A Blessing… or a Curse?
For hunters who contemplate hunting on Crown land, this is a question we debate every year.
There are relatively few blocks of privately held lands that also hold moose, deer or bear where access can be somewhat limited or controlled when compared to the millions of acres (I’m old school) – or hectares – of Crown land available to hunters.
Having access to so much Crown land is definitely the blessing… but the number of hunters who utilize it – from both near and far – can sometimes be the curse as competition for limited hunting spaces increases dramatically.
If you’re like me, as a local, you spend a fair amount of time out on the land scouting for the hunt. But come hunt time, you often discover that someone else ends up camping or hunting on the very spot you chose to hunt – the curse!
So it’s always best to have a few fallback options and be prepared to pivot if you have to.
Such was the case for our opening week of moose season this year… and we were fortunate that, indeed, we had a backup plan… anticipating that, with tag reductions in other WMUs, our area could be particularly busy… and it was.
When we arrived a few days before the season opener to do our final camp set-up and scouting, we found three large groups camped adjacent to a forest cut that we had scouted and hoped to hunt.
We remembered from previous hunts, though, that most of the groups in the area choose land-based hunts… and very few of them bring watercraft to access the river nearby.
So we quickly shifted to our backup plan and decided to call from the river, hoping to draw a moose to the shallow river edges where they feed all summer and well into the fall.
Tracks and other sign showed us that the moose were around, but we didn’t see any morning success. After lunch, we put the canoe in the river and decided to go for a paddle to check out some alternate calling sites.
Hunting from a canoe can also be a blessing… or a curse. They do get you away from all the other hunters who are driving the forest cuts & roads with trucks, side-by-sides and quads… but they’re not very comfortable for long periods of time. And, depending on the water itself, the current and flow can make for an unstable shooting platform.
It’s true that paddling a canoe with your hunting equipment and all the gear necessary to field dress and process an animal is not an easy task… especially when you’re covering long distances.
And, unless your area has both an accessible put-in & take-out spot, at some point you’re likely gonna have to paddle all that gear back upstream… maybe with several hundred additional pounds of meat in the canoe!
Fortunately, we chose a good section of the river to explore… it was relatively flat with a slow, meandering current with a lot of good edge habitat that showed a fair bit of moose activity… and our anticipation heightened.
We set up with Travis (a right-handed shot) as the shooter in the bow; myself (a left-handed shot) as a back up shooter and paddling in the middle; and then Scottie – an experienced paddler – in the stern.
I cow-called as we slowly paddled downstream and then suddenly, when we turned a blind corner on the river, we saw a young bull knee deep in the river, feeding. The wind was in our favour, so we cautiously paddled closer and Travis took his shot.
And so, on the afternoon of opening day, all our scouting, pre-planning, preparation and paddling effort paid off… we were extremely fortunate to harvest a young bull moose.
Fortunately, we brought a very small motor to assist with the up-stream movement of the meat… but Scottie and I still had to paddle back the 2-1/2 miles to our launch to get it, while Travis stayed with the moose to ward off any predators that might be looking for a free meal.
But let me tell you, the feeling of accomplishment when a plan comes together, and the smiles on all the faces – even after all the long hours & hard work – tell you it’s all worth it in the end. And keep in mind, rarely does anything good ever come easy!
Congrats to my friend Travis who – despite the extra work – trusted my instincts to hunt the water… and he successfully harvested his very first bull moose… the food quality is going to be amazingly tender.
To everyone else, good luck during your fall & winter forays “into the woods”!! Be safe.
