Have canoe, will paddle…

[Panda Bear]

Yes we do quite a bit of canoeing. Until 2010 tying a canoe to the float plane and taking paying customers into the wilderness and letting them canoe out was easy, but the cost created by the Govt pretty much eliminates this now, for most folks anyway. Some have taken canoes to remote locations and then all they have to do is fly the guest there as the canoes are already there. We can still do this for ourselves and do. And yes April, the Boykin goes with us in the plane, the canoe, the sled,

 

[Mustangs Rule]

Now THAT is some genius level thinking right there.

If you look at maps, plan well, scout well, there are no end of ways to use water to aid your hunts.

Even on the desert there are small muddy streams which flow for miles and while not deep enough for a canoe, they could easily float a deer on an inflated tire tube and there is no wilderness violation in doing so.

The snowshoes are so easy to traverse grassy marsh and bog country. Deer and elk with thier split hooves don't sink much, we do and we can break a leg stepping in a vertical bever hole.

The water almost ruins wood and leather snowshoes, but the cheap surplus metal frame and wire mesh ones are beyond easy. Just watch out for the occassional snag on a vertical stick.

Another great trick is figuring out how to cross and walk down creeks and small rivers even in cold weather, with ice and snow no less. Going where one must get wet but opens the door up to many places where deer grouse turkey and even elk hide.

I have a pair of rubber insulated ankle high canoe shoes. During warmer weather I just use them with shorts and change in the other side.

For cold weather I cut off the legs from an old wet suit and just hunt that way, with shorts still and my canoe shoes These leggings can start to fall and need to be pulled up now and then. but they do stay up pretty well.

Ii is a good idea to wear a light dive vest in case I fall and really get wet to keep my core temp up. From my waist up I have wool sweater and coat.

Just the other day I took a limit on grouse by crossing an almost knee deep small river to get to some unhunted ideal grouse habitat.

I do such crossings a lot when huntiing for deer too.

Getting out of those leggings is hard, they are tight. I wait till I get home.

The wetsuit I cut them out of was deep maroon red.

Normally after a hunt I like to stop in some rural bar for a beer, burger and fries.

When so dressed, with cut off, little Abner, jeans, funny black rubber shoes, and red leggings that look like leotards, or even grammnas wrinkled thick stockings,,,,,I just take a pass on the beer and burger, and don't go in.

 

[shines@times]

I only use a canoe with tip lines for hunting, its slow but way more stable than the faster canoes.

Could you explain what you are saying please? What is a canoe with "tip lines?"

 

[shines@times]

If not hunting, a river trip down the Colorado, Columbia, or Rogue are fun trips.

In Washington state, the Columbia flows through some great habitat for upland bird hunting, ducks and geese of course, deer, turkey, elk, black bear and coyotes. While there generally are roads, even highways, on both sides of the river, the basalt cliffs along portions of the middle and lower river strethes often prevent people from accessing coulees and riverbank slopes from above. In the upper stretches of the river, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, unlike most national parks, permits hunting. The park includes a swath of public ground up to a given elevation line--I can't recall the height, but it is well marked--that is open to hunting. Access to much of that ground is otherwise blocked by private land. There are numerous coves along the eastern shore, the west side is Indian reservation, where a boater can shelter from wind and find low-bank access to the forest. Neighboring agricultural lands provide additional feed resources for the resident wildlife.

 

[westbranch]

I've got a couple of gentle, deer-filled floats in North Idaho. If you're interested, as the kids say, slide into those DM's...

I look Onx quite a bit thinking about a deer hunt like this in North Idaho. I have some ideas but other hunters are needed.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

If you look at maps, plan well, scout well, there are no end of ways to use water to aid your hunts.

Even on the desert there are small muddy streams which flow for miles and while not deep enough for a canoe, they could easily float a deer on an inflated tire tube and there is no wilderness violation in doing so.

The snowshoes are so easy to traverse grassy marsh and bog country. Deer and elk with thier split hooves don't sink much, we do and we can break a leg stepping in a vertical bever hole.

The water almost ruins wood and leather snowshoes, but the cheap surplus metal frame and wire mesh ones are beyond easy. Just watch out for the occassional snag on a vertical stick.

Another great trick is figuring out how to cross and walk down creeks and small rivers even in cold weather, with ice and snow no less. Going where one must get wet but opens the door up to many places where deer grouse turkey and even elk hide.

I have a pair of rubber insulated ankle high canoe shoes. During warmer weather I just use them with shorts and change in the other side.

For cold weather I cut off the legs from an old wet suit and just hunt that way, with shorts still and my canoe shoes These leggings can start to fall and need to be pulled up now and then. but they do stay up pretty well.

Ii is a good idea to wear a light dive vest in case I fall and really get wet to keep my core temp up. From my waist up I have wool sweater and coat.

Just the other day I took a limit on grouse by crossing an almost knee deep small river to get to some unhunted ideal grouse habitat.

I do such crossings a lot when huntiing for deer too.

Getting out of those leggings is hard, they are tight. I wait till I get home.

The wetsuit I cut them out of was deep maroon red.

Normally after a hunt I like to stop in some rural bar for a beer, burger and fries.

When so dressed, with cut off, little Abner, jeans, funny black rubber shoes, and red leggings that look like leotards, or even grammnas wrinkled thick stockings,,,,,I just take a pass on the beer and burger, and don't go in.

 

[The_Jim]

Could you explain what you are saying please? What is a canoe with "tip lines?"

The term "tip lines" could be incorrect but it would be a boat that the base of the canoe flares out wider than the sidewalls.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

The term "tip lines" could be incorrect but it would be a boat that the base of the canoe flares out wider than the sidewalls.

Canoe stabilizers.

 

[shines@times]

The term "tip lines" could be incorrect but it would be a boat that the base of the canoe flares out wider than the sidewalls.

Thanks.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

The term "tip lines" could be incorrect but it would be a boat that the base of the canoe flares out wider than the sidewalls.

Then it would not be a canoe anymore

 

[BrentD]

Then it would not be a canoe anymore

Wrong. Dang. Again. Ever seen a Mad River Explorer? One of the nicest hunting canoes ever made. Most canoes are widest below the gunnels at midships.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

A few years ago on a real windy day I was fly fishing right where a river went into the lake.



The waves were close to white caps, a little froth on top and going right into the mouth of the river. I did not have to worry about my back cast, no brush, and I was using either a 5 or 6 weight rod with an over heavy line. If I got on my knees and cast sideways and low my line went just under the wind.



Now and then as a wave came in I could see a trout right in it hanging there in an elevated position.



I have seen pictures of sharks doing the same thing. Riding the wave ready to leap out at something.



The lake had cleared out with the wind and suddenly low and behold this ancient looking aluminum maybe 16’ or 15’ Grumman canoe comes tooling along with an old couple in it. They had a side mount motor.



They had made a kinda cart like frame with two big fat tires, they looked like bush plane tires, that could go under it and be used to push/ roll the canoe through reasonable heavy brush to get to lake shores with no ramps.



Then once close, they flipped the entire assembly up and over and the frame then rested on the gunwales of the canoe and the big tires on either side acted like outrigger floats to keep it stable in rough water.



They were just motoring along going right angle to the waves, relaxed and smiled to me as they passed by.



I stopped fishing, and walked over to the parking lot. They were coming out, had flipped the cart assembly under and were rolling the loaded canoe to a little trailer behind their camper van.



In a few minutes they were ready to go, but I wanted to chat with them as I was admiring how cool their rig was.



They were both in their late 70’s, been married well over a half century and now they just camped around and traveled to places where they could go canoeing. They began doing this on their honeymoon.



Normally they preferred wild lakes without any boat ramp.

 

[BrentD]

Such wheel rigs are commonplace around the motor routes in and out of the BWCA. We used a similar rig to move a 14' aluminum boat and 9.5 Johnson between lakes.

 

[mdcrossbow]

Hunting Canoe trips are great. I'd hunt ducks, geese from Harper's Ferry/ Maryland point of rocks to Potomac MD. 2 day trip on the Potomac river.

 

[shrapnel]

It can get dicey under certain circumstances if you have to navigate ice. Otherwise it can be productive, however, you need to be aware of land ownership. Most islands along the way are still private and you could be trespassing...