[David G]

Before starting with Stephen’s hunt, I’d like to acknowledge the support and some of the history of 3 non hunting volunteers of our Tent Town 2022 crew.

Pete has been coming to Hunter’s Mountain with Allain and I since 1995. He’s a former student of mine and also one of my best friends. And, even though he now resides in Alberta, he still manages to make it back for some of our hunts.

We also had these two...

Brad has the distinction of being the youngest to ever visit Tent Town. His first trip to Hunter’s Mountain took place before he was even born.

This is Pete with his wife Anita.

Anita was pregnant with Brad on her first Summer trip to CB. in the mid 90’s. Brad has a younger brother Nick and both of them spent a week at Tent Town every Summer from the time they were toddlers to the time they graduated from high school.

Brendan was a school mate when they lived in Rothesay, N.B. They invited him to tag along on their CB trips several times.

The following images likely represent a very small portion of the rich memories that these boys have of their experiences at Tent Town...and likely explains why they will never hesitate to return when given the opportunity.

I don’t think that captions are needed...

 

[TonyM]

Before starting with Stephen’s hunt, I’d like to acknowledge the support and some of the history of 3 non hunting volunteers of our Tent Town 2022 crew.

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Pete has been coming to Hunter’s Mountain with Allain and I since 1995. He’s a former student of mine and also one of my best friends. And, even though he now resides in Alberta, he still manages to make it back for some of our hunts.

We also had these two...
View attachment 99290

Brad has the distinction of being the youngest to ever visit Tent Town. His first trip to Hunter’s Mountain took place before he was even born.

This is Pete with his wife Anita.
View attachment 99291

Anita was pregnant with Brad on her first Summer trip to CB. in the mid 90’s. Brad has a younger brother Nick and both of them spent a week at Tent Town every Summer from the time they were toddlers to the time they graduated from high school.

Brendan was a school mate when they lived in Rothesay, N.B. They invited him to tag along on their CB trips several times.

The following images likely represent a very small portion of the rich memories that these boys have of their experiences at Tent Town...and likely explains why they will never hesitate to return when given the opportunity.

I don’t think that captions are needed...

View attachment 99292

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A lot of great memories there for sure!

 

[gary]

awesome - the outdoor lifestyle seems to bring out the biggest smiles in kids.

 

[3macs1]

I love your posts David but could never hunt with you I just cannot afford to put on 40 pounds from the wonderful meals you show all the time that you prepare

 

[Pete]

I love this thread, but can't figure out why some of the photos don't download ?? >Pete

 

[David G]

Brendan is presently working as a nurse in NB and Brad just finished 2 years of teaching in G'joa Haven ( a community above the Arctic circle). Both had time off so Brad decided to fly to NB, visit with Brendan, and drive to CB from NB with Branden so that both could have an opportunity to participate in our hunt..

This was their tent set- up...

Brendan had brought his canoe, as did Christien, so we had 3 canoes ready for anyone that wanted to fish.

It was nice to be able to supplement our larder with some fresh fish...

Tuesday morning’s breakfast ended up being just as substantial as Monday’s...



CHRISTIEN'S GAME MEAT SAUSAGE PATTIES

FRESH TROUT...

ADD TO THIS SHRIMP SCRAMBLED EGGS + HOMEFRIES

The only thing missing from this photo is the thick piece of Buttered Grilled Toast...and the mug of freshly brewed coffee....



Tuesday would be a busy day at the base camp. Weather wise it was a decent day. All the members of Wayne and Felix's team were done with hunting and some of the non hunting companions from Stephen's team were present so all 3 teams participated in this. It didn't matter whose moose it was.

All the game bags from Wayne and Felix’s moose would need to be individually unwrapped and the meat inspected for any debris. And then re wrapped for the icing up.

In this last photo, I suspect that Brian is describing to Wayne how he got Felix's moose while he was napping...Felix (in the background) is smiling so he's likely taking all of this in good stride...

 

[KEVIN]

Such a great thread !!! My mouths watering for some of that beautiful orange trout !!!

 

[Pete]

Glad I got all the pictures this time. Wow.....those trout do look awesome ! >Pete

 

[David G]

Pete, All of these last photos are stored on Imgur. Some of the previous ones are stored on Photobucket. Your issue might be with Photobucket..???

 

[David G]

We started the icing up process around 9.30AM on Tuesday. It was a cloudy, misty day but no rain. Ideal for tending to the meat. Unlike previous years I didn’t have to do anything. Most of the members of Wayne and Felix’s teams had done this before. And all the novices were more than ready to learn the process by helping out. All in all we had a very good crew.

As soon as we had 2 clean tables outside, the work started.

I made sure that there was plenty of clean rags available and a container of warm water with Salt.

The bloodied game bags were discarded all over the place. I left them there until the whole process was over.

With so many people available, the process didn’t take long...

As each piece was cleaned, it was wrapped with plastic wrap...

And then put aside for the icing up.

As always, we removed a good portion of ice from the bins and layered each piece of meat making sure that ice separated each from the other.

Once all the meat was in the bins we didn’t have to worry about spoilage. It stays clean, dry, and very cold. We drove home on Friday and the meat was put in the cooler on Saturday...5 days after the kill. All of Wayne's team stayed till Friday even though he had shot his moose early Monday morning .

This is Wayne on Thursday morning helping with Stephen's moose. He would have missed all this fun had he gone home early...

After the icing process was over and everybody gone from the work area. I removed the work tables and put them back in the galley tent...filled a small bin with water...added Clorox...gathered up all the game bags...soaked and rinsed them well and hung them out to dry..

These are all large, heavy duty, reusable game bags for elk and moose. The support team always brings a dozen or so from previous years but these weren’t needed as all 3 licensee had brought brand new sets. At the end of the hunt, they donated all of them to the support team. We should be all set for game bags for the next several years.

Finally, I gathered up all the carriers and lined them up ready for the next carry.

 

[David G]

As soon as everything was all back in place outside, I started on the evening meal.

Tuesday evening would be our Salt fish with pork scraps dinner. This is a 28 year old tradition at Tent Town started by my brother in law Herb.

Herb’s was with us from 1994 to 2008. He developed pancreatic cancer in 2009 and passed away soon after.

Brad remembered being introduced to this meal as a young boy and knew that Herb always served this with Port wine. So he volunteered to bring a bottle of Port.

A salt fish dinner can be served with any vegetable but mashed turnip and mashed potatoes are traditionally the ones that Acadians serve with this.

This was the last time that Herb prepared this...


Once done, he would fill up the plates and lined them up for the gang...

Man, those photos bring back great memories...!!

Brian had brought tons of Salt Fish. I let in simmer slowly in the chafer for most of the afternoon and changed the water several times.

I didn’t have to go far to drain the water. Joey had prepared this bucket inserted in a press wood sheet and fitted with a drain flange to which a flexible draining pipe could be attached. Worked great for draining wash water or pots and pans.

We had used an old stainless steel sink for this but the logging operations exposed our cache and it got stolen.

We no longer leave anything in a cache. With the heavy snow and moisture, it's very hard to store anything in the Highlands without some type of damage ensuing. Most of the crew have trailers and we never bring ATV's so we have plenty of space for everything that we need to bring.

Brian had started an herb garden at Tent Town years ago so I added plenty of fresh chopped chives to the mashed potatoes and had some left over for those that wanted extra...

Peter opened the bottle of port that his son had brought, and prepared a tray of glasses for the toast.

After a few words we all toasted Herb...

 

[TrueGrit]

Love reading this thread! Between you, Pete, Walter, SS, Gary and numerous other's tales and photos keep us amped up for the seasons to come!

 

[gary]

keep er coming DavidG - great pictorial as usual.

 

[KEVIN]

morning coffee is soooooooooooooo friggen good when I'm looking at pics and reading your stories Dave !!! Doesn't get any better when ones living vicariously....especially thru you guys !!!!

 

[KEVIN]

Dave..You really got me wanting fish n brews now....or fish cakes...lol

 

[gary]

can you still buy Purity hard tak?

I had some delicious meals made with that stuff when I was in Nfld years back.
Tried cooking with it a few times, thinking I could replicate the meals - dismal failure. Might make another attempt if its still around.

 

[Buckmark]

I bought a bag of salt cod yesterday. I have a craving for fish cakes now. I bought a bag of “salt FISH” last week, only to find out that it was Pollack and/or cod, and/or haddock. Gave that away and made sure I bought salt COD this time. I’ll do that up next week, as the wife is heading to Toronto for a business trip. I’m sure she would not appreciate the smell.

 

[3macs1]

can you still buy Purity hard tak?

I had some delicious meals made with that stuff when I was in Nfld years back.
Tried cooking with it a few times, thinking I could replicate the meals - dismal failure. Might make another attempt if its still around.

If you watch at walmart they have the bag with buns some times and the grocery store here has the bread some times I love it also
But best not look at the price the buns go for like 8 bucks and the bread 12 bucks

Purity Hard Bread Biscuits | Walmart Canada

Buy Purity Hard Bread Biscuits from Walmart Canada. Shop for more Jams, Jellies & Preserves available online at Walmart.ca

www.walmart.ca

 

[louisbear]

Back in the day when I made my summer pilgrimage back to Nova Scotia from up North, I would always do up a bucket or two of salt mackerel for the winter. They made excellent fish cakes.

 

[David G]

Louisbear, growing up we always had crocks full of salted herring and mackerel. I preferred the mackerel over the herring. We generally just had them with potatoes and veggies after desalting and simmering in water. I wouldn’t doubt that they would be great in fishcakes.


Still waiting on some photos of the third moose hunt of 2022 but will start with a short prologue to the hunt.

Stephen first started applying for the moose hunt after our 2009 hunt. This was the first year that Joey (a member of our team) was picked. He ended up taking a nice bull at the Honey Hole. Allain and I had discovered the Honey Hole in 1994. We hunted it on several occasions but were never succesful. Joey was the first to take one at this site.. He became a member of our team from that point on.

Joey had always been good friends with Stephen. After his 2009 moose hunt, he encourage Stephen to put his name in for Zone 3. Stephen did so every year and finally, after 12 years, he was picked.

From day one, Stephen was very clear about how he wanted his hunt to go. Above all, he wanted his 21 year son Cameron to be the shooter and he wanted the moose to be a bull. Also, he wanted to be the sole caller. This would be a father and son hunt from day one.

Stephen and Cameron would spend their first day at the Honey Hole. Over the years, the Honey Hole has proven to be a fairly good spot with 8 moose taken here.

HONEY HOLE

There’s a slight ridge to the left of the view above with a trail leading to a small bog. So far we’ve taken 4 moose at the pond and 4 moose at this bog. The last two moose were taken at the bog.

THIS ONE IN 2019

AND

THIS ONE IN 2020

But, before these two, the previous four moose were all shot at the pond. Obviously, this is not the best spot when you only have one designated shooter. You can never predict where the moose will come out...??


DON”S BOG 2009( Joey and I)

Don’s Bog is a different story. Up until 2022, we had taken 9 moose here and all of them were shot in the bog. There is a pond nearby and, years ago, we use to place a shooter there but we’ve never had any sightings so now all of our efforts are concentrated on the bog.


As I mentioned previously, Felix had been on two previous hunts as a companion and in both cases the moose was shot at Don’s Bog:

This one in 2010

And this one in 2012
( Darcy was our photographer that year...)

Felix’s team was looking forward to hunting this spot again but, as luck would have it, the team would only spend half a day there. As previously mentioned, while most of the team was drying up from a wet and drizzly morning on Monday, Brian ventured out on his own and took this young bull down with one shot.

After having scouted all of our spots on the Summer trip, Stephen was well aware of the potential for success at Don’s Bog.

Him and I had a talk Monday evening and we both agreed that the best thing that could have happened to them was for Wayne and Felix to have their hunt finish early on Monday. This meant that him and Cameron would be the only team left so they would be free to hunt any site of their choosing for the rest of the week. It didn’t take Stephen long to choose Don’s Bog..!!

It would take 4 days in some pretty challenging conditions...but it was worth it in the end.