Have canoe, will paddle…

[Hammsolo]

I used my canoe to access some land in MT back in the day. We would bring two trucks, and shuttle to some private locked land around Whitehall. The ranchers would get pissed, but we followed the laws. Nothing cooler than paddling out a couple of whitetail bucks. Daniel Boone!

My brother and I are pondering a canoe into somewhere next year due to the bumper to bumper traffic we ran into this year.

Thinking of the Missouri in Montana, and/or Salmon/Snake in Idaho for elk or deer. It’s as much about adventure as anything. We are more than up for summer adventures to explore. Any advice, thoughts or clues would be more than appreciated.

I also have a fishing kayak… there may be room for the right person.

 

[Hem]

I have always wanted to do that sort of thing but canoing in November/December during my waterfowl days tempered my excitement. Something about paddling in the dark in a semi frozen river with ice chunks and slush inches away and the thought of a dunking etc doesn't sound fun anymore.
Maybe during a mild weather gun season.
Plan for the worst case scenario.
Do not go with someone over-sized, or a novice paddler. No offense to large bodies but some of them do not belong in a canoe.

 

[Gellar]

My dream hunt is a BWCA canoe in moose hunt. Unfortunately, that dream will never come true.

 

[Hammsolo]

Sorry….

 

[Hammsolo]

I’m a big body, but grew up canoeing. My parents were anti-motor. We even had a little Hobicat sailboat… in Anaconda, MT. Yes, my parents are weird…

 

[Dan O]

I have always wanted to do that sort of thing but canoing in November/December during my waterfowl days tempered my excitement. Something about paddling in the dark in a semi frozen river with ice chunks and slush inches away and the thought of a dunking etc doesn't sound fun anymore.
Maybe during a mild weather gun season.
Plan for the worst case scenario.
Do not go with someone over-sized, or a novice paddler. No offense to large bodies but some of them do not belong in a canoe.

I resemble that remark

 

[Hamm59701]

Hammsolos by Bro: looking for any real suggestions. Not a full blown plan but a direction to start exploring. Up for damn near anything and willing to put in the work to escape the crowds.

 

[BrentD]

My dream hunt is a BWCA canoe in moose hunt. Unfortunately, that dream will never come true.

This was my dream too. And, once I had exactly this all mapped. I had the moose located - just inside the BWCA at the end of our lake, the canoe and even a boat. Three more guys (my dad and another father-son pair that were family friends; 4 names on one permit) and the state of Minnesota was about to hold its first Moose Season in 50 yrs. It was a lock for a kid with a Bear Kodiak.

Then Dad dropped the bombshell. He was being transferred to Illinois and we were going to have to leave MN.

No tags for nonresidents.

 

[Gellar]

I’m no help on where to go. After doing several raft trips for moose and now I started doing a turkey canoe hunt I can say that you should probably add a day or two to your hunt. It seems like we are always to aggressive in how many river miles we want to cover and have to skip over good territory to get to the takeout in time.

Here’s a picture from our canoe turkey hunt last spring. We covered about 8 river miles. The river was low and we had to drag the canoe for considerable distance.

 

[Gellar]

This was my dream too. And, once I had exactly this all mapped. I had the moose located - just inside the BWCA at the end of our lake, the canoe and even a boat. Three more guys (my dad and another father-son pair that were family friends; 4 names on one permit) and the state of Minnesota was about to hold its first Moose Season in 50 yrs. It was a lock for a kid with a Bear Kodiak.

Then Dad dropped the bombshell. He was being transferred to Illinois and we were going to have to leave MN.

No tags for nonresidents.

And now there’s no tags for anyone. I plan on doing a deer hunt in the bwca in the next couple years.

 

[rwc101]

I almost talked myself into a pack raft to do a float in hunt. Then I realized how far public access points can be here and that I don't have the requisite number of friends (1) to pull of a shuttle.

 

[BrentD]

And now there’s no tags for anyone. I plan on doing a deer hunt in the bwca in the next couple years.

There don't seem to be many deer there either. At least not around the fringes where I was grouse hunting.

But that aside - we saw moose hunters (and some mooses!) while grouse hunting. This did not compute. I thought the season was closed too, but apparently not everywhere for everyone? I don't know.

 

[Dougfirtree]

Sounds fun, you might be surprised how many others are already doing that in the same spots, but I bet you'll have fun. Around here, I've found that a canoe can get you away from other hunters without alot of paddling. Sometimes, just using it to cross a little river can mean a big chunk of public land to yourself on the other side.

 

[FlatlanderAZ]

We did a canoe-in archery deer and javelina hunt one time in AZ. That’s pretty unique. Only other real trip I have done was canoeing into Shoshone lake in YNP.

Both were fun. Good luck. He sure to share your story.

 

[Hammsolo]

We did a canoe-in archery deer and javelina hunt one time in AZ. That’s pretty unique. Only other real trip I have done was canoeing into Shoshone lake in YNP.

Both were fun. Good luck. He sure to share your story.

Will do!

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Not a super wild backcountry trip, but a float from the railroad Bridge boat ramp in blackfoot, ID to the ferry butte Bridge boat ramp would be about 13 snake river miles. (You could float farther and still have places to get out if you wanted) Its loaded with land locked BLM the whole way and lots of whitetail and mule deer. The tag for this area is good for archery only, either sex, and either species from August 30th to December 19th. If you did this float starting say November 15th so you hit the rut and just floated a few miles everyday and hunted along the way while river camping you will have a ton of deer sightings and have a chance at some really big mature bucks. Tree saddle or a light lock-on would be a good thing to take with you.
Also would see lots of moose and eagles. And have great fishing the whole way. I would also take a gun in the boat for coyotes if your into that. If this sounds like something you would like ill be happy to give ya some more insight.

 

[Gellar]

There don't seem to be many deer there either. At least not around the fringes where I was grouse hunting.

But that aside - we saw moose hunters (and some mooses!) while grouse hunting. This did not compute. I thought the season was closed too, but apparently not everywhere for everyone? I don't know.

I don’t know either. I thought it was all closed, although it does seem like moose sightings have been up in recent years. Bios always said the moose population went down when the deer pop went up.

 

[The_Jim]

I use a canoe pretty frequently. Hitting Ice in the dark is not fun. Wind and waves are on the list of not fun when canoeing too. Make sure you are prepared for the worst. I only use a canoe with tip lines for hunting, its slow but way more stable than the faster canoes.

Its an awesome way to hunt, look at some maps and you can find a lot of ways to utilize a canoe. I use it for fast access across a lake in one of my spots, so don't just focus on rivers.

 

[Hammsolo]

Not a super wild backcountry trip, but a float from the railroad Bridge boat ramp in blackfoot, ID to the ferry butte Bridge boat ramp would be about 13 snake river miles. (You could float farther and still have places to get out if you wanted) Its loaded with land locked BLM the whole way and lots of whitetail and mule deer. The tag for this area is good for archery only, either sex, and either species from August 30th to December 19th. If you did this float starting say November 15th so you hit the rut and just floated a few miles everyday and hunted along the way while river camping you will have a ton of deer sightings and have a chance at some really big mature bucks. Tree saddle or a light lock-on would be a good thing to take with you.
Also would see lots of moose and eagles. And have great fishing the whole way. I would also take a gun in the boat for coyotes if your into that. If this sounds like something you would like ill be happy to give ya some more insight.

Daaaaaaaaamn! That sounds #DanielBoone!! Thank you so much. I’d love more info. We only have one rodeo, get on that bull!

 

[Hammsolo]

I love this forum.