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Roy Goodwin
For those that may be interested in following in our footsteps one day, there are two basic ways to get to Newfoundland. The obvious one is to use the airlines. The four people joining me on this hunt are all from Colorado, and flying seemed to be the only reasonable alternative. Flight arrangements were made into the town of Gander (Gander International Airport), and return flights were booked leaving from there the day after the hunt. There are considerations that should be understood when deciding to fly. For one thing, you need to arrive the day before you are scheduled to be flown into camp, and schedule your departure for the day after you are scheduled to be flown out of camp. This requires the booking of hotel accommodations both going and coming, but the rates are reasonable and the extra rest after long flights/hunts isn’t a bad thing! It also requires the arrangement of pick up and delivery service from the hotel in Gander to the Town of Conne River about three hours away. The camp will provide a van for this purpose for the reasonable rate of $100.00 per group. The most serious consideration however, is how to get meat, capes, and antlers home. The prospects of doing so on the commercial flights out of Gander are not good! I offered to bring antlers back for my group (as I was driving) to be crated and shipped from my house after the hunt. The camp agreed to have the capes and meat flash frozen and shipped to Colorado after the hunt at what ever the actual costs were to provide the service. As we were hunting caribou in the rut, there would be no caribou meat going home (caribou is unfit to eat during the rut), so the only serious concern with respect to shipping of meat was moose. I volunteered to take all the moose meat home and fill my freezer to help out the cause….I was just trying to help, honest! The other travel option is driving. This is what I was doing. Trust me, its not as bad as it looks on the map! From central New England (mid Massachusetts) where I live, travel time is about thirty hours. It’s a nicer ride if you have someone to share it with, but I am going it alone on this trip, as I have a few times in the past. The first leg of the journey involved a thirteen and one half hour drive north and east to the town of North Sidney, Nova Scotia. By leaving at 9:00 PM I avoid the bad traffic north into New Hampshire and Maine and get to the ferry landing a couple hours prior to the 3:00 PM departure the following afternoon. This allows some time for road construction delays and, if all goes well, a couple hours sleep in the parking lot before loading. The ride was uneventful, except for the grinding noise that developed in the front brakes of my truck, and I got almost two hours sleep in the car before the boarding call. I had booked passage for my truck and a sleeping bunk for the seven hour ride across the channel for myself. By the time the boat left the dock I was fast asleep. Seven hours later I woke to the thirty minute warning for landing, giving me time for a fast breakfast in the ship’s cafeteria before departing for the next installment of the trip. With a decent night’s rest, I attacked the six and one half hour drive from Port aux Basques to Conne River. This was another uneventful ride, other than the increasingly noisy brakes and constant rain. I arrived at the float plane base just after 3:00AM, where I was able to grab a few more hours sleep before the pilot and crew arrived to start the flying duties for the day.
When the crew arrived at 8:00AM I was told there would be delays due to weather and a problem with the plane, so we would not be getting into camp until this afternoon. That gave me a perfect opportunity to drive into town and visit with some old friends. Unfortunately I found that all my friends were off guiding in various camps or on holiday. I ended up back at the float plane base waiting for my friends from Colorado to arrive in the van. Joining me from Colorado is Mark Turner (Turner’s Guide Service) who guided me to a successful bighorn sheep two years ago, and his good friend Kevin who also helped on my sheep hunt. Another friend, Ron Rockwell, was along and joined by his friend Larry Welchlen. They are all experienced bowhunters looking forward to a great week of friendship while chasing trophy class animals of several species at a bowhunting only operation. We were all “pumped” to be here, and “chomping at the bit” to get to camp. The old adage about watching a pot boil comes to mind when reflecting on how long it seemed to take for us to depart the float plane base for the last leg of our journey to camp. At long last we arrived, got introduced to the staff, and unpacked in preparation to start our adventure tomorrow. The cooks had a great diner ready, and after a good night’s sleep we’ll be ready to give it our best in the morning. See you then.
* Photos by: Ron Rockwell For more: Tag-Along Consultants © Copyright 2005 by Bowhunting.net |
