Texas Hunting Network

Newfoundland is a remarkable place, it is about 43000 square miles in size, roughly triangular shaped, and at the time we were there had a human population of slightly over 1 million and a moose population of slightly over 125,000.

Any of you that watch much programming on PBS have probably seen a show about the Vikings landing on Newfoundland in 1050 A.D., or approximately 500 years before Columbus made it to the New World.

After stopping by the home of the outfitter I would be hunting with, we proceeded on to the town of Codroy and located the Guest Cabins that we would be renting during our stay on the island.

The most interesting thing about Newfoundland and Newfies, is that at the time we were there, it was almost like Newfoundland and her citizens felt closer ties to Ireland than to the rest of Canada.

Other interesting things about the island are that there are basically only two main roads/highways on the island. Canada Route 1 goes from a beautiful town named Rose Blanche, just east of Port Aux Basques on the southwest corner of the island, thru Port Aux Basques and runs up along the southwestern and western side of the island to a place named Corner Brook.

At Corner Brook, Route 1 turns and goes across the island in an easterly direction toward the major cities of Gander and St. John's, while another highway continues up along the western side of the island to the northern tip of the island and places such as L'Anse Aux Meadows, where the Vikings landed, and St. Anthony.

After we settled in at the cabins and resting up for a couple of days and doing some sight seeing in the area, we took one of the side trips that we had planned out, and that was the drive up the west and northwest side of the island to the afore mentioned L'Anse Aux Meadows.

One of the more interesting areas we passed thru on that part of the adventure was Gros Morne Provincial Park. Being along the coast, this area is made up of some extremely interesting and rugged terrain.

Many of the Fijords in the park aredescribed as being similar in appearence to those in the Scandanavian countries of Europe.

It was in the Gros Morne area wher I saw my first wild caribou, and it was also my first experience at walking on, or trying to walk on Muskeg.

The caribou on Newfoundland are considered the Woodland subspecies, and as such, only caribou killed on Newfoundland can be or are considered for the Boone and Crockett record book and listed seperately from the caribou varieties living on the mainland.

Muskeg is more famous or well known from or by folks that have visited/hunted/lived for any time in Alaska. My impressions of the stuff is that it is like walking on 4 inch thick wet sponges, as you sink into the stuff, but it is like you are never sure how far you will sink.

One of my main concerns when booking this hunt was the type of footwear I would need for a week or so of hunting.

In one of the phone conversations I had with the outfitter I asked his thoughts on the matter, and he flatly stated that most leather or composition boots just did not hold up that well to the constant wetness. He recommended the same boots I have or had at that time been used to wearing for several years, knee high rubber irrigation boots, wading boots, whatever you wish to call them.

So that is what I hunted in, a $15.00 pair of Tractor Supply Company specials, instead of higher priced name brand boots that possibly would have failed 3 days into the hunt.

After passing thru the Gros morne area and past little coastal villages with names like Cow's Head Cove, we reached the L'Anse Aux Meadows Historic Site and spent a few hours touring the reconstructed long houses and going thru the on site museum.

Just outside the museum in one area, growing wild on the grounds were several raspberry plants that were loaded with berries and they tasted really good.

One of the neater aspects during the time actually hunting, was that year Newfoundland experienced its best Blueberry crop in several years. As me and my guide would be moving along looking for game, I could reach down and drag my hand thru the blueberry bushes we were traveling thru and come up with a whole handful of fresh ripe blueberries.

After finishing up with our tour of L'Anse Aux Meadows, we drove over to the town of St. Anthony and drove around it for a while sight seeing, then we started back toward Codroy.

We had planned this tour out as a 2 day excursion at least, and so we ended up camping one night at a provincial park, Lora and Tina sleeping in the camper and me sleeping in a small tent we had brought along.

Lora and Tina slept fairly well, I had to keep moving around the tentduring the night as between the ground conditions and the rain storm that had moved on shore, I kept waking up in a puddle of water.

On our trip back to Codroy, I had another first, and that was my first sighting of a Moose in the wild.

The rest of that part of the trip let us see some interesting stuff and meet some really interesting but some what strange folks.

After we got back to the cabins I had one day of down time before Iwould go into hunting camp up on the Crabbes River.

I contacted the outfitter and he arranged for one of the guides to take me out to a small make shift range to check the zero on my rifles and then Lora and Tina and I went to do some shopping for last minute things that I would have to take into camp for myself.

Next time, Hunting Success In Relation To Miles Walked.