2020 Boundary Waters

[RUT JUNKEY]

great trip with some great people!! Good weather and good fishing, the scenery never disappoints!! Dad caught his traditional turtle at our campsite ( while wearing his TurtleMan shirt even!!) lol

 

[thusby]

Its a beautiful place if you can dodge the bugs this time of year. Looks like a great way to spend a week.

 

[rtraverdavis]

That’s a place I need to get to someday. Thanks for sharing.

 

[runningmt]

Did an 8 day trip with a buddy back in ‘92

I need to bring my son before he graduates high school.

This is a true Wilderness Adventure, I am More than fortunate to live in Montana, where Wilderness is at my back door, but The BWCA is a very special place.

 

[duckhunt]

Awsome place to get away.

 

[Gellar]

Looks like a great trip!

 

[homers]

I really enjoyed my 2 trips to the BWCA. First trip more than the second. If I go again it will be later in the year when fewer people are around. The stress of finding a camping spot took some of the enjoyment out of it for me. I have gone once to Quetico and enjoyed it better than BWCA. Less people, probably more like the BW was 30 years ago.

 

[NR_Hunter]

Looks like a great trip. I've been reading reports that new visitors due to covid are trashing the BWCA which really makes my blood boil. How was your experience in regards to people not doing their part to leave no trace?

 

[willy]

I have gone once to Quetico

I did an 18 day trip there in '92 and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Watched a bull moose feed in a swamp from about 15 yards, never knew we were there, had a monster northern tow our canoe around, got him to the side, he layed on the top of the water motionless and we tried to bring into boat. He stuck out of the net more than half ways and then came alive, he thrashed and spoon hooks caught in netting, came out of his mouth, I couldn't hold his tail and he plopped back into the water, lay there momentarily, giving us another chance to bask in his hugeness and then with a flip of his tail he was gone. To give one an idea of how big he was, a dollar bill could have fit between his eyes lengthwise. It dwarfed the 20 pounder another friend of mine caught a few year earlier.

My buddy, using a fly rod caught 54 smallmouth bass as I oared the canoe around this small lake, biggest was 19.5". He had never caught a smallmouth prior to this trip. We saw a fisher hunting the shoreline, petroglyphs, and loon on a nest. I found a winter kill/wolf kill bull moose skeleton and caught my first lake trout. Shore lunch has never been better.

It truly was a trip of a lifetime and I rank it as high as my elk hunts, at the top.

Thanks for bringing up the Quetico.

 

[BrentD]

Looks great. Where did you put in?

And how does your dad traditionally catch snappers like that?

 

[RUT JUNKEY]

Looks like a great trip. I've been reading reports that new visitors due to covid are trashing the BWCA which really makes my blood boil. How was your experience in regards to people not doing their part to leave no trace?
[/QUOTE
I don't know about all of the lakes up there, but, we go down the South Kawishiwi about 5 portages and there were no visible signs of this happening. We actually probably didn't see 10 people total all week. ( it was nice!) lol

 

[RUT JUNKEY]

Looks great. Where did you put in?

And how does your dad traditionally catch snappers like that?

We put in and go down the South Kawishiwi 5 portages in and find a camp. The turtles seem to know when people arrive at a camp and swim around the edges looking for scraps or stringers full of fish! Dad just waits for them to swim up and grabs them by the tail...its not always graceful, but its damn fun to watch!!

 

[Gellar]

Looks like a great trip. I've been reading reports that new visitors due to covid are trashing the BWCA which really makes my blood boil. How was your experience in regards to people not doing their part to leave no trace?

The superior National Forest has been posting pictures of campsite destruction on their face page. I don’t know if it’s more then usual, but it sure seems like there is a lot of attention to leave no trace principals on bwca social media outlets.

 

[mariano742]

Has anyone hunted deer in the boundary waters? Have the wolves killed it or are there decent bucks away from roads for a hard working hunter to go after??

 

[NR_Hunter]

Has anyone hunted deer in the boundary waters? Have the wolves killed it or are there decent bucks away from roads for a hard working hunter to go after??

This is hardly answers your question since I've never deer hunted up there, but where I grouse hunt off the Echo Trl, I see more moose sign than deer sign. If that means anything.

Would be a sweet deer hunt tho even if it is difficult. Plenty of areas to get a few miles deep where you likely wouldn't see any other hunters.

 

[Jbotto]

Has anyone hunted deer in the boundary waters? Have the wolves killed it or are there decent bucks away from roads for a hard working hunter to go after??

Been years but when I was in Ely for school in ‘09-‘12 most of us hunted deer if we could. Saw some nice deer taken by fellow college kids but I’d guess most were not far into National Forest land. I hunted a few times on some private property up there and only saw does with a buck tag in my pocket.

Knowing what I know now, I wish I would’ve hunted differently while I was there. I keep dreaming of making a trip back there some year, but have heard the deer population is low now. Not sure how much merit there is to it though.

 

[thusby]

Has anyone hunted deer in the boundary waters? Have the wolves killed it or are there decent bucks away from roads for a hard working hunter to go after??

I hunted boundary waters this year in 118. The short of it is that 3 of us went home empty handed. There was more moose sign and track than deer. I did not find any wolf sign. No way you are going to kill a deer there, whether you are hard working or not, without a huge stroke of luck. Killing a decent buck in there would be comparable to getting an unlimited sheep in my estimation.

 

[mariano742]

thanks! I appreciate all the input.

 

[Northwoods]

Has anyone hunted deer in the boundary waters? Have the wolves killed it or are there decent bucks away from roads for a hard working hunter to go after??

I live in Grand Marais and can tell you there are currently zero deer in the eastern half of the BWCA. There used to be some pockets of deer but something ate them all. Probably the same thing that is eating all the moose. There are decent numbers of deer closer to Lake Superior and I am fortunate to be able to deer hunt some big chunks of forest close to home. I usually see more wolves than bucks each hunting season. There are some pockets of deer closer to Ely and the western part of the park.

 

[NoWiser]

You could have a fun deer hunt up there, but you’ll need to do your homework. If you are paddling in, watch the weather. You don’t want your route out to freeze.