Moose season opened on October 16th this year, and my wife Irene was very excited. It was to be her first time hunting moose. Her mom had killed a nice one in 1979, and Irene was hoping to live up to the legend.
The weather for the weekend was bleak, but we were well prepared. We had chosen a spot about a half an hour drive from our house. Once there, we loaded up the 20 footer, and paddled for about 45 minutes to get to our campsite.
It was a beautiful, calm fall paddle, quiet and relaxing. When we got to camp, the work started, setting up the snowtrekker and the heat source.
We had a great night’s sleep, although Irene was woken up around 5:30 AM by some loud noises in front of the tent. We got the coffee on and got ready to go.
When we started loading up for the day, we saw what had made the noises early in the morning. A fair amount of excitement was in the air.
The day turned completely miserable, with rain falling continuously, but we stuck it out. Paddled around 20 k in search of the rare creature known as the moose.
We stopped at a portage for some lunch, where the scenery was great, but the wind tunneled in and turned the place into a freezer.
We returned to camp and called it a night. Sat around a fire and had a few beers, and planned our next attack which would be two weekends away.
This was Irene’s birthday present, a Tikka battue in .308. She wanted a gun with a wood stock and open sites, and those are not easy to come by now. Found this one after many hours of “internetting”.
Two weekends later, we came back to the same place. The weather was a lot nicer this time, and we saw lots of moose sign, even chased a bull for a while. We had to push it to get to camp while it was still light, but once again, it was a beautiful paddle.
Had the tent set up and a fire going by 6:30, and a very pleasant night unfolded.
The view was first class!
Some of you old timers might remember Oldie Moldie, his axe sheath that he made for me goes on most canoe trips.
Life in the snowtrekker is pretty sweet. The Nuway propane stove is awesome for shoulder season. I went through about one full 20 pounder of propane for both nights, and we could sleep outside our sleeping bags. It went down to about 0 degress Celsius, so it wasn’t terrible cold, but we were living the life of luxury.
Started off the morning early with bacon, eggs and coffee, all cooked on top of the Nuway.
It was a beautiful, quiet, windless day. We paddled very slowly and listened carefully. We both heard a big snap in the bush on a point, so I sent Irene around the other side and tried to drive the moose out. I found the tracks right away, and went after it, but it veered away from shore and took off into the bush. We saw lots more sign that day, but no shots were taken. My buddy, Chainsaw Rob paddled in to visit us that night, so we had some merriment around the fire.
That was our last chance for canoe hunting, the water is getting hard now, and there is about 4 inches of snow on the ground. I’m just waiting for some more, then it will be skidoo hunting time. We didn’t get anything, once again, but Irene was real trooper, and hunted through conditions that would have probably kept me in the tent. We will be returning to the same spot next year, or so I have been told, lol.
The weather for the weekend was bleak, but we were well prepared. We had chosen a spot about a half an hour drive from our house. Once there, we loaded up the 20 footer, and paddled for about 45 minutes to get to our campsite.
It was a beautiful, calm fall paddle, quiet and relaxing. When we got to camp, the work started, setting up the snowtrekker and the heat source.
We had a great night’s sleep, although Irene was woken up around 5:30 AM by some loud noises in front of the tent. We got the coffee on and got ready to go.
When we started loading up for the day, we saw what had made the noises early in the morning. A fair amount of excitement was in the air.
The day turned completely miserable, with rain falling continuously, but we stuck it out. Paddled around 20 k in search of the rare creature known as the moose.
We stopped at a portage for some lunch, where the scenery was great, but the wind tunneled in and turned the place into a freezer.
We returned to camp and called it a night. Sat around a fire and had a few beers, and planned our next attack which would be two weekends away.
This was Irene’s birthday present, a Tikka battue in .308. She wanted a gun with a wood stock and open sites, and those are not easy to come by now. Found this one after many hours of “internetting”.
Two weekends later, we came back to the same place. The weather was a lot nicer this time, and we saw lots of moose sign, even chased a bull for a while. We had to push it to get to camp while it was still light, but once again, it was a beautiful paddle.
Had the tent set up and a fire going by 6:30, and a very pleasant night unfolded.
The view was first class!
Some of you old timers might remember Oldie Moldie, his axe sheath that he made for me goes on most canoe trips.
Life in the snowtrekker is pretty sweet. The Nuway propane stove is awesome for shoulder season. I went through about one full 20 pounder of propane for both nights, and we could sleep outside our sleeping bags. It went down to about 0 degress Celsius, so it wasn’t terrible cold, but we were living the life of luxury.
Started off the morning early with bacon, eggs and coffee, all cooked on top of the Nuway.
It was a beautiful, quiet, windless day. We paddled very slowly and listened carefully. We both heard a big snap in the bush on a point, so I sent Irene around the other side and tried to drive the moose out. I found the tracks right away, and went after it, but it veered away from shore and took off into the bush. We saw lots more sign that day, but no shots were taken. My buddy, Chainsaw Rob paddled in to visit us that night, so we had some merriment around the fire.
That was our last chance for canoe hunting, the water is getting hard now, and there is about 4 inches of snow on the ground. I’m just waiting for some more, then it will be skidoo hunting time. We didn’t get anything, once again, but Irene was real trooper, and hunted through conditions that would have probably kept me in the tent. We will be returning to the same spot next year, or so I have been told, lol.
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