On the first day, Loots, Ritchie, UppaBoy, Long and I got all our gear ready, then we started on our long journey up the river. We planned to go to Big Bend Slough where I went last year with different people. We first stopped at Russian Mission for gas and more grub, then we went through Tucker's Slough. That killed a lot of our time. Finally after four or five hours, we found a spot to camp. We pitched the tent, then walked along a small creek where we saw a bull moose. Ritchie and Uppa Boy shot at it first, then Long got to shoot after we all ran into the trees. He was a bad shot, though, and he missed. On our way out of the creek we saw another bull in the trees. Long was the only one with boots high enough to walk in the deep water, but he didn't catch that moose either. So we went back to camp and ate, then went to sleep.

The next morning we drove through all the sloughs, but only saw cows. About noon we went to Holy Cross. That was the first time we'd ever gone there, except for Long. Ritchie, Loots and I were the only ones with money, so Long and Uppaboy stayed at the boat. After we got more gas and food, we went back to our hunting area. On our way down I saw a moose across the river from us. I told Uppaboy, but he didn't believe me. Finally, when I pointed everyone saw it. We sped towards it until we realized it was a cow. We watched it for awhile, then went down the river again. We stopped at the mouth of Big Bend, and while the others walked up the bank to see if there was a meadow with some moose in it, I stayed in the boat. I noticed the ravens circling in the air across the slough and thought about what the old people said about Raven. When the boys came back I told them there was a moose across the slough.

When we started back down Big Bend Slough we saw a moose in the little slough I told the boys about. Before we saw the moose I told Ritchie to get his gun ready. I loaded my rifle and so did he. When we saw the moose Ritchie looked at me surprised, and said holy #$%#!!! The only thing that was wrong was that the moose was a cow with a good sized calf. When we came out of the slough we saw Moses, Bruce, Howie and Nick. We told them that we just saw a couple of moose in the slough and one on the river. As we came down Big Bend Slough we drove fast through the other sloughs. In one of the small sloughs we saw a couple of cows in a meadow, but we left them alone and went father in the slough where we idled out.

On our way out of the slough I looked back into the meadow again. This time I saw a big bull. We were all very excited. Ritchie shot the big bull, and Long shot a bull with small antlers. We skinned them both and dressed the meat, then we went back to camp and slept. It had been a long day!

BY: JOEL ISAAC