We're actually calling from Anticosti Island finally. This morning we got up at 5 a.m., the bus took us to the airport at 5:30, then we stood around from about 5:45 to about 10:30, so about five hours waiting for the weather report of any change in the weather on Anticosti. Finally they said it was clear on one of the airstrips, but not on the far end of Anticosti where we wanted to land, but they thought if we took off maybe we would be able to land, so we took off, actually made it all the way out to that runway, he started doing his descent, put the wheels down and then at the last second called off the landing and back up through the clouds and we went all the way back to the very west end of the island where we landed on the wrong end of the island. Because we landed on the wrong end and it's 140 miles long we had to wait for four hours for the bus to come from the far end of the island to come and pick us up. So then we waited and while we were there we actually saw deer including one buck walk right by the restaurant in the little town. There is no hunting right there.

We actually went on the bus four hours all the way to the other end to our camp, but because we had missed the first two days of our hunt, we got to this camp, but we were supposed to have hunted here for two days and then were supposed to be moved out to another camp. We can't go to the other camp direct yet because there are other hunters there, so tonight we stay here and tomorrow morning we get up again and start driving again to the other camp, so we're still vagabonds and not hunting until tomorrow.

From what I've been hearing it's been pretty tough hunting, we saw some nice racks coming out for sure, but I don't know ... it's rainy and foggy, they say that if it changes that will make a big difference. I met Bruno, the camp manager, great guy, you can tell that he's been in the industry a long time and knows what he's talking about and we're all looking forward to tomorrow. We have to check the gun in the morning and then start hunting. Cabins are wonderful and the people are really nice, it's a really good feeling, I can see why so many hunters come year after year to Anticosti.

The Next Day ...

Dark out here on Anticosti it rained all day, ugly weather, we managed to get the T/C Pro Hunter muzzleloader sighted in this morning and then we packed all of our gear and drove to the next camp, the roads were just about washed out in a lot of places, creeks are all overflowing and the swamps are filled right up. We started to see deer then on that travel, we saw five spikes and about 10 does before we got to the camp, and then we got to the trophy camp and dumped our gear and headed right out to go hunting. Ugly weather we were seeing some deer as we drove, got to where we were supposed to be hunting. It seemed to be about every four does we'd see a buck and we actually saw quite a few bucks today. About 1 in the afternoon we spotted one with multiple tines, but Eva didn't want to shoot it because I guess from our moose hunt in Newfoundland she figured I was making her shoot first, so I said "I'll shoot it," I was happy to. So I shot, perfect shot, right through the shoulder three points on one side, two on the other, I was thrilled. Eva was kind of laughing at me, saying I didn't shoot that big of a deer, and I said, "Are you kidding me, this is Anticosti, they're not that big," and she should have shot it. She was making fun of me. We kept hunting and in the end we saw 10 different bucks and 30 does, and right at fading light Eva spotted a deer that she was saying was a buck, and I said, no it's a doe, so we walked over there to where she had seen it, sneaked in there, I took one look with my binos, it was a magnificent buck, it was her shot. We set her up on the sticks, she couldn't see from her angle the whole deer, I could see it but I was taller, I said, what can you see, she said, "the neck," I said, "Well take it." The shot was about 70 yards, she made a perfect neck shot, dropped it right there, it was a giant 5x5 heavy, 21 inch inside spread, magnificent buck, we were so excited, Eva's first white-tailed deer ever and she was over the moon happy, perfect shot. I was a little bit envious of my own daughter, just joking, I was proud, proud, proud. We got it out and it turns out that mine is kind of small, but we still have one tag each left, and Matt still has his tags, too. We've got three days left in the hunt, hopefully the weather will improve.