Four days, 140km of river, 1000km of driving and no moose!!

[Canotrouge]

So last week we pulled our daughter out of school for the Thursday, the Friday was a PD day and Karine had a comp day on Thursday and decided that she would skip the PD day so we went for a four day family trip on a smallish (actually 2) river five hours north of here. After a late departure in reason of picking up some straw bales for a friend in Dawson that have sled dogs we are on our way to that friend’s mom(also a good friend of ours) to drop off the straw bales and She would do our shuttle so dropping us off at the put in and dropping our truck off at the take out on her way to Dawson city!! So we ended up saving about 4hrs of extra driving and were able to use only one vehicle and not two!!
Put in at 4 pm on Thursday we only paddles a few hours to a decent camp spot!! Set up the tent, go get wood for the fire box to cook supper and that was it for that day!! Getting dark early means we go to bed early, happily so cause we all had a full week and a bit leading to the trip, Karine was just back from a 8 day trip biking with her outdoor head students and me full time work at the job site and 180 cubic feet of fire wood processed!!

next day up at 7 to get things going, still dark and relatively cold... cook breakfast and brake up camp to start our day on the river!! 10
minutes in we saw a massive cow moose and were less than 30 yards away.... wishing it would have been a bull....
then we hear a chopper going over and around us to vanish below tree line.... hmmmm... and then around the bend there they are landed on a small gravel bar, 3 CO’s and a pilot waiting for us! We stoped and chat a bit, pulled out my paper work for them to sign off and we are on our way.... it was a first for me to get pulled over in my canoe by an helicopter lol!! They took off and for no good reasons the circled us before leaving for good... to make sure there was no moose in the are anymore

we keep on paddling going in every slough we find and calling as we go! Sophie is getting into it and start trying to call a few times getting better at every calls!!
found a camp at around five ish! Routine is pretty well establish after traveling together for nearly 20 years for en and Karine and Sophie for 13 years now! So camp set up and cooking is pretty smooth!! After all is done and supper cleaned up there is no more day light so in the tent we go! This time with the wood stove going( the tent get really hard to set up when wet from the previous night heavy dew, feels like it shrinks and you can no more fit the poles in the corner pockets) we are nice and cozy!! It doesn’t take much time and I’m gone!!

next morning same same... plus I get the stove going before everyone gets up! That is also real nice!! Then go outside to start fire in the fire box to boil water for the coffee and the day’s tea! Breakfast, then camp beak up and off we go!! It was colder that morning, ice in the water pot!!

long day of paddling under grey sky!! Don’t see anything that could fill our freezer!! At the confluences of the south and the north McQuesten, there is a jet boat parked but no one in sight... we just keep going to try and find a decent camp spot(the wife is telling me that the jet boat was on the same day we saw the cow and the CO’s..... so let’s get confuse together here...)

Anyway, on the Saturday we did the same thing but were on the water for over 60km, long day, we were all tiered!! No moose!

Sunday we still had a bunch of km to do and we wanted to try and get going a bit earlier, so wood stove on, we made breakfast in the tent to save times and manage to cut over 1/2 hour in our departure time compare to the other days! It rained all night and this morning there is a heavy for setting in! We get on the water none the less with less than 70m of visibility, a bit nerve racking when you know that this last section of river is full of wood, lots of wood!! But we take our time and 2.5hrs late the fog finally lifted off and we had a great sunny day on the water!! No moose, lots of wood and a really different river than last time I was on it!! Got to the take out at around 2pm, no moose but a really great family trip!!

 

[Canotrouge]

Hahaha as usual, pictures are all mixed up and some are side ways

 

[latremorej]

Nice! Looks like a great trip! Funny about the CO's... I've never heard about helo-enforcenent before.

thanks for the photos and report
Jason

 

[Robin]

That’s a great post, some beautiful pics too. Nice too see the family together on a moose hunt. Good looking tent also. Are you going out again?

 

[yellowcanoe]

Looks like a Snowtrekker tent! Gotta ask. If you DID bag a moose how do you store it in the canoe after field dressing it? In smaller units? I have always wondered how people deal with that large an animal .

 

[Canotrouge]

That’s a great post, some beautiful pics too. Nice too see the family together on a moose hunt. Good looking tent also. Are you going out again?

I might be able to go again... but need to focus on firewood now, we need about 800cf and only have about 220 now!!

 

[ppine]

Moose can be very elusive for being so big. I have driven hundreds of miles across Alaska and Yukon always on the look out for moose. I finally saw one, that crossed in front of a stopped school bus. This was in the middle of no where, when gas stations are 100 km apart. My uncle used to live on the Kenai Peninsula, and he used to say that there was always more wildlife around towns. He called in late to work plenty of times because several moose would yard up by his house and he could not get to his truck.

 

[Canotrouge]

Looks like a Snowtrekker tent! Gotta ask. If you DID bag a moose how do you store it in the canoe after field dressing it? In smaller units? I have always wondered how people deal with that large an animal .

Snowtrekker for sure and an older fourdog ti stove!
As for dealing with moose in the canoe that is how we do it; we try to keep as much meat on bones as possible, less chances of wastage that way! So we place a bed of willows at the bottom of the boat so to keep meat away from the bottom just enough for blood to drain and or dew and rain to drain as well so the meat stays dry and have some(minimal I’m sure) air flow! Then we place the larger pieces, the four quarters on the willows, then ribs and neck goes next all in there own game bags to keep as much first and flies off of the meat! Then there is the good stuff that get labeled and put where there is place left, with a big moose you sometime have to stack meat on top of other meat, you just make sure you mode things around once in a while!! On a multi day trip we rarely hang at night, we leave the meat in the boat an cover the boat with a tarp keeping the tarp off the meat(think air flow here) tie the boat so it float that way the river/lake/eddy act as a fridge keeping the meat cool! Balling out any water/blood that end up in the bottom of the canoe is also important! So there it is! Of course all the gear goes in one canoe and all the meat in an other one!!

 

[memaquay]

Welcome to the Annual Save the Moose campaign! Your membership card is in the mail, lol. My wife and I are going out scouting this weekend, but won't be able to hunt till around the 24 or so.

 

[Canotrouge]

Welcome to the Annual Save the Moose campaign! Your membership card is in the mail, lol. My wife and I are going out scouting this weekend, but won't be able to hunt till around the 24 or so.

Well it has been about 6 years I think since my last dry moose hunt... hopefully this year doesn’t make it the start of a tradition!! I might be able to go again in a couple of weeks..... but it won’t be far or for long!!

 

[ppine]

I bought a mule from a guy years ago that had just come back from a moose, caribou and bear hunt in BC. He gave me some moose meat as part of the deal. I made a big pot of moose chili over a fire in a Dutch OVen with a recipe that won the Oklahoma State Fair prize for chili. People talked about it for years afterward.

When I lived in Wyoming, someone always had some moose meat. I have never hunted them, but I sure like to eat them. Elk is a close second.

 

[Gamma1214]

Great pictures and I'm glad you had a good trip!

 

[Bob B.]

As a avid hunter ... outstanding post! Too bad you did not fill a tag, but what a great experience. I loved your pictures ... and have a very similar Snow Trekker as well. I really enjoy be taken on a trip by reading a post. I am starting to use my canoe to explore hard to get to bow hunting places on public land. Next week as I paddle to a likely whitetail spot with my longbow and canoe I will be dreaming of wild rivers , fog and elusive moose.

Bob.

 

[Canotrouge]

As a avid hunter ... outstanding post! Too bad you did not fill a tag, but what a great experience. I loved your pictures ... and have a very similar Snow Trekker as well. I really enjoy be taken on a trip by reading a post. I am starting to use my canoe to explore hard to get to bow hunting places on public land. Next week as I paddle to a likely whitetail spot with my longbow and canoe I will be dreaming of wild rivers , fog and elusive moose.

Bob.

Thank you Doug!! Ha bow hunting, I gave up a long time ago... still have 3 trad bows. One longbow, one reflex deflex custome made for me at 72lbs at my draw length, and one black widow recurve!! I think I got tired of arrow selection and all the rest.... and plus i find it a lot more limiting when hunting moose!!
good luck and take pictures!!

 

[Bob B.]

Well Canoetrouge, about 20 truck miles covered, a few paddling miles and nearly a mile hiking ... and no deer for me. I am an avid bow hunter and even though it was a very windy day - the wind was in the correct direction ( just not in velocity ). I had the time so I went. It is a great temp here now in low to mid 30's (F) mornings and low 40's (F) afternoons and the deer are just starting to get active. So, I grabbed my longbow, wood arrows and packseat - loaded the canoe and off I went.



I hunt on the ground or stalk deer, so being slow and quiet is how I have to hunt. So - no deer harvested on this hunt - but man it is fun. The next morning while stalking a field next to rolling hardwoods, I spied a buck and snuck up on him. I knelt down for a shot, and realized he was too small. I stayed put and he eventually walked over to me - 5 yards to my left and kept grazing browse. A moment later he walked away. No deer in freezer yet, but man what fun!



I wish I was closer to you - hunting moose would be incredible!!

Bob.

 

[Canotrouge]

Wow Doug that must have been exciting!! I’m trying to go again next week for a few days... but we got snow this morning so that is kind of slowing my willingness lol...

 

[DaveO]

Enjoyed the photos especially. Very nice.