This is the journal that I kept while on my trip to Newfoundland. You may also want to check out the photo gallery of the trip and the Newfy Dictionary that I created. The trip didn't turn out perfectly, but I guess that's to be expected. Enjoy.
Thursday September 9, 2004 10:15 p.m. (EST)- Toronto Best Western Hotel
Left Lincoln at 3:20 p.m. (CST). My trip started out on a somewhat bad not due to the fact that a woman got mad at me because I almost hit her with my cane. That's right, I'm going on a caribou hunt with a bad knee (my knee still hurts) and I bought a cane just in case. I wasn't used to carrying it around and it swung by her when I tried to put my carry on luggage into the overhead compartment. It did not hit her though. A woman sitting next to me got mad because the stewardess made her put my cane by her next to the window. What a baby! Otherwise the flight was nice and smooth.
Arrived at Chicago O'Hare and ended up right across from the Air Canada ticket counter. What a deal! I didn't have to traipse across the whole airport to get to my gate with a 40 minute layover. We'll see what happens on the way back. I have 40 minutes then too. The flight was good.
Arrived in Toronto, Ontario Canada and got through customs ok. The Air Canada baggage people at the airport called the hotel for me. What nice people! I took the hotel shuttle to the hotel without any problems. My cell phone even works here so I called home.
I should go to bed now but Daredevil is on t. v. so I'll probably watch it. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I got free upgrade to business class because of my knee problem. They told me I wouldn't get a meal but they had enough so I got one anyway. I had a chicken, bacon and swiss sandwich. It was good.
Friday September 10, 2004 Stephenville, Newfoundland Holiday Inn
Left Toronto just fine. I had a nice flight until I got to St. John's N. F. because the weather was pretty bad. The plane from St. John's left 30 minutes late but they changed the route to go to Stephenville first instead of going to Deer Lake. I flew on a turbo prop plane. The landing was interesting because I kept looking for the ground but I didn't see it until we almost landed. When we got off the plane a lady told me she said the rosary three times while landing and she's not even Catholic. It was pretty rough on the approach to the landing strip. You could see the water spraying up and feel the plane slide around on the tarmac. Apparently we were in the remnant of one of the hurricanes that swept through Florida.
Ben Alexander and his son Greg from Steel Mountain Lodge met me at the Stephenville Airport. They gave me a ride to the hotel and commented how they have never seen so much water on the road before. I had a good supper and went to bed. I was worried that we might not get into camp on Saturday because of the weather.
Saturday September 11, 2004 (3 years since 9-11)
I awoke to a beautiful fine morning. It was clear and bright with the sun shining. Ben's wife Heather picked me up at the hotel a little before 10:00 to take me to the rendezvous point with Greg and two other hunters. Greg and the group weren't there yet so Heather gave me a tour of a park that's nearby. All I can say is it's a beautiful place. Mountains with crystal clear lakes and cedar trees all around. Newfoundland also has their own time zone. It is 2 1/2 hours ahead of our time in Nebraska. So 10:00 here would be 7:30 in Nebraska. It's a little hard to get used to.
We met Greg, Don and Ed Fruge from Sulphur, LA, who are here to hunt moose and caribou. We took the hour drive to the place where the float plane will take us to in to camp. We arrived about noon and were supposed to be flown in immediately. It turned out that we didn't leave until 3:00 due to a mix up with the pilots. Alain, a frenchman from Quebec was our pilot. We had a short 15 minute flight but oh the view! Lot's of water, lakes, ponds and bogs. We flew low and between the mountains.
We landed at Camp Ben Abbey on Official Ponds. The cabin is a plywood constructed building with a shower, a toilet and room for four hunters, four guides and Jerome the cook. It has a propane refrigerator, hot water heater and stove along with a wood burning stove for heat. Jerome kept getting on me because I was pronouncing Newfoundland wrong. It's pronounced New found Land!
My guides name is Ricky. He has a black mustache and is a burley fellah with a bum knee like me. About 4:30 we went for a look around. It is a boggy, wet place all of the time. We walked through the "Tucks", which is the most God awful stuff to walk through. You either follow the caribou leads or stream beds to get around out here. We saw five caribou, which included one nice stag and the rest does. It was hot today, in the 70's. We had a good lunch of caribou stew. For supper we had caribou roast with peas, mashed potatoes and homemade bread. It was delicious.
Sunday September 12, 2004 Camp Ben Abbey
Got up at 6:45 but you can't hunt on Sunday's so the berry pickers get a day to pick berries. About 7:30 am we saw a good stag across the pond from us. We just hung around camp and relaxed but did do some scouting to see if the caribou were moving. They don't have a true migration in Newfoundland since it's an island. They just constantly wander looking for food. They do tend to bunch up when it gets cold. The rut has not begun yet but there seem to be a fair number around. We had caribou liver and onions for lunch. It was good. For supper we had a turkey dinner with potatoes, gravy and stuffing. It was delicious.
Monday September 13, 2004 Camp Ben Abbey
Got up at 5:00 and had a good breakfast. At day break we were still on the deck of the cabin and we saw a good stag across the pond from us. Ricky was glassing from the front porch since they tend to pass by close to the cabin. He said let's go have a look at him so we hopped into the boat and went across the pond. We hoofed it about a 1/4 mile up the hill and saw two stags sparring with each other. The one farthest away was the bigger of the two. Ricky said he was a good one so I decided to take him. It took three shots but I got a very nice stag. I was done by 7:00.
He had really nice double shovels and 20 points. They are smaller than what I thought they were. They're not much bigger than a large whitetail deer. I had him caped and am going to have a taxidermist in N. F. do the work. He charges $500 U.S. and it includes the crate and detachable antlers.
Jerome, the camp cook, and I are going to bone out the meat and have Ben box it and freeze it for me. This way I don't have to pay to have the meat processed here. It was pretty easy getting the meat dragged down to the boat and taken back to camp.
Ricky went to go help the others find animals and left me in camp with Jerome. It's turned foggy and rainy and quite cool. I walked along the beach and took some pictures.
Don came into camp but no animal was in the boat. He seems pretty upset about something. It turns out that he took six shots at a caribou and never touched him. We have set up a target at 200 yards to see if his scope is off. It's off by a mile (16 inches high and about a foot to the right). He used a cheaper plastic gun case and it got banged around on the flight here. He only has seven shells left and no way to get any more until Ben flies back into camp. He would probably use up the rest to get it sighted in. I offered my gun for him to use and I have fourteen shells left. It is the right thing to do since I'm done hunting and I am more than willing to help out another hunter.
Now about noon it is clearing up and Ed has come in with a caribou stag. His stag has more points than mine but mine is more symmetrical and has both shovels. He still needs to get his moose.
Don killed a 4 point bull with my gun. Gerard hauled him on a 12 mile loop to get him. Good for him. I'm glad to help. He also wore my boots because his waders were too heavy for him. They had to leave it over night since they were so far away and it was getting late. They will go get it in the morning. He still needs to get his caribou.
Tomorrow Jerome and I are going to bone out my caribou. Ben should be in tomorrow to fly out the meat. My camcorder is almost out of tape and the digital camera is out of memory. Now what do I do? We bought another memory card but it's not in the camera bag. I will ask Don if he would send me pictures after he gets back home. I may send money with Ben to get a memory card and some tapes.
Ricky used my little takedown saw to cut off the horns for Ed's and my caribou. It worked pretty good. I want to go fishing tomorrow since it was cold, windy and foggy today. It only cleared up for a while. I want to go on another hunt like this but with a better set of knees and in better shape.
Tuesday September 14, 2004 Camp Ben Abbey
I had "Newfy Steak" for breakfast today. Jerome helped me bone out my caribou. Don got his moose back into camp and hung up. Jerome and Gerard boned out the moose for him. Ben arrived into camp today and flew out my meat, cape and antlers. He is going to box it and freeze it for me. Don gave me about 30 pounds of moose meat for letting him use my gun. I knew I made the right decision by letting him use it! We saw four big moose off to the south of us this evening.
Wednesday September 15, 2004 Camp Ben Abbey
Ed shot a 4 point moose about 8:30 this morning. We watched the whole thing from the front porch and helped put the hunters onto them. He shot twice and put him down. Eric was Ed's guide. They are going to use the 8 wheel Argo to go up and get the moose. It's cold, windy and partly cloudy today. All we need to get is Don's caribou.
It got hot this afternoon and Ricky and Eric went up and got Ed's moose. They boned it out on the mountain and carried it to the boat. It was easier than trying to cut a path through the Tucks for the Argo. Ben will fly their meat out sometime today.
Ben showed up today with information on how to get our meat back home. We will send it to a warehouse to freeze and store it so they can ship it by truck back to Lincoln rather than take it on the plane. The meat may not make it home with me. If the box leaks even a little, the airline will throw it in the trash. He said that has happened to some of his hunters in the past. He took out Don and Ed's animals today.
Don got his caribou today so we are all done hunting. He got a really nice stag with 20 points. It's bigger than mine but that's ok since my rifle killed one moose and two caribou. Ben brought in my video tapes and memory card for my camera. Thank God!
Thursday September 16, 2004 Camp Ben Abbey
We were going to go fishing today but about 200 yards from where we were going to land the boat motor broke. Based on Don's GPS unit, we had to limp our way back 1 1/2 miles back to camp at 3.5 mph. I'll take video and pictures today and hopefully the motor will get fixed so we can catch some brook trout.
Eric went and got the motor from the other boat and Gerard took us up to the brook to go fishing. He dropped us off and went up to get Don's moose antlers, which was still in velvet. I caught 8 fish and between Don, Ed, Gerard and I we caught 20 fish total (Brook Trout and land locked Salmon.
On the way back from fishing we spotted two nice stags so Gerard pulled the boat over. Gerard and I went up through the tucks and I got some good video of one of the stags.
Jerome made Jigs Dinner and spice cake for supper.
Friday September 17, 2004 Camp Ben Abbey
Ben and his girl (his secretary) Michelle flew into camp this morning. We squared away how I was going to have my meat shipped home and have my mount done. They will try to fly us out today because the weather is supposed to get bad. I'm not sure if that will happen or not.
Gerard ran the chain saw under Jerome's window while he was trying to take a nap, so in return Jerome put pepper on his pillow. We didn't fly out today.
Saturday September 18, 2004 Camp Ben Abbey
It's really foggy this morning. I hope we can get out of camp today. The weather forecast says it is supposed to clear up. Ben showed up about 9:00 and that's a good sign. My stuff is packed and ready to go.
I talked with Ben about working to get him some hunters by working with Steel Mountain Lodge and having a booth at some of the sports shows in Nebraska. He said he would be willing to pay me for each hunter booked.
Saturday September 18, 2004 Stephenville, Newfoundland Holiday Inn
The plane showed up with Alain flying it. Good deal! We are going to get out of here. We had a nice flight back to the pond and Ben's brother-in-law, Don picked us up and drove us to Stephenville.
I checked into the hotel and rode with the guys to Butcher Girls so they could pay for their meat processing. We got there and they hadn't done anything with it so they couldn't pay for it because it's billed by the pound. Don and Ed were not happy! When we got back to the hotel, Ben and Greg were there waiting for us. When we told Ben what had happened, he was not happy. We said our goodbyes and I went to my room. I was flipping channels on the tv and the Huskers were on playing Pitt. I got to watch the second half.
I leave for home tomorrow and should be in Lincoln by the early evening.
Sunday September 19, 2004 O'hare Airport Chicago, Illinois
Got up at 7:30 and Ben is supposed to pick me up at 9:00. Ben called and said he would pick me up before 10:00 to get me to the Stephenville Airport. Ben picked me up at 9:45. The flight from Stephenville to Halifax, Nova Scotia was only supposed to be 20 minutes late. I was supposed to leave at 12:00 noon and have a 2 1/2 hour layover. When I got to the airport, it wasn't going to show up until 2:30. There's no way I could make my connecting flight from Halifax to Toronto. It turned out that the flight left at 2:00.
When I arrived in Halifax, a girl from Provincial Air met me when I got off the plane. She said I had 15 minutes and we needed to run! Oh my aching knee! We had to leave the secure area and go downstairs to get my ticket and check my luggage. Remember I have a hunting rifle with me. They paged me twice saying I needed to board. I ran back upstairs and had to pass through security again (Good Grief!).
I made it on the plane with only minutes to spare so I could get to Toronto. They literally shut the door on my ass as I got on the plane. The girl in Stephenville told me that I wouldn't have enough time to make it through customs in only an hour and make my flight to Chicago. Boy did she nail it!
When we arrived in Toronto we were 20 minutes early but of course we had to wait for a plane to leave our gate. We arrived at the gate about five minutes early. I thought, "Ok, I might just make it." But when they tried to attach the runway to the plane, it didn't work. They had to call maintenance so we could get off the plane. We got off the plane 15 minutes before my flight to Chicago started boarding. We had to get on a bus and go to a different terminal, get our luggage and clear customs.
When I got through customs, the Air Canada folks verified if I'd make my flight. I didn't! So I had to go back out to the United ticketing desk so they could issue me a new boarding pass for a later flight to Chicago. Which of course meant that I would miss my flight to Lincoln. I had to call home and tell them that I wasn't going to be home until Monday morning.
I got on a 7:45 pm flight to Chicago and an 8:15 am flight to Lincoln. Rather than risk leaving the airport to find a hotel already booked, I'm staying here in the airport all night. It's probably a stupid thing to do but I don't want anything else to go wrong. I am so tired! I've been up since 5:00 am Central time. I should be in Lincoln by 9:30 or so tomorrow morning.
Other than the trip home, I would say the trip was a lot of fun and quite successful. I got my caribou, made some new friends and may have found a business opportunity working with Steel Mountain Lodge.
I can't wait to see my family. I wish I could have seen Cody play his first two football games. I understand that he scored quite a few touchdowns in those games; six I think. Way to go man! Did I mention I am really tired?
This is stupid! I'm going to get a motel room. I called the Quality Inn and they have rooms. They have a shuttle bus that runs 24 hours a day.
Sunday September 19, 2004 Quality Inn Chicago, Illinois
I got to the hotel room about midnight. I couldn't sleep so I got up at 5:00 am. I'm worried about getting home.
Monday September 20, 2004 O'Hare Airport
I got to the airport at 6:15 am thinking that it wouldn't be very busy. Boy was I wrong! There was a huge line through security. Apparently they have instituted new security procedures today so it's taking longer. I got my bags checked ok. I had to verify that the rifle was not loaded for the umpteen time. They opened up a new line for security and the line shortened up pretty quickly. Glad somebody's thinking!
I was in Terminal 1 and had to go to Terminal 2. I got through security fine and then had to limp my way all the way to the end of Terminal 1. You have got to be kidding me. Jesus my knee f******* hurts.
They over sold the flight so now they are looking for volunteers to wait for a later flight. I hope I don't get bumped! I got on the plane without any trouble and am on my way home.
Home
I arrived in Lincoln wondering who was going to pick me up. It was Theresa. I am home. Boy am I tired and my knee hurts. Even thought the trip home sucked, I would like to go again. I really enjoyed the people from Newfoundland. They weren't much different than the people here.
I'd like to say that Steel Mountain Lodge runs a top-notch outfitting service. The food was good and the guides worked hard to get us our animals. Jerome was a damn fine cook and I even brought his molasses bun recipe home with me. I would recommend to anyone to hunt with them. We had a few problems in camp but those are to be expected when you are the first hunters of the season. None of them were a big deal.
Cast of Characters
Ben Alexander - Steel Mountain Lodge
Heather Alexander - Ben's wife and wonderful tour guide
Greg Alexander - Ben's son
Michelle - Ben's girl i.e. Secretary
Don Fruge - Hunter from Sulphur, LA
Ed Fruge - Don's dad
Jerome - Camp Cook
Ricky - My guide
Gerard - Don's guide
Eric - Ed's guide