaker 2:I was aimed at the neck, I was aimed for the shoulder, I was going for everything yeah and then, uh, so my grandfather was behind me, my uncle, uh, it was a, actually a family event. We put on like, yeah, three generations there, yeah and uh, anyways, grandfather's in the back, stop shoot, stop shoot ceasefire yeah, the moose was falling over and we're still shooting at him yeah I put another, I put the scope up on the back of his neck, and then I didn't have another bullet, so it went click really yeah, I mean your dad waiting as long as he's did for the tag.
Speaker 1:You guys were like it's not getting away no I, we're piling it up.
Speaker 2:First shot would have killed it.
Speaker 1:But why take that chance?
Speaker 2:So then, we had a nice celebration there A bunch of hugs and a road. I'm sure the people on the next mountain over thought we were crazy.
Speaker 1:Thinking you guys had about 10 moves piled up.
Speaker 2:All the shots and then a little bit of scream and celebrating I thought you're sighting in your guns the day of yeah, yeah. So it was a pretty special moment to have, like absolutely yeah, yeah and then we went over to the moose uh, checked him out. It was pretty, pretty nice realized it was indeed a moose, thankfully yeah, pretty nice bully piled up like right on the edge of the woods. So yeah we could drive the side by side right into them actually that's helpful yeah, because that's the big thing.
Speaker 1:Some people don't realize how hard it is to get these things out. You know you got like what? 14, 1500 pound live weight moves it's uh that's a pole.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he dressed out to exactly 900 did he?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's a big one, yeah he was pretty big.
Speaker 2:He was the second largest weight at the camp actually oh really, yeah, wow yeah, there the other largest one moose yeah I think the spread on it was oh, I can't remember. I want to say it was like probably around 15 spread on it. Okay, I think it was a little over. So it was a large moose, yeah, yeah and it, uh, it weighed about six pounds more.
Speaker 1:Oh really, yeah, six pounds, yeah, well, you know, every pound counts.
Speaker 2:Um, and that's with the rocks in it but uh, yeah, actually, Actually those guys don't clean up their moose very well.
Speaker 1:No, Well, there you go. So it was great, you know, you guys, first morning, 20 years, 20 minutes in 20 shots or whatever and it was great family events and you guys were high-fiving, hooting and hollering, awesome. And then you and your dad looked at each other like all right now the rest of the season begins for us.
Speaker 2:Now we can go have some fun. Yeah, because the hunt's stressful.
Speaker 1:Yes, so who do you guide for, jesse? You guys, your dad guides as well, yep we guide for Lakeville Outfitters.
Speaker 2:Yep, and that's who I help guide bears and moose and everything. So that day we spent the day cleaning up the moose. We quartered it up. My father built a portable freezer or whatever, yeah, so we hung the moose in that and then my uncle took the moose back home and then so we could start getting it all done up Like we did the whole moose.
Speaker 1:We grabbed it all ourselves. Yeah, if you could do it yourself, that's best. It saves a ton of money. It saves a ton of money in the butcher shops.
Speaker 2:Some of them fill up quick oh yeah, and you have to reserve it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah season and then, yeah, it costs a fortune.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know so so my father and I decide we're gonna stick around because we help guide and we definitely wanted to help out the outfitter. So the first day we just relaxed. We were pretty tired. Second morning slept in because we had quite a few early mornings, because we were doing scouting days before going calling moose and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:So later on the afternoon we were helping everybody drag moose out, because second day of the season is another busy day. Everybody's getting moose that day. Season is another busy day. Yeah, Everybody's getting moose that day. And by Wednesday a lot of the guys are basically out of the woods. So there was one guy that we were supposed to guide or help guide.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:He still had a tag. He'd never seen a moose yet in his hunt. So we offered to take him out the evening and go call him. So we took him out in the afternoon. As you know, hunting in the afternoon is not great.
Speaker 1:No, especially for a big black animal that. It's and it's hot, yeah, During moose season, and it runs. It's either two things it's either blistering hot, yeah, or it and it runs. It's either two things it's either blistering hot or it's pouring rain. Yep, that's how it works. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So the moose, you don't see them in the in the afternoon, hardly at all.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Um, so we just tried calling, no luck. Uh, it was about an hour and a half, two hours before dark. We were going to go call a spot that I saved because I knew it was a good area. We shot moose there last year and I knew we had already called moose out there before the hunt and stuff.
Speaker 1:Now you guys still hunting like clear cuts and stuff, or you're hunting more bog, or this is all clear cuts. We're in pretty high country here, yeah.
Speaker 2:Like some, some areas out there. We do hunt bogs, but we didn't this past season For some reason. The moose just weren't there. They were in the cuts a lot. So anyways, at that time the guy decided he wanted to go drive the evening. So we're like all right, no problem.
Speaker 1:You were guiding a resident, yeah, resident, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:So he wanted to go drive. He had the guy there that did all the driving. That's all he did for the first couple of days of the hunt anyways.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So my father and I we went out called um that evening. We probably seen, I think, three bulls and two cows.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So we had another good evening of hunting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you guys weren't guiding anyone that you're scouting.
Speaker 2:We just did that because we were going to go do it with the guys anyways. Yeah, just did that because we were going to go do it with the guys anyways, yeah, so we decided to just go in for entertainment for us, yeah, and uh anyways decided that we told them that the next morning uh took them out Should have come with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you told them that, yeah.
Speaker 2:So called them up that night, told them about it Next morning they wanted to come out. Of course, of course, yes. So we went out to the same spot that we called that evening, went to the edge of the cut as we normally do, park way out, get there an hour early, walked in, called, no answer. So I started walking down the road and trying to act like a moose walking down the road Call on, call and no answer. And I got to the end of the road and it's a really steep valley down to like another brook at the bottom, whatever. And uh, all I all I seen was just like a black spot about 60 yards down the hill in front of me oh yeah and so I was like whoa.
Speaker 2:I said I think there's moose right there. And anyways, it turned its head and they seen a board go up and hit the trees. I said, oh yeah, it's a nice bull. And all I could see was a black patch like the size of a soccer ball.
Speaker 1:60 yards yeah, that's not too far.
Speaker 2:It's just a steep hill, so and with a lot of bushes and stuff, yeah. And I was trying to point it to the guys Like I got a pretty funny video of this, actually like somebody else video in it oh yeah I'm like over the guy's shoulder, like the moose is right here, 60 yards in front of us.
Speaker 2:Just look for that black spot and then like let your eyes adjust and you'll be able to tell it's a moose. Yeah, and then, once you figure it out that it's a moose, figure out where you can put, like the crosshairs, the shoot at it. It was about three, four minutes what they couldn't see it never seen it. The guy started losing faith in me, started walking all over the road like there wasn't a moose there?
Speaker 1:Did you try to explain to him like on the guide?
Speaker 2:listen to your guide right, I didn't say nothing. It's not my hunt.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So anyways, I was like, I was like, just like, all right, let's walk down into this ditch.
Speaker 1:I would like grab the back of his head and like just point it in there, Like I'll have to show you the video of it after.
Speaker 2:It basically was. So I, we walked down the ditch like going real quiet, and the guy still doesn't believe me. There's moose there, so he's not cautious, walks down the ditch up the other side of it and then I'm standing there behind like a maple clump, like young maple.
Speaker 2:And uh, I like young mabel, yeah, and uh, I could see the moose, like the full head now, just just the head, and I could see the antlers, yeah, and anyways, I was like all right, you see him. Now he's like no, no, and all of a sudden you can see a click. He just throws the gun up to his shoulder, yeah, and then he puts it up to his shoulder. He's like freehand that it there Trying to get a good shot. And then I'm sitting there watching the moose and then the moose, like sees him throw the gun up Of course, because he wasn't real subtle about it.
Speaker 2:And it looks right up at us and just takes one step. And one step that moose is Another, like couple feet down the hill, out of our sight. As soon as that thing goes down, boom, the gun goes off. I turned around and I knew like Did the guy think that he hit it.
Speaker 1:He thought he hit it Really and you knew for sure. I knew it was a guarantee yeah.
Speaker 2:Because the moose wasn't there when he pulled the trigger.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He was just shooting through trees.
Speaker 1:You knew for sure, like that didn't even come near it.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, everybody wanted to see. I said, well, go look.
Speaker 1:So I walked down to the spot. You humored them a little bit Like oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I walked down to the spot. You can see all the tree buds chewed off right where you're standing. You can see like where the hoofs like scooped out the dirt and everything.
Speaker 1:Then you like tell them, like I told you, he was here for a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did you. You kind of rub it in a little bit, you guys are kind of idiots.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 2:At that time you look down the valley. It was probably about 500, 600 yards across the valley.
Speaker 1:So he motored and you could see the moose booking her. Yeah, well, he got shot at.
Speaker 2:He was going full tilt and I said well, there he goes. He said he's not coming back. He was a nice bull.
Speaker 1:Oh, he was a beautiful bull Really. Yeah, he was a nice bull. Oh, he was a beautiful bull Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was about the same size as our bull that we shot Dave for. Yeah, probably a little bit smaller, but right around the same class. Anyways, nice one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, probably like a 14-inch, spread or something. Yeah, sure, that'd be, really good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean New Brunswick. With the short season, a cow is a trophy.
Speaker 2:Really. Oh, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:So anyone listening to this listen to your guide, because chances are your guide's a guide for a reason. Yeah, it's not their first day.
Speaker 2:No, in the woods for a while. Yes, I spend every day of my life basically in the woods.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're a forester. Forestry tech. Yeah, forest technician, forest technician.
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, technician yeah, or a technician Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you spend a lot of time in the woods. But yeah, that's the thing. It doesn't matter if you're in Arizona, nevada or New Brunswick. If you're hunting with a guide, your guide's a guide for a reason.
Speaker 2:Trust them.
Speaker 1:Yes, trust them, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they do it, they're there.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so this guy, he me and he was kind of uh, acting pretty casual like like you're like all right, let's stick up here, and he's like farting and burping and going on. I just like yeah didn't like oh yeah, okay, it's not a moose year yeah, so he was kind of uh did he come around to like with himself, with himself yeah, whatever, and I don't know he's frustrated.
Speaker 2:He didn't really want to do call on anymore, so he spent the rest of his day driving the road sulking. Yeah, probably he's frustrated. He didn't really want to do calling anymore, so he spent the rest of his day driving the road Sulking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, probably he's playing that song. He's like how could this happen to me? He's like what you think?
Speaker 2:Did he say anything to you after Like oh?
Speaker 1:yeah, I should have listened to you.
Speaker 2:I can't remember what he said.
Speaker 1:No, sorry or anything like that. No, I didn, he said no sorry or anything like that.
Speaker 2:No, I didn't hear too much about it. No, okay, yeah, it was one of those guys. Yeah, so they wanted to spend the rest of their day driving around pouting. So, like we, that's not really our style. Another guy took him out driving the roads and they shot a cow that evening they did okay, yeah so we went out, helped them get the cow out of the woods. It was a long ways and a cut and it took about probably about 400 yards of cable that we had in Winchester.
Speaker 2:Really yeah, wow it was quite a hard spot to get out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds it Jeez.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so at this point he shot his moose. There was one moose left and that came down to the final day of the season. Final day of season came around. We went and hunted the spot where we shot our moose. We got there in the morning uh, this guy wasn't like it was the end of the week. He didn. He wasn't really into the hunt as much anymore.
Speaker 1:He got there like an hour after shooting light basically.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of it's still good hunting, but not the best.
Speaker 1:Now why the delay you? Couldn't get out of bed or he wouldn't get out of bed.
Speaker 2:Just when he showed up, really yeah.
Speaker 1:So he was like he lost faith.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically he figured the hunt was over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Not a sports player, I'm guessing you know how the team pulls it back. You see that? And this guy maybe didn't play sports, he's never experienced it.
Speaker 2:I wasn't complaining because I like to sleep in yeah. I was up early that morning, ready because I thought they would be.
Speaker 1:That he'd be out. Yeah, of course he got his.
Speaker 2:I walked down to the spot, parked the side-by-side same spot, started walking down the road there's a cow balling right at the same spot and I was like telling him getting all hyped up like this, is it Like this is going to be perfect?
Speaker 1:Giving him the old shoulder massage. Just sit, man. This is going to be your day, right.
Speaker 2:So the calls are sounding real good. I'm walking down this road like road being all sneaky. I'm like turn to my father. He's like sounds like a person. And we said the same thing the morning. We shot our moose. We were talking to each other. He's like sounds like a person's calling and we were like wow.
Speaker 1:And that is a possibility.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were like that's probably just the cow again, sounds really good. Got over the hill, there was two guys calling at the end of that route, so we turned around and left and it was like to me. In my head it was like well, this like season's over for this guy. Like yeah, now we gotta travel who knows where and try to call a moose out, and it's getting later and your gut feeling was you thought it was people. Yeah, yeah it sounds so good, yeah, but cows do sound really good as well sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can tell.
Speaker 2:So we did the little driving around thing, calling different areas, and there was one spot we found we were driving around really fresh tracks on the road. So we tried calling there a bit no answers. Called some different valleys parked side by side. Another spot did one call, got an answer. So we were all getting excited. This is like probably about 10 in the morning, so it's getting later on and anyways, another answer. It's getting later on and, anyways, another answer. And so I got up on like a stump to try to see if I could see over this cut. Anyways, I seen something like moving in the distance. I was like, oh, I see it, everybody's getting all excited ready. I said, oh there, it's a canoe paddle, there's a guy raking the trees.
Speaker 1:There's somebody else.
Speaker 2:Somebody was raking trees, calling back forth to each other, yeah, yeah. It's like what are the odds? We're like you never see people out here. So we we packed her up again.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And decided let's spend our day in that spot. We've seen the fresh tracks.
Speaker 1:It's a good thing you verify many years, final day, like all right, I'm going to shoot. You know like it's good because I mean it happens. Oh, it got the heart pumping it was great.
Speaker 2:So final day we went out, started calling this spot right around the area. We seen the fresh tracks probably around 11 o'clock. We got answers after calling for about 20 minutes. There was two moose down this valley. You would never shoot a moose down there. This is all. Tree Never been not cut or nothing. If you did shoot a moose down there you'd probably get it out next week. Okay yeah, it'd be a chore.
Speaker 1:It's a tough spot yes.
Speaker 2:So we had to call these moose up the hill. So we called, called, called, called. They were answering all time but not moving. So anyways, we heard one way behind us, like just heard like a small grunt and about an hour of calling getting these ones answered back trying to coach them up the hill. All he hears right behind us, like right behind us probably about 50 yards, everybody turns their focus right around and we're all standing in the middle of the road, side by sides in the road, everything. So we walk up to the edge of the road and you just hear whoa.
Speaker 2:It didn't sound like a person. This didn't sound like a person. You could tell this was a moose, yeah yeah, like it was in the trees coming through. You could hear it crashing. So, anyways, I stood myself in a spot where I could see a small strip, because it was very thick, and then the guy with the rifle went down, sat in the ditch to the right side of me and this moose come along, come right up in front of me, and it was the biggest moose I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Largest spread ever. Like it was quite a moose it come through, walked right across the path I was looking down into the thicket and buddy down there at the gun did a little movement trying to get set up. Moose stopped dead.
Speaker 1:He caught it.
Speaker 2:It was 10, 15 yards right in front of us wow, so that moose, in order for that guy to shoot it would had to be right in front of him like made he away basically because it was quite thick in there and this moose stood there for so long that you thought like I imagine it did the thing, walk away and didn't even notice. It's probably about close to 10 minutes and I'm standing there like I lost hope. I was like I don't think the moose is there anymore. And then the moose turned around, finally walked right in front of this path and then turned down and started bolting the other way.
Speaker 1:Oh, really, so it caught like wind or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, turned down and started bolting the other way, oh really, so it caught wind or something of us. And I tell you, when I seen the moose flip its antlers back and push through those trees, it was unreal.
Speaker 1:Are you telling me, this is the one that got away?
Speaker 2:That's the one that got away.
Speaker 1:No way. I thought you'd be like just before he bolted, but he brought up the gun and made a perfect shot and just really he got away.
Speaker 2:So the owner of the Outfitters was standing right next to me. He's seen the moose too. He's blown away by that moose. I'm sure this year that's where he's going to be like that one for sure.
Speaker 1:I wonder if anyone found his sheds or anything.
Speaker 2:It'd be pretty cool to find them. I seen a pair of big sheds found up there three years ago with the outfitter. They were crazy. The guy put it over his back and it was down to his legs like super long.
Speaker 1:You come across a lot of sheds when you're out in the woods doing forestry tech stuff Not as much as I should probably. Yeah, yeah, I figured you would Not as much as I should probably. Yeah, yeah, I figured you would.
Speaker 2:But I've got a few moose antlers, like a couple of deer antlers, but not a whole lot.
Speaker 1:No, no you spend every day out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Probably moose antlers. I got around seven or eight or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hmm, I suppose you're focusing on your job, that you know.
Speaker 2:But yeah, depends on the time of year.
Speaker 1:I'm looking for antlers quite a bit, but I mean it's funny. I uh last week when I was following it looked like this turkey trail in this field. I'm just walking along like, oh shit, there's a nice you know buck shed, right, yeah, and I got that and I was talking to my buddy, ryan. He's been on here and ryan was saying like he was doing fertilizer, that day must have covered about 300 acres or more. And he said he like just that you know day or two and he's never seen a buck shed really in a field. And he I mean all the corn they plant inside, all this stuff never come across.
Speaker 2:When I think you would think you'd find one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I found most of mine just sitting in a field really but yeah, yeah, he does. He doesn't all the time he spends too. So I mean, yeah, it's just weird luck sometimes.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I found. I found a set one time. Nine point under an apple tree and one time I found working just a little deer antler it was on ryan's property, actually, like oh yeah that's why he doesn't find them yeah, you're getting them first.
Speaker 1:Uh, oh yeah, I remember hearing about that when you were looking through to get the forestry plan done up. Yeah, yeah, he's going to have a good deer spot out there. So the guy didn't get one. I thought this was not going to be one of those stories Like, yeah, he pulled it off, you know, we got to. No, he didn't get it.
Speaker 2:Huh.
Speaker 1:Should have got up earlier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was another spot we had planned for the evening and this was a spot that my uncle had found, uh, quite a few years ago he, because he passed away just in the past couple years. So, uh, we wanted to go to this spot real bad, like my father did, yeah. So we went to the spot set up in the evening. My father sat on one side, uh, looking down one valley with one guy, and I sat on the other side looking down another valley to another guy. Anyways, we were sitting there and then, all of a sudden, we heard boom, boom, boom, because we couldn't really see each other. We were real close but couldn't see each other, just because it was the knoll or whatever. And sure enough, they dropped the moose about 400 yards down the bottom of this hill, really, yeah, it was the guy that your dad was with, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So you have second gun stuff or whatever. And yeah, they dropped it right there. So anyways, You're just like.
Speaker 1:Well, that's going to be a bitch to get out yeah, I didn't know where it was.
Speaker 2:Like I stood up I was like, did you get him? He's like, yeah, he's laying down way over there and it it was like big boulders and everything, like it's in a rough spot. Like every. We always looked at this place and always thought like if we shot a moose here, it would need a helicopter yeah, it would not be good, but anyways, I said, well, I'll go get my four-wheelers over at the camp.
Speaker 2:So I got my four-wheeler. I had one guy like trying to walk me a path down, Got down there and I bought one of those moose sleds.
Speaker 1:Yes, those are very slick Amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I hooked the moose in.
Speaker 1:So if somebody asked how would you describe it? The moose sled.
Speaker 2:It's a big piece of plastic, basically, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's like a heavy, like a heavy duty toboggan, would you say yeah.
Speaker 2:Or crazy carpet, or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So we used that for quite a few of the moose and this was the last one. This was the last take we had in the camp and it was probably about 30 minutes before or probably close to an hour, I guess, before the hunt was over for the season, and it took me probably about half an hour to get the bike down to the bottom of the moose from the road.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like just poking my way through and uh, it was a steep hill up, a lot of rocks, a lot of stumps, and we ended up getting the thing up there with a bike one bike yep one bike.
Speaker 1:Can him 800, 850.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry um he got him out that you took like an hour yeah, I've just like, because you'd have to like get a little run for it, get up on a ledge, yep, and then you get another run, get up on another ledge, get stuck a lot, have to unpin the moose from the bike knock the bike up or pull the moose back onto the sled.
Speaker 1:But it was pretty good, but you made it happen. Yeah, it was a pretty good experience.
Speaker 2:My father wasn't convinced that the Can-am was a a good purchase.
Speaker 1:But after that you, you should. I think he liked it a little bit more, I know, because you never know, with the belt drive I mean, most bikes are belt drive. Now I think it's just haunted that has the shaft that you can't beat um I'll tell you I did burn up the belt a little bit you did, yeah, yeah I got a maverick belt on.
Speaker 1:It's a little heavier, but okay, yeah, yeah, that would do it. Um, yeah, so, like you said, the beginning, short season, long week, it's a long week, sounds it yeah yeah, you guys said, but you had a good one yeah, it was every year.
Speaker 2:It's a good year, like, yeah, you can't beat it. Uh, it's a great time. By the end of it, you want to go home for sure, yeah yeah, I mean to our moose season falls on um hurricane season here.
Speaker 1:Basically new brunswick's got a uh small hurricane season that we get the tail. I mean we call it the hurricane, we get the tail end of whatever the hell florida gets, or things like that. But I mean, it can usually give us a bit of a thrashing, and that seems to be when moose season.
Speaker 2:I think three years ago there was quite a good hurricane in the last few days.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's a tough week, or it's really hot, or the bugs are so bad and everything. Yeah, so you guys, you made it happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was the perfect season. Yeah, it really was. It wasn't pouring rain the whole season. It wasn't pouring rain the whole season. It wasn't blistering hot most of the time either.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you guys got big plans for this year.
Speaker 2:to top it, well, we're going to go after that big fella yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hope that he's still kicking around.
Speaker 2:Hopefully Nobody should have shot him yeah.
Speaker 1:So he's smart though. Yeah, he almost slipped up.
Speaker 2:You guys were close. Yeah, If I had a rifle in my hand I could have shot him.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So your takeaway from this season was, you know, listen to your guide, I guess, is the big one. Yeah, what'd you say? And that the Can-Am four-wheelers are capable of the belt, drive bikes and get those big boys out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fell in love with the bike right there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it paid off, um, and then yeah, so then you you're guiding uh for the same outfitter. Uh, what do you guys next week for bear?
Speaker 2:uh at the end of the month end of may. At the end of may yeah, and then the second week of june because you find that's when the rut here kicks off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pretty good, seems to be a pretty good time like that's probably the best time to hunt them where we do oh yeah, yeah, end of may, early june yeah, for the, for the spring season anyways yeah, I find once the uh well, I mean I haven't had much hitting my baits and then, uh, the bugs got bad yesterday. Yeah, like you hear different people say, once the bugs get bad, yeah, the bear hunting gets better.
Speaker 1:And uh, sure as shit went in yesterday and the bear had tore up the bait and everything and he was in there yeah that must have been that morning, so, and I pulled my camera out of there because I was putting it up in different areas for turkeys, because our turkey season starts on monday, and uh, so I didn't get what was going on, but I found the plug like he had his you know butt plug in there, and uh, anyways, I think it was the bears yeah, that nosy neighbor no, um, but uh, yeah, he had his plug in there and all that, so he's. Uh, yeah, I got.
Speaker 2:I moved the camera to there now, so yeah, probably ready to hunt there pretty soon, yeah yeah, um.
Speaker 1:Yes, as soon as the bugs get bad and they were bad yesterday, yeah, so that really gets things going.
Speaker 2:It really started up yesterday and today they started biting quite a bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know I was happy when the wind picked up. Yeah, that saved the day to be a little more enjoyable. But yes, how many guys? So your first group of hunters that are coming in for the bear hunt? I think?
Speaker 2:there's supposed to be six.
Speaker 1:Six.
Speaker 2:And you said they're from. New Hampshire Scattered all over around New England.
Speaker 1:States yeah. Vermont area Okay yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the second group. I can't remember where they're coming from. It might be the same guys from Florida from last year, but I oh yeah, from Florida.
Speaker 1:Really they were really good fellows. Oh, yeah, yeah, huh like talking with them. Yeah, yeah, I know it's cool. Like you know, when I went down to florida on a boar hunt wild boar hunt that was really cool. But uh, them coming up here to hunt bear or black bear, they think you know that's equally as cool really them.
Speaker 2:Like these guys, they actually owned like a deer farm oh yeah they and they're used to shooting like big bucks. They traveled to ohio and shooting like a deer farm. Oh yeah, they and they used to shoot in like big bucks. They traveled to ohio and shoot like on deer there and they said they would pass up shooting like 150 inch deer, 200 inch deer, any day to come for a bear hunt really yeah, they said they don't get a rush like doing. It was their first bear hunt ever, so yeah, yeah so.
Speaker 1:See, I mean here in New Brunswick we can residents and on residents you can legally shoot two bear a year and then, if you look at the statistics and all that and the numbers, residents don't take advantage of that whatsoever, oh no, and non-residents do. But I mean, it's like us going down, me going down to Florida, and hunting wild boar, like right pumped up about it, like hunting wild boar, like right pumped up about it, like this is awesome, but they, you know, probably feel the same way, something they've never done before, yeah, yeah. And then they come here and they're all that crazy. But this bear that you know, we definitely could shoot more and do our perks.
Speaker 1:I mean, the bear population is uh, I say it's more than healthy to say the least really they're a little slower moving this year. I think that's just because the grass is slow and it's still in cooler nights and stuff.
Speaker 2:I think by the end of the month it's going to be really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because there's a pile of bear around.
Speaker 2:So your hunters are in for a treat. I definitely agree that they're slower this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everyone I've talked to people have had I mean, the baits that I have this year are brand new but people I know that have had the same bear bait five, six years in a row. It was slow. It was slow kicking things off. So, yeah, jesse, thanks for coming out. We'll have you again. We'll do another trivia night soon, that we'll have you out on stuff, and that was good. I've been waiting to hear this moose story Because you alluded to it a little bit the other night and I was like, well, just wait, just wait, we're going to do a podcast, I want to hear all about it.
Speaker 2:So glad I could tell you it. Yes, yeah, it was good, and, uh, I'm sure you'll be back on to tell about this year's new season. So, yeah, all right, thanks.