Hunting Bison can have sunny days and cold, cold nights. Bob and I got used to putting our snow machines together under the same tarps. We could always count on starting an Arctic Cat Bearcat two stroke in the morning to warm other machines. Right down to -52 C.
And if that did not work Bob always said we will drag it into the Arctic Oven. Bob always had a backup plan. His back up plans covered pretty much everything. You knew you were in good hands with Bob in the crew. There was a single dry bag with enough clothes to change out one person falling through the ice. There were back up plans for starting fires, oh my gosh he had plans for everything. First aid kits were backed with personal knowledge of how to get people evacuated to safety. His rope gear was like a fisherman’s tackle box, a pulley for this and an ice screw for that.
Over the years his use of maps and compass shifted to GPS and he went on to making his own maps with waypoints printed in them later using the Garmin Inreach; he could put the sat phone on hold! Where it belonged as it dropped to many important calls.
Bob had a plan for everything, all his gear had a reason, sure some gear did not make the cut and that was fine, you have to try it out.
This one hunting trip Bob knew we were going to take the big yellow school bus to the trail head and after the long first day we would get back to the bus late in the day for our first sleep.
Bob was cooking supper the first night again, he had a plan for everything! Of course this included meal plans! Once the bus was warmed up Bob opened a cooler and took out fresh avocados they complimented our dinner perfectly. I remember asking “Really fresh avocados? You have never brought something like this on a trip?” Bob simply replied , ”I knew our first night would be in the bus and the cooler would keep it from freezing.”
Again he had a plan
Dinner was over and Bob got up and opened his cooler again this time he pulls out a perfectly ripened Pineapple. I could not believe it a pineapple on a hunting trip! I had to tell Bob that it’s my favourite fresh fruit. And growing up in the Mooney clan ten people shared one! He laughed at that and he listened to a few stories of growing up with so many siblings. We would joke about the Catholics and all the kids, it was easy to get Bob to laugh. Well we never saw another Pineapple on a hunting trip again but for years to come Bob would drop by unexpectedly, to bring me a Pineapple.
