Save the Moose 2025

This is the first year our moose hunt wasn't entirely canoe based. The past few years we have hightailed it down to a local river after work on Friday and paddled or motored into our spot. This year we tried something new. I finally gave in and bought a quad. I gotta say, it's a lot of fun. We were going back to a place we hunted in 2015 (there were no moose there then either). The initial attack to get to the camp site was reminiscent of the Beverly Hillbillies.

Two trips got everything into camp, and by 5:00 PM we were set up. A few wobbly pops, then the Snowtrekker beckoned.

Sunrise was at 8:00 AM the next morning, and we were on the water paddling just before that. It was a beautiful paddle down the lake, fall colours had just peaked the weekend before.

We were headed to a really nice moose marsh kind of place. Took about an hour of paddling up a very small creek to get there. It looked super moosey, but alas, after a couple of hours of calling, we headed back.


We had some friends hunting about ten miles down the road, and they stopped in Saturday night for a visit. Lots of fun, and they snapped this pic of our tent from across the lake on their way in.

Tried some quad hunting in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the trail we were hunting had suffered a lot of blowdown the week before, so I had to do quite a bit of chainsawing to get to our location. There were sign of moose, but no moose, probably scared off by the chainsaw (I feel an electric chainsaw in my near future).

I think we are going to head back down there tomorrow morning just for half a day, quad in to the now cleared trail and give it a try. There were many hunters from Southern Ontario in the area, but I am hoping they have dispersed by now. I'll update if any beasts are captured.

Nice rig, I bet you can back it up too! Good luck if you get out again.

"Super moosey". I find myself thinking the same pretty often, though moose are scarce(r) on the ground down here. Don't hunt, but I do like to see them.

Very nice outfit for moose hunting, the meat wagon will save your heart from exploding. Back packing moose pieces is a young person’s job.
When I was young, inexperienced (strong like bull, smart like chicken) I killed a moose five miles from the nearest navigable water. Wake up, pack as much meat as I could a mile, built a meat pole in a shaded area to hang the moose parts on. Walking back for another load was like floating on air compared to carrying a pack frame with a hind quarter of moose lashed on it.
I learned that I could move a whole moose about a mile a day. I also learned the hard way later on, not to shoot a moose in the water. Not a pleasant task either. These days I only pack a couple of grouse home, if I’m lucky.
Nice color scheme on the canoe, what length, model is that beautiful Nova Craft?

Nice hot tent...but...sweet Jesus! Are you in hot tent season already up there? I think tonight is supposed to be our first night to get below zero down here near Toronto. Btw...if anyone cares....Go Jays!!!

Also, love the double trailer set up. That's travelling in style!

Temps have been going down to about zero C overnight for a couple weeks now. The hot tent isn't really needed, but it is quite comfortable, I usually sleep on top of the sleeping bag at night. The canoe is a 17 foot prospector, my wife was looking at it askance when we were parked and calling. "Can we fit a whole moose in there?" she asked. She's used to using the 20 footer I built. I told her it would be tight, and probably a struggle, so now she just wants to hunt the old bush road, which is fine by me.
Boreal, the idea of just the two of us getting a big moose out has me hoping for the moose's survival. I think today when we are out there, I'm going to offer to buy a side of beef, see how that goes. I'm a dedicated partridge hunter, and a reluctant moose hunter, but my wife's mother shot a moose many years ago, and she wants to keep the tradition going. In the end though, I'm just happy she enjoys this type of thing and is willing to get out in the bush with me. If she gets a moose, I will be very happy for her.