This is the final post in an 8-part mini-series chronicling my experiences in the 2012 Ontario Moose Hunt. You can find the entire series here (it will update daily as it’s published) or check out previous years (2009, 2010, 2011). The posts appear exactly one-week after they were experienced.

When we went to bed last night we were still unsure of the plans for today.  Dad was considering hunting all day and I offered to stay for the hunt as the camp is small.  The team decided to wait for the weather to make a decision.  When we woke up to rain the decision was easy – we all started to pack up the camp.

I wish I had a list of profound insights or lessons from this year.  Some years seem to provide such insights while others are more mysterious.  I am certain that I’ve learned lessons – but also that I’m simply too close to the hunt to figure out what they are.

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This is the seventh in an 8-part mini-series chronicling my experiences in the 2012 Ontario Moose Hunt. You can find the entire series here (it will update daily as it’s published) or check out previous years (2009, 2010, 2011). The posts appear exactly one-week after they were experienced.

Friday morning.  The weather has continued to hold.  We were promised 5 or 6 days of rain and we’ve been so fortunate to have very little.

Today is the last day for four of our hunters and we headed to an area that we haven’t hunted yet this week known as the back side of Shaefer’s pond.  I’m fond of the area and was excited to get going when we finally broke camp.

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This is the sixth in an 8-part mini-series chronicling my experiences in the 2012 Ontario Moose Hunt. You can find the entire series here (it will update daily as it’s published) or check out previous years (2009, 2010, 2011). The posts appear exactly one-week after they were experienced.

Thursday morning.  The weather is nothing short of unbelievable.  We’re fortunate to have a moose in the shed – beautiful days are nice for sitting but they aren’t the best for hunting.

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This is the fifth in an 8-part mini-series chronicling my experiences in the 2012 Ontario Moose Hunt. You can find the entire series here (it will update daily as it’s published) or check out previous years (2009, 2010, 2011). The posts appear exactly one-week after they were experienced.

We slept in again today.  Camp broke around 8:00AM and we hunted our property all day.

We’ve been pretty fortunate so far this week – an adult moose is hanging in the shed and we’ve seen animals on every hunt so far.  Fortunate but not lucky.

There are a lot of wolf tracks around this year.  It seems like we’re seeing them everywhere.  The wolves can help (and hurt) our efforts.  Animals tend to bunch up for safety in numbers when wolves around and that’s the likely reason why we’ve been seeing so many (and so many in small groups).  It’s very unusual for a hunter to see 5 moose at once (especially the combination of two adult males and two caves together) and it’s likely we can thank our four-legged friends for that.  On the flipside, we’re competing with them for the same group of calves.

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This is the fourth in an 8-part mini-series chronicling my experiences in the 2012 Ontario Moose Hunt. You can find the entire series here (it will update daily as it’s published) or check out previous years (2009, 2010, 2011). The posts appear exactly one-week after they were experienced.

We were able to sleep in today since the pressure’s off.  Although I’m relieved that we have an animal down, there’s a nagging noise in the back of my head reminding me of the dangers of cabin fever.

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This is the second in an 8-part mini-series chronicling my experiences in the 2012 Ontario Moose Hunt. You can find the entire series here (it will update daily as it’s published) or check out previous years (2009, 2010, 2011). The posts appear exactly one-week after they were experienced.

BANG!

I spun my head completely disoriented.  It was barely light on the first day of the hunt and I was still en route to my watch with 3 other guys behind me.

BANG! BANG!

And, just like that we were done hunting for adult moose for the year.

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It`s that time of year again!  This is the fourth year I`v e decided to share my diary from my moose hunt.  If you`re interested in reading them first as these posts (including this one) will contain spoilers for previous years.  You can find them here: 2009, 2010, 20

Regular readers will warn you that these posts can get very long; the journal is intended to be raw and is my best attempt at archiving the experience of a hunter.  They are far more about the day-to-day rambling of existence rather than poished pieces we clean beginning, middles and ends like you would read in a magazine.  The journal will be posted over the next 8 days and is posted exatly one-week after it was written.

Lastly, if pictures of dead animals are posted, they will be below the fold (i.e. you`ll have to scroll) and there will be warned in advance.

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