A couple of years ago on NSH.com I (Rick aka archer2) started talking to Wesley (mooseguide) in Chat. I was then introduced to him by Rob (nsfisher) at the Sport Show in Halifax in 2004 and since then we’ve stayed in touch taking about various things including the Cape Breton moose hunt.

Wesley charters whale watching tours in the town of Cheticamp, where he lives and the town of Pleasant Bay, where he’s from on Cape Breton’s North Shore. He is also an avid trophy whitetail deer hunter and after this hunt we hope he will soon be an avid bowhunter too.

This trip came about with an invitation by Wesley to participate in the second week of the moose hunt to observe the goings on while he was guiding groups of hunters for moose. One of the best reasons for going up however was also to deliver Wes’ new Hoyt bow which I must say he took a liking to after and not at the first shot.

Along with me I brought Kevin (#8) along for the trip. We left home Sunday morning and stopped over in Truro a little past noon to get a bit to eat and to drop off a Trail Cam to another Kevin (Hawkeye). Hawkeye had been in Cape Breton the weekend before and in the area we were going to and explained to us just what were in for that week as to the game we “would” see. His description of game sighting opportunities was more than correct though at the time we were sure he was exaggerating just a bit.

In the early evening we got to the Rusty Anchor Restaurant in Pleasant Bay where we were told to go up the hill to his parent’s house to meet Wes. This would be our home for the next four days.

That evening we had supper at the Rusty Anchor and met most of the hunters that would be there that week with Wesley Senior, Wes Junior (mooseguide), Clifford, Wayne and Alphonse as guides. The hunters on the first week had taken seven moose with seven tags. The hunter success is 100% from when they started bringing people up to hunt with them. That’s simply amazing statistics. There were three groups of hunters up for the second week of moose hunting. Hunters with a moose tag can also have along with them two companion hunters.

Wes Jr. got a call that evening that his zodiac boat was sinking so #8 and I went with him to Cheticamp to check things out. It actually wasn’t sinking but did have a pretty bad list as there was a leak in the port pontoon. We got the pontoon filled with air and decided to bail the boat by running it up and down the harbour so the scuppers would bail the water for us. The starboard engine would not start since the battery for that engine was also connected to the bail pump. Because of water coming over the stern the boat and the recent rain they had the pump running non stop had drained the battery. We got the water drained out and went back to Pleasant Bay. Oh did I forget to mention we also saw 4 moose on the drive that evening too.lol

The next morning came quickly with Wesley Sr. knocking on the door to our rooms at 5:00 A.M. Wes, #8 and I got ready and headed up the mountain by car where we met the hunters Wes was guiding for this the first morning of the second week’s hunt.

Glen Terfry, his father Art and Glen’s friend Jeff, from Truro would be the hunting group. We went up the rest of the mountain on foot which is harder than some of us flatlanders would think if they haven’t done it before, especially in the dark. We proceeded along the top of the mountain through the highlands for a couple of kilometres to where we met Alphonse. He had come up the other side of the mountain by 4-wheeler with Glen’s rifle and other gear. The trail up the mountain that Alphonse took is not for beginners on a 4-wheeler we were told. A testament to that is that we actually beat him there by driving and walking in from the other side which took us over an hour.

The sun was just coming up as the hunting started. I was amazed at the devastation the fire in the 1950s and the spruce bud worm in the 1980s had inflicted on this place. The hardwood trees, what there was left of them, were stunted and well browsed down by the moose. Many looked like lifeless broom handles sticking out of the ground but on closer inspection the leaves of these hardwoods were very healthy indeed. The moose browse them down and they keep making new leaves. The softwoods, again though stunted were very strong. Limbs which looked flimsy at first glance were hard to bend and to push through. These are hardy breeds of trees for sure.

We went through blown down trees which after the many years were now almost down to the ground. Care had to be taken while walking through there as the dry branches were like spikes waiting to tear away at your flesh if you were not careful. Most of the mountain top is actually pretty smooth with rolling terrain. Not really what you’d expect on the top of a mountain.

Though there were no moose sightings by our group that morning we did see lots of moose sign. Tracks and droppings were everywhere. New moose tracks crossed the 4-wheeler trail after Alphonse had driven through. Wesley Sr.’s group saw a cow moose that morning only a short distance away but took no shot.

An hour or so before we left them I did a little videotaping in which I said this was the break just before Glen shoots the moose. At the time they didn’t think much of it.lol.

We left Glen, Art and Jeff in Alphonse’s hands for the afternoon’s calling session and evening hunt and headed back down the mountain around noon.

We met up with them again around 9:00 P.M. when they were hoisting their moose up on the game pole at Wesley’s shop. It takes many hours of work to get a moose down from the mountain. This moose was shot early afternoon and they only got it back down the mountain well after dark.

Wesley Sr. and I measured the antler spread to be 48.5 inches on Glen’s moose. Pictures and video were taken and the work for us began. #8 and I helped skin the moose, split and quarter it and put it in the cooler. The guys were more than pleased with their hunt.

There was another moose on the pole that night too. Franklin, another resident of Pleasant Bay also does some guiding for moose. Franklin’s father-in-law had shot a bull moose that day on the next mountain. Needless to say the celebration after the hunt had begun for a few groups with two moose down the first day out.

Our moose hunting ended with Glen’s moose being shot so we had free time most of the day after that. Part of the day and early evening Tuesday were spent scouting around. We saw multiple moose on the road to town. No moose were downed Tuesday by the two hunting parties that were left though they hunted hard from sunrise to sunset.

We’d heard from Wes that Franklin had shot a bear earlier in the season at his bait site so being interested in the bear situation ourselves we went and visited with him and asked him if the site was still active. He told us he still kept it baited and would check on it for us the following day for activity.

Tuesday we went to Cheticamp in the morning and when almost there a bear that looked to be about 120-150 lbs walked out in front of us and on into the woods on the other side of the road.

That afternoon we went with Franklin to the bait and found that bears had indeed been there. The top metal cover on one of his drums had actually been bent over double by a bear because he’d only latched down one and not both sides of the cover. The friar grease buckets were strewn about and almost all the bait was gone.

We restocked the bait drum picked up the buckets and left pretty confident that the spot would be good for an evening of hunting. One thing we ended up not doing was setting up a tree stand at the location. As this bait site was setup it was for a rifle stand with the closest tree to the bait that was big enough to hold a blind being used. This was at 67 yards and way too far for a bow shot.

The best we could do was setup in a small clump of spruce 3-4 feet high 30 yards from the bait. This proved to be a great vantage point overlooking the bait since the slope the and most of the way up this mountain to this point was at close to 30 degrees. We were sitting about 15 feet above the bait without having to get into a tree.lol

That afternoon we started up at 4:30 with Kevin walking ahead of me. We’d agreed that he would have first shot if we saw a bear. We approached the bait with him leading the way up the trail by about 15-20 feet. We got to where he could see the bait through the trees and I stopped letting him get a good look around. As I looked to my left I noticed something kind of out of place.

This big black blob about 10 feet to my left. I'm thinking, “There is something about this that just doesn't fit." Then it hits me there's a bear only 10 feet from me and he doesn't know I'm there. I never even thought to nock an arrow or to put the video camera on. It just happened way too fast. The bear was looking ahead of me to where Kevin was.

As I looked ahead Kevin had stepped a few paces ahead and as he turns towards me to see why I've stopped I point to my left indicating where the bear is. At that moment the bear takes off running and was gobbled up by the underbrush before Kevin could see it. Need less to say we were in a great spot for bear.

Getting so close to that bear may well have happened because of the force of the wind pushing down the mountain that afternoon and not just because of our stealthy approach to the bait site but it gave us something to look forward to that evening. Oh, for those who need to know our cover scent of choice for that evening and the next was “eau de moose and mackerel”.lol

No bears came out to the bait that evening with the high swirling winds hindering us but getting so close to the bear earlier kept both of us right on edge as I dozed in the warmth of the late afternoon sunshine, video camera in hand.lol

That evening we had another bull moose to help split and quarter then put in the cooler. Another of the group had gotten a moose. This only left one hunter with a tag and without a moose and 3 hunting days left.

On Wednesday evening’s bear hunt we decided to do what we’d talked about doing the evening before. Franklin would drive up to the bear site with the 4-wheeler and his trailer in which he brought the bait and then with us there and setup would leave. This should/would mask our entry there and not unduly spook the bears. This trick had worked for getting him a bear earlier in the season.

That hunt was nothing like the evening before with this evening having no wind at all. With all the wind we had the evening before the swells were up. We could hear the bell buoy out in the Gulf of St. Lawrence slowly swaying with the swells and ringing. Any noise we made this night would be amplified by the amphitheatre like setting of the bait site. Another thing that unfortunately was missing this evening was my video camera. We found out later I had left it on the back of the truck while packing the gear for the evening hunt.

We settled in to wait and see if any bears would come out. After about an hour of sitting at the site I heard something snap a twig behind me and off to my right. I was sitting on a stump that was situated in a clump of small spruce trees only 3-4 feet high in a small cut over section of the hillside. My back was to the mountain side and my left shoulder to the bait. As I listened intently for another sound I noticed Kevin, who was sitting facing the bait, looking my way intently staring into the woods of the side hill behind me. His head seemed to be following something as he gazed into the woods. Another sound almost directly behind me this time and Kevin motioned for me to turn around and look. I smiled and slowly shook my head as to say, “No need, I know what’s there.”

If I turned to look the bear which was walking directly behind me now was sure to see me as I was in the open with nothing behind me to break my outline. Kevin’s head kept turning as he watched the bear walk by and down the slope towards the bait site. He whispered to me that the bear had walked right down the trail which was only 10 feet behind me. That was two bears in two nights that I’d had real close encounters with.lol

Kevin, from his vantage point, watched the bear walk by in the trail and down the mountain side, crossing a gully and going back up the mountain instead of going straight to the bait. All of this was behind me so all I could do was watch Kevin to see where the bear was. When the bear was out of his sight Kevin settled into a shooting position for when the bear came out to the bait site.

I was now looking to see if I could catch a glimpse of the bear when it seemed to appear out of the now dimly lit forest below between two trees. At first I thought I’d seen something but wasn’t sure then the head, shoulders and legs appeared. He smelled the air and slowly lumbered in to the bait almost head on offering no shot opportunities at this point. When he reached the barrel he just dropped down to his belly and started raking jelly beans to his mouth and gobbling them up. This lasted for 10 minutes or so. He finally got up and we both got ready to draw back.

The bear turned as if to depart the bait and I drew back. As I aimed at the back of the ribcage since the bear was quartering away I waited for Kevin to draw. As I squeezed off the shot I had anticipated seeing Kevin’s arrow on its way to the bear. As my arrow shot out of the bow I knew I’d gotten a good shot off. The arrow when I saw it in the bear’s side as it moved away looked a bit high. The spot I’d aimed at and anticipated hitting was about 2 inches lower than the arrow seemed to be and I could see almost a foot of the arrow outside the bear. The bear moved quickly through the underbrush and disappeared as I heard the shaft of the arrow snap.

We stayed sitting there on the hillside and quietly discussed what had happened. Kevin told me then that when he drew back the bear had turned and looked right at him. As he’d drawn back, something on the bow had made just the slightest sound which the bear had heard. He told me that he’d had no shot because of the bear’s angling towards him with his head covering almost all the vitals.

Kevin said that from his vantage point and the arrow angle my shot should have taken out both lungs. I still thought the shot was a bit high and may well have hit the backbone and not penetrated deeply enough for a clean kill.

After about 30 minutes of quiet discussion we walked down to where the bear had stood and looked things over. The broken arrow shaft lay only 10 feet from where it had hit the bear. There was blood inside the tip of the shaft and it felt slick for most of the shaft length. We looked for blood, hair, anything that would give us any indication of the vitality of the hit but found nothing. The tracks left by the departing bear were pain enough for the first two jumps but after that were intermingled with the hundreds of other bear tracks there. We left the site for the evening.

At 9:00 PM the hunters had arrived from the mountain bringing along with them a bull moose they’d shot. I never got the names of the hunters so when they see this they will have to identify themselves, if they want to. We got to the shop as they had partly skinned the moose and helped split and quarter it for them and put it in the cooler.

We returned at first light the following morning with Wes and Franklin to resume our search for the bear. We got to the bait to find it had been hit again during the night. Bear tracks all over the place. We grid searched the mountainside from the bait on down coming back up the mountain to do another and another search at different locations. The bait being at the top of a funnel like opening in the mountainside and opening up as it went downhill. We found no sign at all of the bear and after 3 hours of searching we had to give it up for lost.

Not finding the bear was the lowest of low points of a great trip to Cape Breton and with meeting such great people as we did there will by no means be forgotten but will be tempered with the fact that most bow shot animals that survive the initial shot usually survive well past that time.

Our time there was over way too fast and eight and a half hours later we were parked in my driveway waiting for #8’s wife to arrive to take him the rest of the way home.

Special thanks to Wesley Jr. (mooseguide) for inviting us up and to Wesley Sr. and his wife Donna for letting us stay in their home for the days we spent there.

To Franklin for letting us use his bear bait (hope he’ll still let us use it next year).

Thanks to Glen, Art and Jeff for letting us tag along with them on their moose hunt and letting us do some of the grunt work that’s involved after the kill.

We had a great time meeting new people and hopefully making lifelong friendships.

Great friends and great hunting that’s what it’s all about.

Remember:

Wait!!! The ethical shot may just present itself if you wait for it.
Wait!!! The recommended time before pursuing an arrow shot game animal.
The "best" broadhead is a razor sharp one.
Wear your fall restraint while hunting from an elevated stand.

Always check your equipment, be prepared and hunt safe.

Good hunting,

Ricky Comeau