I love using a canoe for floating small rivers and also for getting into the many beaver flowages and bogs I hunt around here. Not only is it a quick and quiet way to get into some great spots but it sure makes getting one out easy when you score.
For some reason deer don't seem to be as spooky when you approach from the water.
Love mine for just the same reasons, a big bull is a little heavy for mine but it works.
Well i got 4 canoes in my yard but i aint never hunted one tho .
Woodslinger, what canoe do you have? I have been hunting one since the spring but I cannot make up my mind on the design or model?
I have a 13' Old Town Discovery. A real nice canoe that can carry a bunch of weight.
Sorry for speaking out of turn but for Alaska anyway a 16 foot square stern with a 3-5 horse out board works great. I have a Winona fisherman that is the perfect balance of stability and handling for doing drift trips.
I love to find a good spot near the water. I've had a ball hunting turkeys and deer that way. I have a 16' Grumman that's seen a lot of water. I've just built a dam on my place that will back up about 8 acres of water, and I plant to put a stand or two around the lake that I will float to. Silent approach, and no scent trail!
I use a Winona Fisherman also,and think its a great canoe,very stable.
Rick P,
I must admit that a square stern with a motor is also part of my fleet. I have a 20' Grand Laker with a 6hp Evinrude. If I ever get lucky enough to get a moose tag you can bet this will be what I use.
Bouncer I'm hoping to use mine on my sheep hunt in 7 days, if the rivers not too high.(lots of flooding in fairbanks area)
Woodslinger
Your really not missing much, moose hunting is more work than fun, I think anyway, in fact I target spike forks instead of big bulls to cut down on the load on my back. Also Moose are even dumber than a fence post and not much of a challenge too stalk.
OK before I'm booed off the forum think of this the average moose yields 900lbs of meat! Not big bull, average! All that's got to be carried out usually several miles or days journey home. Last moose I harvested took 9, 3 mile trips just too get it back too the canoe.
Rick,
You ever want some help with those "fence posts" you give me a holler. They may be dumb but they sure eat good!
whole reason I go through all the effort, Moose meat! Here's something that will really cheese ya I hunt Moose within 100 yards of my back door. My property back up to the Chugach mountains and Chugach state park.
Sorry man couldn't resist.
Thanks a bunch! I spent one year at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and absolutely loved it. I didn't get to do any big game hunting but Isure put a hurt on the ptarmigan, grouse and bunnies. You live in a great state.
We have plenty of moose here in Maine but you have to be drawn through a lottery.
My user name "Morning Star" is the model of Bell canoe that I use for hunting. Nothing beats paddling in...in the dark and paddling out in the dark. Mostly use it to get to my spots and get my deer out. I would like to kill something while paddling at some point though.
Oh yeah!....A trolling motor, flashlight and a cup of coffee for the dark, silent sneak to the stand has been the demise of many a buck...and a hog or two. Using a cheap old Coleman with trolling motor to get about 1/2 mile up a small river to some very sweet little neck of the woods. Main problem the statewide drought has the water levels too low....boo-hoo!
Yep use my Canoe to come in and out. Get set up in the dark and wate on the truck doors to start closing to move them my way. Works every time.
QuoteI must admit that a square stern with a motor is also part of my fleet. I have a 20' Grand Laker with a 6hp Evinrude. If I ever get lucky enough to get a moose tag you can bet this will be what I use.
This was on my moose hunt in 1979. Forty miles as the crow flies
UP STREAM It took one day to get into the hunting area going down and two days coming out. The Moose was totally boned out and distributed in the two canoes. The canoe in front is a 20 footer with a 10 horse, and I was in a 17 foot with a 7 1/2 horse.
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Moose%20float2.bmp)
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Moose%20float1.bmp)
Several years ago we were on a church canoe trip. during the laughing and splashing I happened to notice a flock of turkeys just meandering down the bank not paying us the slightest bit of attention. I thought to myself then, if I ever got the chance I'd like to be back on that river bank during spring gobbler season.
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Yew_canoe.jpg)
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Armstrong%20Creek%20Buck.jpg)
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/canoe_deer.jpg)
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Buck-in-canoe.jpg)
you sure come up with some cool pics, Ron.
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Canoe_Buck.jpg)
Ron's the "Mac Daddy" of canoe hunters, for sure.
Here's one that I built and occasionally hunt from: http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1154446908054848947seOWfg
SOS,
Coleman Scanoe? I used to have one of those. A heavy ol lug, but what a work horse.
Love Ron's pics and very cool Canoe, Tom!.....Heres a few from last week.... (http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k209/rickybob_2006/CIMG2355.jpg) (http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k209/rickybob_2006/CIMG2384.jpg) (http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k209/rickybob_2006/CIMG2376.jpg)
Those are some great photos!
I have used a 19Foot Grumman with a 15 mounted on a Jack@$$ lift for a number of years. I have since added a 12 foot, 33pound "Pack" canoe to the stable. It will ride aboard the Grumman or alongside as an outrigger.
The Grumman is the po' boy's riverboat and will get up some mighty skinny water with judicious use of the lift. The 15 horse makes it come alive even with a thousand pounds in it :D
Still figguring out what I can get away with while using the little Old Town Pack. Shows great potential for puddle jumping and forays away from it's mother ship.
Scotty
my dad and i hunt a good piece of public land on one and its a heck of allot better then walking through a mile and a half of mud
Does anyone use a dugout canoe, have plans for one or know someone that has made them ??
I just got a 13` Canoe and look forward to killing some stuff. I can paddle the entire span of the WMA I hunt the most in 3 hours and thats up stream. I then float back down and fish in about an hour and a half. I`ve been scouting from it and have seen more than 60 hogs in a day.Shoulders and arms are tightening up some too.I just gotta figure out how to paddle with this gut I`m getting....RC
Here's me and a friend in my Birch Bark canoe.
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Birch_Bark_hunters.jpg)
I don't have a canoe, but I do hunt out of my homemade 14' pirogue quite a bit. It's perfect for getting to stands on the back of old sloughs and ponds without disturbing anything. Also, great for hauling out deer and hogs. Here's a pic of my "Mud Bug".
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p195/Fritz86_bucket/1140341284036100363S600x600Q85.jpg)
Nice work, Fritz !
I'm thinking of one like Skyler's little Sportspal. But, Ron always makes me think about building a "real" canoe.
Good Luck to all hunters and by all means, share your stories...
Comes in handy! Foggy pre-dawn mornings can be a challenge finding my way on the river though.This was my son's deer.
(http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii107/red44photos/Picture164.jpg)