Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Does anyone use a canoe when they hunt?

Ted,
Glad you posted your photos....love to see em.

And you haven't changed a bit in 35 years

fly fished out of mine and one river moose trip [no moose]

we were cleaning,and making portage trails in the Nitnat Triangle [vancouver Island]
in my 18 white water freighter we had 5 guys ,sleeping gear ,chain saws ,gas,oil axes,food for to days,6" of freeboard ,all 5 paddling, just keeping up to 2 people in a 16' canoe ,,close to 15-1600 lbs, fun weekend

Usually the roling in muskeg gets the laughing started which gets the warm going.
Randy
aka muskeg champ

Seen that a few times.

I have a Gheenoe [square back fiberglass canoe] and plan on taking it hunting this fall.
It has an 8hp nissan 2cycle on it - good for about 18-20mph and a new 2.5hp yamaha 4stroke [spare] it won't quite plane off -kind of wallows along at maybe 7-8mph.
There is no difference in speed from half throttle to full throttle -it needs a lower pitch prop -i think that will also up the mileage.With a 10mph tailwind and the 2.5hp motor it will go 11-12 miles on a QUART of gas at 1/3 to 1/2 throttle.Crazy i know.
I love the little thing -cost $1200 new [hull] and will float in 3" of water and run in 12-14" of water.
Great thread here been watching it -great pictures guys -a canoe seems like a true wilderness machine -handy and efficient.

http://gheenoe.net/thirteenft.html

Canoes can go damm near anywhere.Canoes can carry damm near anything.Canoes can damm near tip anytime.

Wind is the enemy of canoes on lakes,even more so than a small boats.

I have a 16'6" Mac Sport by Clipper,a 18'6" freighter with two feet cut off for a square stern.We have used it on two moose hunts and 16' Springbok type aluminium on one.We missed the moose paddling up stream. Both out pack my 12' Harborcraft. That scarcely would make me an expert.My skill levels do need some honing.More so, going up steam underpower.

The owner of Clipper hunts out of 18'6" square stern Mac Sport.He has a neat custom gun rack.


I went with a 16'6" kevlar as the 60# would be easier on me,both packing and going over beaver dams.I'm using a 4.5hp Merc and that's maybe too powerful.Certainly can be very fast and scary on a lake.

Problems; a gun rack for my canoe rifle,a BSA P-17 sporter 30-06,a life jacket that you can sholder a rifle with,bowman steering skills going upstream.

Lifejackets designed for paddling work fine for shooting. Of a truth, I seldom wear one when hunting streams and lake edges. I have lost quite a few family members to drowning though, but considered it a genetic anomaly.

Randy

When I was up in Chetwynd in northern B.C. during the early 80s,there was a couple of accidents, on the same lake even,different years, with overloaded canoes, wind and cold water.

I saw one fellow had one of those 35# SportPals on top of his camperette,and thought, in a country of pot hole lakes ,he was on to something.

Ted,
I might be lying if I said I recognized you right away in that picture of you in the rapids but, make a poster out of that picture, I'll hang it on my wall. That's a great photo. GD

I just got a lovely 18 ft Chestnut freighter dropped off at my place. It is in great shape, has a 44" beam, 36" flat wide stern for mounting a motor, and is 18" deep. Perfect for two guys on a moose hunt.

It will be for sale as soon as I check it out, probably later today. A 15hp two stroke should be about right on it.

The fellow took home one of my 22 ft Teslin freighters, and is hoping to put a couple of Coal River moose in it this Fall.

Ted

A real asset in areas where relative small scale waters effectively limit access. Like the run from Jackson to Alpine Wy on the highway beside the Snake River. With any sort of craft, one can get across the river and gain access to some excellent elk habitat.

Don't have canoe, but I will be using my whiter water drift boat if I ever draw my Oregon sheep tag.

I've got a 14' Sportspal that I've hunted the poo poo out of.

If you are in far enough to get away from other hunters you are in far enough that you've got your work cut out for you if successful.
Let's say you are 4 lakes in... 3 portages. The problem is the # of portages you need to make to get the bugger out. I usually double portage when camping out there (one trip with the canoe, another with the pack).
That means every portage is 3 trips. Now add a fair sized bull. You just added 5-7(+?) loads of meat. Let's say 6 loads for round numbers. That means you have 8 loaded pack trips accross (with the canoe & backpack) each portage.
That = a total over & back of 15 trips per portage. Thus each short, say 1/4 mile portage becomes 4 miles tolal walking. 3 portages = 12 miles total, 6 of them loaded. Then figure that you have to load & unload the meat from the pack frame a total of 15+ times. Load & unload the meat from the canoe each time.... Lots of work ahead of you.
But I keep thinking about it

Have a friend who used one to slip passed private land to get to public that was surrounded by the private. He got a real nice Mule Deer for his efforts.

I've used canoes for a number of hunts in the past.

Drifting a slow river for puddle-ducks in northern Alberta was something I tried a couple times. First time was a bust, the ducks would take off as soon as they saw the canoe. After that, we rigged a screen about 6' wide on the bow of the canoe, chicken wire on a light wood frame with cattails woven through the wire. Worked pretty good, we were able to sneak up on ducks nicely. Only the guy in the bow can shoot, though.

A few years ago I got tired of fighting the crowds on public land during deer season in WI. I found a couple spots that I could get to by paddling for 30 mins or so, and that got me well back from the roadside entry points. Flat water meant I didn't fight current in or out. Shot a nice fork buck one time and a doe the other. It was really nice not having to drag or pack the animal all the way out... just to the canoe.

Now that I'm down in watery country again, here in south Texas, I may use my canoe for duck hunting again.

I've hunted with canoe also one time. We shot an elk along the river but once we loaded it in the canoe we only had 1 inch of freeboard and swamped the canoe 2 times getting back to camp. Talk about a nightmare.

Something about a dead member of the deer family in a canoe that stirs the soul. I used to float-hunt out of my canoe quite some when I lived in AK. Had a 13', 3 seater old town with oar locks. Very nice on the rivers. Now I have a 13' 2 seater Mad River but havent come up with any local do-able float hunts yet.

Yes don,t hang around Ted has a way of influencing you, bought a 21 Ft Hudson Bay canoe and a 9.3 X 62. After being around Ted!

what a bad influence that man is lol ...

i have also a 9.3x62 and a freighter canoe ....

Those big canoes must be brutal when the wind picks up.