So its day three at Ironbound Outfitters and today is Sunday so as I told you yesterday
there is no hunting in Newfoundland on Sunday
We've been just kind of chilling out
I spent the day kind of reflecting
going over the kit
going over what we've done so far
and trying to get a handle on where I've gone wrong
for sure I haven't brought everything that I need
that's very unusual, normally I'm pretty well prepared
for international hunting trips
and it isn't like we haven't had time to get ready for this one.
One of the things that I think is very basic that I haven't brought with me
that I'm feeling at the moment is kind of the creature comfort sort of stuff.
because of the weight on the plane with all the gear I'm bringing over
i left things like my pyjamas & Crocs at home
I know that sounds kind of trivial
but when you are staying in a camp with four other hunters
one of which is a lady
then walking around in my underpants is not all that attractive at the best of times
but for sure I don't I've made any friends here.
So I'm walking around in boots in the kitchen when everybody else is in there when they
have slippers on
which is also something which would not make too popular either.
I think it's the functional things that I'm missing a little bit.
I didn't bring a rucksack, which is just completely crazy
a backpack, with additional clothing, food, water,
is absolutely essential, something I normally have with me.
My Markhor backpacks, whether it be the Eterlou 45 litre, Monterior 28 litre or my favourite
which is the Savanne 18 litre
pretty much come with me everywhere I go
not bringing one of those has been a bit of a problem
I've had to borrow one.
If you're going anywhere you're going to be stalking for more than an hour, two hours
you have to take a backpack to take all your stuff with you.
Just small things, particularly here, because of the type of terrain because you're out
all day
you must take some kind of water filtration system, you're just not going to be able to
take the 2,3,4 litres of water you're going to need to consume over the day.
We've been drinking out the streams and the brooks. Here the water is pretty clear
but if you haven't got a strong constitution, your stomach is not up for it then it's just
not going to work for you.
Katadyn make a filtration system like a water bottle
scoop up the water, screw on the top then you can drink fresh clean water through there
through the carbon filter
so definitely bringing one of those with me next time.
Base layers, now I have been sweating like a pig constantly since I arrived here,
everything is up or down
the ground is very hard going
so definitely bring additional layers.
The Apex base layers have got Merino wool base layers from Rivers West are outstanding
I had to do some laundry after the second day of being here, so I should have some clean
kit for tomorrow
But ideally you want to take something you can wear on the way up to the high point
have a change of clothes, it doesn't matter if you need to get changed quickly
nobody up there is looking.
Put some clean gear on to settle down, you are not cold all day.
Being wet means you are going to be cold at some point in time,
water is going to cool down, sweat is going to cool down
it's going to touch your skin, it's going to drain heat.
So you need to stay warm, need to stay dry, need to stay comfortable.
I'm definitely only bringing one rifle next time.
Now I'm desperately trying to get my AYA No. 1 9.3x74 double rifle out for a play
but here the country is open, it's so long, the distances you are shooting are so long
that I've not really been confident to take it out
and my guide is like 'No way we're going to get within 100 yards of these moose'
mainly because they're not responding to calls at the moment
as the season moves on and as they get more and more
how do you say, interested in responding to female moose calls
then obviously you should be able to get them much closer
particularly for bow hunting or double rifle range.
This time of the year though you can expect shots upwards of 250 yards.
As it happens my shot on the day before yesterday was only 120, 130 yards I believe.
So that would have been well within double rifle territory
but for now I have been content to stick with my Blaser R8 Professional with 300 WinMag
one shot, one kill.
And this incredible Zeiss Diarange through 12x56.
If I had to take one rifle it would either be this one here or my
Sauer 202 Outback 7x64
that one has the Zeiss 4-16x50 that I introduced to you in an earlier video.
I'm going to have another couple of days playing with this Diarange
just to see how I get on with it, it has got a 56 mil objective lunge,
normally a little bit bigger than I'm used to.
It is a little bit heavier but I think that makes up for it
because the Blaser rifle itself is so lightweight.
It felt I was shooting at 243 when I shot that 300 the other day when I shot the moose,
it's a great rifle, it seems to be growing on me,
but I think I'm only going to bring one next time.
Lugging around three rifles, three lots of ammunition, two scopes
and all the paraphernaila that goes with it
has probably cost me some of the weight
that I could've used on some of my lifestyle type accessories,
particularly my pyjamas, which I do miss.
So tomorrow we're heading back to Ironbound as it happens
the terrain around here is great for Moose
but it hasn't been so great for Caribou,
we didn't see many yesterday, so we're going to head over to Ironbound
where it is much more open, it is a Caribou camp
that's what it's famous for
The guys previously have seen groups of up to nine or ten
very, very recently Caribou and a couple of good decent sized bulls.
So we're going to walk over there tomorrow, it's about four and a half kilometres, it
should takes us most of the day to get there.
We should be able to spot along the way and see if there are any Caribou, any small herds,
also last week they killed four Bull Moose, the gut piles are still there
so we've got a very good chance of attracting a bear in there.
They tend to like to leave them here, apparently, until they are a couple of weeks old, or at
least a week old
until they are full of maggots, apparently they like the maggots better than the guts.
But because the hills here are so covered with berries they prefer eating fresh as you
would
fresh, sweet berries than they do rancid gut piles from Bull Moose.
So I'm looking forward to that.
It wasn't my sort of hunting yesterday, sitting on a hill and spotting.
I didn't have a spotting scope so I couldn't see too far
and what I did see we couldn't have stalked into anyway because of the ground.
So getting out there and walking up and trying to spot new areas along the way
making way to a different camp is the sort of thing that
ticks my box.
I think that tomorrow after I'm absolutely exhausted I'll let you know
but I'm quite excited to do that.
What I'm going to do know, pack my bags ready for tomorrow
get everything in order
wish I had my Crocs and my PJs
and then I'll be talking to you again
this time hopefully tomorrow with either
a Caribou in the bag or at least a herd been spotted.
So, I'll see you tomorrow.