This is the first in a series of three reports about Eagle outdoors columnist Jay E. Hewitt's recent hunting trip to northern Quebec.Outdoors sports shows are dangerous venues for those who enjoy hunting, fishing, photography and nature in the raw.Speak to any one of them — and Butler County is full of such people — and you will hear of the adventures they have had or would like to try in the near future.We attended an outdoors show in Harrisburg last winter and Beaver Boy decided to pick up some brochures relating to adventures in Canada.Fast forward nearly a year later, and you'll find us packing for an expedition to northern Quebec to hunt moose and small game, as well as doing a little fishing.We had been preparing for months and our party grew to eight members. Six of us hailed from Butler County and the other two from Virginia. We were all connected by the excitement of an adventure into a foreign country that would require some of the best team work we could muster just to get into and out of camp.With the recent changes in security measures at the Canadian border, travel has become more complex, especially when you have eight Americans heading north with firearms.Before our trip, we had sent for the paperwork needed to clear sporting arms for our hunt, and we had to register them at the border crossing for a $25 fee.Surprisingly, there were no major glitches and we were on our way without much delay.To arrive at our destination, we traveled through New York, Ontario, Ottawa, the Seneca Nation and finally Quebec. The trip to northern Quebec gave us a view of what can best be described as endless lakes, bogs and spruce forests.We planned for the isolated stretches of highway and rough gravel roads with extra cans of fuel and supplies that would sustain us for a week.Each member of the expedition was responsible for planning and providing one meal for the group, and we hoped to supplement the supplies with walleye, moose and grouse.I was aware from an earlier trip to Montreal that the natives spoke French, although many could speak English. The farther north you travel, the less likely that English is spoken, so knowing a smattering of French is quite useful.After traveling 12 hours, we decided that a good night's rest at a hotel would be ideal, and, with my limited French, I was able to work out the details.In the morning, we would arrive in the town of Senneterre, which is about seven hours northwest of Montreal, buy our licenses and stock up on final provisions for our trek into the bush.This region of Quebec is a party hunt area that requires two hunters to buy licenses and share one harvested moose.The good news is that a moose is a big animal and can be shared. The bad news is that, in reality, one hunter can be cut out of the actionThe outfitter said that the final leg of the journey to camp would take more than 2Z\x hours on gravel roads built by a logging company to bring out timber.The roads were as rough as promised, and plumes of dust rose over each vehicle as we went deeper into the back country and crossed streams of beaver dam water that flowed over the roads.We had three 4x4 trucks and two trailers to take to camp, and we brought along plenty of emergency equipment, such as quads, a chain saw, winches, jacks and generators.Little did we know that all the equipment would come in handy during the journey. Being self sufficient on a hunt such as this one brought a new meaning as we left civilization behind and lost contact with the rest of our regular lives as we entered the trail to Lake Maseres and our cabin.