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Another canoe in deer hunt at Lows Lake, NY

yknpdlr,
I bumped into a female ranger the last week of Sep on Lows Lake. I thought maybe Dawn had retired. Then I ran into Dawn who said she was her new boss. I didn't get her name.
Dave
 
Dave, was the ranger a young woman? Probably Corenne Black. She's fairly new to the region. I met her at a recent SAR staging but we didn't have a chance to converse. There were a number of lateral moves by rangers this past summer. I see that Will is now listed as in Wanakena. I'll have to learn their new assignment areas the next time I see any of them.
 
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Nice pictures. I will be getting back next spring to enjoy some better weather than what I had on my two trips this year.
I did meet an asst. ranger, Blonde in the late 30 early 40 range. I assumed it was Dawn, but now not so sure.
Robin, you do eat well. Do you do anything special to deter the Bears? I keep reading about the bears being a nuisance, but with hunting season are they less of a problem? I figured they are hungry and fattening up for winter.
 
Adirondack bears are probably denning now. Nuisance bears are less of a problem now than the '60s when I went to school in the Adirondacks. Now we humans are better behaved. No more going to the town dump or local campground for bear entertainment. Ever since I became a visitor only to the Adirondacks I have never seen a bear. Not even in the Eastern High Peaks where bear canisters are required.

All I can say is I wish I saw any when on ADK canoe trips ( which are about one to two a year). I have had far better luck in Algonquin.

Spring is the hungry time. However why we had one walk across our local schoolyard a couple of days ago is a mystery.. Must be the fine fall weather.
 
I'm envious, I had an opportunity to go on a primitive canoe hunt there years ago and didn't. I have regretted it ever since. Good for you.
Turtle
 
I'm up here in Maine for the weekend visiting G'Kids , picking up the Mad River Freedom (I should have passed on this one), but I'm looking forward to getting home and talkin' about this trip and Lows,

Now back to Lil Bear for the 10th time today...haha
 
I'm up here in Maine for the weekend visiting G'Kids , picking up the Mad River Freedom (I should have passed on this one), but I'm looking forward to getting home and talkin' about this trip and Lows,

Now back to Lil Bear for the 10th time today...haha


Don't forget shoveling snow may be in your weekend too. Channel 6 shifted the foot of white west.
 
Paddling, a warm tent, good food and hunting deer; what a fantastic combination. You are making me drool with those pics.
 
Robin - Thanks for sharing your photos and adventure. I really enjoy the idea of hot tenting and seeing your photos the last couple of years makes it seem very doable. Can you give us an idea on the tent you have? Did you retrofit it for hot tenting or did it come ready with the stovepipe access, etc. Also, I remember you saying previously that you made an interior frame for your tent which begs the question; what make/model tent is it? Do you feel it's more stable with the interior framework or just easier to pitch? Last one for now (I promise), what's the overall weight/size of your tent; I apologize if you've already given us that and I missed it.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...Be well.

snapper


I bought that tent new from a company out west, I don't remember which company it was, it came with a 12x12x24 wood stove and an angle kit to make the interior frame. It was originally 8'x10' by 6'4" tall. I used electrical conduit for the interior frame pipes. It worked well for a car camping set up, but it was too big for a solo canoe in fish/hunt camp. You could hang off the frame, but it weighed a ton. Here is what the set up looked like new. You can just barley see the stove jack coming out of the front right roof, and you can see the tarp needed a metal jack to fit around the stove pipe.



To be able to use the tent like I wanted, I re-sized it to about 7'wide, 6' deepand 54" tall. I ditched the electrical conduit and use wood dowels for the frame. Here's the new frame, I doubt it has the strength of traditional exterior poles, but it can be strengthened by adding additional vertical poles along the ridge and the outside tie downs keep the whole rig planted firmly in place. It is strong enough for what I need, it will take a strong wind and I have had it out with 6" of snow on the roof. I don't winter camp, so it's good for 3 plus seasons. The tent weighs 17 lbs, the stove and pipe 16 lbs and tent, stove, tarp, ropes, pegs all fit into a #3 Duluth pack for transport.


Here's the stove as it is now, (12" wide x 8" high x 12 deep and the pipes fit inside for transport and the legs fold under the stove) The hole in the top is for faster cooking, I have a plate of sheet metal that fits over the hole when nothing is being heated, it gets locked in place with rivet heads in the small holes in the stove. I also place a support stick outside the tent to keep the stove pipe from moving in the wind, it was absent in some earlier pictures.



I moved the stove jack from the roof to the front of the tent, no more sparks on the roof and the tarp doesn't need a metal jack like before. Here I was learning, the pipe should tilt up for a proper draft. You can see the hems where I sewed the panels back together.

 
Nice pictures. I will be getting back next spring to enjoy some better weather than what I had on my two trips this year.
I did meet an asst. ranger, Blonde in the late 30 early 40 range. I assumed it was Dawn, but now not so sure.
Robin, you do eat well. Do you do anything special to deter the Bears? I keep reading about the bears being a nuisance, but with hunting season are they less of a problem? I figured they are hungry and fattening up for winter.


The bears are still active in November, the males stay out of the dens longer, but females will still be active till early November if there is no snow cover. I keep a clean camp, the site I use is not very popular with the summer campers but I did see some old scat in the site. I left my soft sided cooler outside all day while I was gone without mishap. I think bears give campsites a wide berth during the hunting season, but I have no facts to back that up.

I corrected that Junior Ranger title I gave "Assistant Forest Ranger Dawn", she gave me Corenne L. Black's card. Corenne's email address is clblack@gw.dec.state.ny.us and her office # is 315 212 9440 if you are looking for information about the area or a extended camping permit for the area.
Assistant Forest Ranger Dawn told me that she and Forest Ranger Corenne had spent two days clearing Moose Bay landing, a campsite that had been devastated by the blowdown. The plan is to encourage more camping on the south shore and Bog River area of the lake, per Assistant Forest Ranger Dawn.
 
Thanks for the pics Robin. Looks like a good time regardless. My uncle used to hunt the back side of Low's, around the upper Oswegatchie/Big Deer/Cowhorn area of the Five Ponds Wilderness back in his youth. It's a good area. Thanks for sharing your setup with us.
 
Those are Cabelas wool pants, affordable, I use them alot now that the cold seems to bother me more than years ago.
 
Nice write up Robin. I did the Lila to Lows traverse over Columbus Day weekend. On Lows I believe I met the Ranger paddling a green kayak at site 20 if I recall. Saw her again paddling out the next day approaching the bog near Hitchens pond.

I had hoped to make Lows for Thanksgiving weekend but its not going to work out. I will probably not go back there again until late October to miss the crowds but I've passed through Lows on at least three different trips in two years and it is very pretty out there. Looking at that grub makes me want to start taking aluminum dutch oven I bought some time ago.

Cheers,
Barry
 
Irrespective of the huge lake effect snow event we are having here this week, with the recent unusually cold weather there is a lot of ice forming already. During a drive to Lake Placid and back last weekend, on waterways with no ice on Friday, on Sunday ponds were ice covered and even the larger downwind bays of major lakes were iced over. Scheduled plans to canoe next weekend to do a leanto rebuild job requiring a lake crossing had to be put on hold until safe ice in January allows passage on foot. My guess is unless we get several days of warm weather, Thanksgiving weekend may show considerable ice or slush on Hitchins and the Bog River Flow. Lows itself may be open, but you wouldn't have any way to get there. Check with Dawn.
 
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