Right now, the bush around me is inundated with several thousand moose hunters from Southern Ontario. It's always that way up here until at least the end of October, when they get afraid of being snowbound on the bush roads. Finding a place to go moose hunting during this time is challenging. Every side road has a trailer park on it, lots of times, 20 or more guys hunting off one tag. My plan this year is to stay close to town, where no-one hunts. With this in mind, I came up with a hare-brained idea. I would put my new big freighter in at the boat launch that is less than 2 minutes from my house, motor for 19 kilometers to where Kenogamisis River comes into the lake, and explore some old bush roads back there for moose sign. I was also thinking of bringing my solo canoe in the freighter, so I could paddle upstream from the camping spot and portage into an area where there would be little human activity.
Also, I wanted to try out my new trailer configuration. I kind of went overkill with 6 x 6's as beams, but the thing is solid.
Loading and unloading is simply a matter of backing in and driving out. Since my house is so close, I just leave it strapped on upright. If I was going a distance, I would have it turned over.
I was on the water by 8:30, and it was -2 C according to the weather network. Refreshing to be in the water at that temp.
I was averaging around 18.5 kph, which I thought was pretty peachy. Here's a little video for all you speed demons.
Took me about an hour and a bit and two litres of gas to reach the river. I crawled up the river, worrying about rocks, but the water was practically at spring time levels.
I walked quite a few trails. There was some fresh moose sign, but not much. Looked like a bull might have walked down to the river a day or two ago, but no well used paths. I ventured further back into the bush. No leaves left now, just the tamaracs for colour.
Brought along my old Cooey model 60 .22. For all of my American friends, Cooey was a Canadian gun manufacturer, and any Canadian who has hunted has had one at some point. They went out of business several years ago, and now there are people collecting them. My model 60 is dead tits accurate, but its a tube loader, so I don't take it out much. However, since I was just walking today, I took him for a little jaunt. Saw two birds, shot two birds, the little Cooey can still shoot.
After walking for a couple of hours, I called it a day. I won't be using this spot for moose hunting, water is too high. Getting back past where I was would be dicey even with my solo. Sat down and had a coffee and warmed up for the boat ride home.
Used just about 3.5 litres of gas for almost 40 k of boat travel, way better mileage than my truck. Might head out again on Sunday to get into another part of the lake, supposed to a balmy 12 degrees C.
Also, I wanted to try out my new trailer configuration. I kind of went overkill with 6 x 6's as beams, but the thing is solid.
Loading and unloading is simply a matter of backing in and driving out. Since my house is so close, I just leave it strapped on upright. If I was going a distance, I would have it turned over.
I was on the water by 8:30, and it was -2 C according to the weather network. Refreshing to be in the water at that temp.
I was averaging around 18.5 kph, which I thought was pretty peachy. Here's a little video for all you speed demons.
I walked quite a few trails. There was some fresh moose sign, but not much. Looked like a bull might have walked down to the river a day or two ago, but no well used paths. I ventured further back into the bush. No leaves left now, just the tamaracs for colour.
Brought along my old Cooey model 60 .22. For all of my American friends, Cooey was a Canadian gun manufacturer, and any Canadian who has hunted has had one at some point. They went out of business several years ago, and now there are people collecting them. My model 60 is dead tits accurate, but its a tube loader, so I don't take it out much. However, since I was just walking today, I took him for a little jaunt. Saw two birds, shot two birds, the little Cooey can still shoot.
After walking for a couple of hours, I called it a day. I won't be using this spot for moose hunting, water is too high. Getting back past where I was would be dicey even with my solo. Sat down and had a coffee and warmed up for the boat ride home.
Used just about 3.5 litres of gas for almost 40 k of boat travel, way better mileage than my truck. Might head out again on Sunday to get into another part of the lake, supposed to a balmy 12 degrees C.
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