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Canoe/camp gun

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Paddling is relatively new to me, photography I've been kinda into since the 90s, guns have been a passion since the age of 6 when my dad introduced me to shooting and hunting. Fishing came a few years later. That being said ALL of these I've found I can combine with paddling. Anyone else pack heat when on trips?

My wife runs a resale shop and someone donated a broken Sears model 12 12 gauge pump. I paid 50.00 for the gun and 50.00 for parts to fix. It is now a dedicated canoe gun. If it goes to the bottom of the lake I'm only out a hundred dollars.

 
On some of the Canadian Canoe sites, carrying a gun while canoeing is often considered to be controversial, or at least unnecessary. I'm not one of them however. I really like guns, and often take one with me. I've been looking for a short barrelled 12 guage like yours. I don't want to offend any Americans with my choice of canoe guns, but in the summer, they are usually Russian, either my SKS or Mosin, mostly because they cost peanuts and function perfectly when covered in mud. During bear season and moose season I usually carry my BLR .308. In the fall, I carry my 20 guage pump too, for bird hunting. For me, canoeing and guns go together, that's how I was brought up.
 
No offense to me. I'm not a gun racist. I like the 12 because I can take slugs, 00 buck and #8s making it adaptable to any any need I may run across.
 
Guns seem to cause a controversy, so I do not tell anyone I have one. I carry a 3" 6 shot stainless Smith with a round butt. I wear it outside the belt under my shirt in the small of my back and no one seems to notice.
Cronje
 
Guns seem to cause a controversy, so I do not tell anyone I have one. I carry a 3" 6 shot stainless Smith with a round butt. I wear it outside the belt under my shirt in the small of my back and no one seems to notice.
Cronje
Remind me to pat you at the next Assembly! I never noticed. Do you guys worry about soaking your gun in the canoe? I don't carry. I was never taught how to hunt.. personal protection never crossed my mind but in Canada I had to babysit a camp while guys were out. They gave me some practice on a shotgun but frankly if a griz HAD come in camp it would have been safe from injury.
 
No offence taken here. I'm too clueless what you're hunting for. I assume you can dress it for packing out, or butcher it to eat at camp (if it's small game). Otherwise, I don't get it. No criticism here, I really am clueless. Are you really gonna haul out a moose or bear with your canoe? Obviously, I don't hunt, but have no problem with it. I know there's controversy concerning guns...but that'll always be around. In the meantime, educate me. I have an open mind. I'm also a clueless carnivore.
 
I love guns and don't need much of an excuse carry one.
Im a cop I always carry one.
fresh rabbit cooked over a camp fire is wonderful.
etc.
 
As a solo canoeist, (just found out that canoe-er is not a word. thank you spell check!), I do think about personal safety in the same way that I worry about cuts and scrapes, being thirsty or hungry, or getting sunburnt, and therefore take steps to mediate. I don't really worry about 2-legged "critters" when I'm out, though we have our share of backwoods/backwater meth labs around here. Avoidance is a good technique there... "don't tempt fate". I thought about "the danger", and my greatest threating life form is water moccasins. I generally carry a revolver with snake shot in 3 chambers, and 3 more of solid shot, for critters... hogs are not all that aggressive, but when they are, you need more than bear spray to stop them. Since LA doesn't have the most relaxed gun laws, I can't legally cover my weapon up without a permit. However, even if I could, I'd continue to use what I use, and that's an "Alaskan Guide" chest rig. It's there when/if I need it, I can sleep in my hammock with it on, it won't get too muddy (hopefully) if I go overboard, I can wear a backpack over the rig without strap interference, and it's right there in plain sight for the game wardens/rangers/police to see.

I also like being able to reach out a little farther, and if I'm canoeing during a valid small-game season, I sometimes carry the appropriate firearm (.22 or shotgun) in case I happen to run across br'er squirrel or br'er rabbit. I leave the waterfowl alone... costs too much for the extra licenses (state and federal waterfowl stamps) to be worth the trouble/cost vs the amount of meat I'd get, and I'm a terrible shotgunner at hunting distances.

Guns will most certainly fire when wet... mud in the barrel may be an issue, but a bore brush, a piece of strong cord, and an oily rag in a ziplock bag will generally take care of most cleaning problems for any trip.

Regarding hunting, yes, you do occasionally see people hunting from canoes. In many places, it's illegal to take a big-game animal from a powered boat, but canoes are legal for that (again, I'm speaking in generalities... local game laws vary widely). A deer swimming across a river is kind of in a weak position, hence the positioning of hunting blinds near them. I have an uncle who, in his younger days, would spend a couple weeks up the Oswegatchie with a group of friends each Fall, deer hunting, and they brought their harvest out by canoe due to the areas inaccessibility by other means. And I know at least one forum member here hunts/has hunted that same area by going in through Low's Lake.
 
Brad,
My wife's grandparents hunted and fished out of a canoe a lot in Canada. They packed out a few moose (not at the same time) and her grandmother caught a trophy pike (56" if I remember correctly) out of their canoe. It's still funny to hear the pike story, it pulled their canoe around the lake before it got tired enough to reel in.

I have a license to carry a firearm here in PA and carry most of the time when I'm in the outdoors, and most importantly when in the city. I'm more worried about people than animals.....
 
The only one I ever carried just to carry was a Ruger Standard in .22 lr, with my own trigger, sight and grips.

Handy on game and fun.
Can you still get .22 ammo? These days I have only my Marlin in .35 Rem and use it on raiding raccoons and deer.

Are you in grizzly country? And I have read that in the west black bears can be predatory, and that over the last 100 years they have accounted for 15% of bear fatalities out there.
 
No grizzly here. In my area I don't worry too much about anything except rattlesnake, cotton mouths and copper heads. The 00 buck is for two legged snakes and is what I keep loaded in it.
 
Hi JB and welcome!

I always have my shotgun along, 12ga. useful for what ever. I would suggest a caution we "packers" might think about. I have noticed that more and more the general population has lost the common sense and manners that were just a given when I was young. Their children are if anything worse. I never, ever, let my gun be where some dang fiddling fingers can get at it. Now of course this isn't everybody and most times the situation never arises but in my opinion it's best to be alert for the bumbling dolt who; "I just wanted to look at it, no reason to get mad, I'll put it back".

I carry the shotgun in a canvas case I made. A regular gun case has padding that is very slow to dry if it gets wet, and it's a working gun so it just gets normal care. The case keeps it clean and more or less dry. (it has waterproofing on it) The strap crossing my chest allows me to carry it on my back, muzzle down, safely and conveniently. About the only things that might not be evident: that button closure is very easy to flip open. There is a section over the rear sight where I doubled up on the canvas for any wear and the muzzle part which could have been subject to wear has the bottom of a plastic vitamin bottle to hold the muzzle.



Here's the backside of the case. Please note that where the strap attaches the canvas is double as well.



And my good old 870.





Best Wishes,

Rob
 
As Seeker mentioned, it is illegal in Ontario to hunt out of a motorized boat. However, it is legal to hunt out of a canoe. I built a big 20 footer, 42 inches wide at the centre, it's my moose canoe. It will definitely pack an entire moose. This is a shot of it from two years ago. It never left the rack, weather was stinky.


This year, we were creek hunting, dragging over shallows and stuff, so I took my rubber Old Town Kineo. It's a big canoe too, and if I quartered a moose up, it would fit in.



So far though, my water hunts have been unsuccessful, I'm waiting to retire so I can get out and spend some solid time in the fall, rather than grabbing two or three days here and there.

My wife is fairly new to canoeing. She grew up in the north, and so she has had lots of bear encounters. She won't come on a trip with me unless I take a gun. If I'm on a trip in the summer without many ports, I'll pack a gun, mostly because I like guns. If there are a lot of ports, I leave the gun behind. I've never had a bad bear experience in the bush, they always do the right thing and run off. Look at that cute little guy below. I'd hate to have to shoot him, he was well behaved and ran off like a big white cat had landed on his head.
 
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Rob, once again, your fabricating abilities astound me. That's a very nice case. Strangely enough, when I lived on a reserve up north, all of the native folks had almost the exact same case. The women were very handy with sewing abilities, and almost every case I saw was made out of canvas, but often with a fair amount of artistic embellishment. I really like your good old 870 too, that's one from when they made em really good!
 
Nice. (In some circles, I just said something controversial. Ha!) I understand it's a different world here in Can. than in the U.S. I'm not stirring any pot. We have hunters too. I'm not walking down the gun law road in this post, only wondering if anyone hunts while paddling, and what you hunt. I never even thought of protection. I'll step away from that discussion. Sounds complicated. Meanwhile, rabbit? A local hunter/trapper used to supply my wife's family with those when we were young. Last week I stood in the grocery looking down at the over -processed domestic fare, and thought "What's wrong with this picture?" (I grew up with farm raised/grown food, as well as northern fresh fish.) The marketing direction seems to be towards local and fresh. But even that's a relative term, open to interpretation. We're pretty much down to a "100 mile diet". I'd love to shrink that down some more. Not being a hunter, and being a "wisher" rather than a "fisher", it'll take more effort.
I like moose meat. That boat Mem will handle your fall tag!
 
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We have copperheads and timber rattlers. You see them rarely.

I've had only one close call. It's usually not hard to spot them in time if you are normally careful about your feet and hands when you are in cover. Rattlers do not always rattle in my experience. Both they and copperheads are pretty sluggish here.

I carry two snake bite kits.
 
I always carry an AR-7 Survival rifle. Fits into any day pack and nobody knows I have it. It's not to hunt with but as a JIC thing. I have hunted unsuccessfully from a canoe and carried the shotgun on a few trips but hate the extra weight.

I would love to get one of those shorter barrel SS shotguns but it is but a pipe dream at this point in my life.
 
Brad - my son and I like to hunt ducks from the canoe. We sometimes do a float down the river and jump-shoot the ducks that are hanging in the bulrushes along the islands (the ducks in the open never let you get close enough). It's legal to hunt from a boat with no motor or the motor off here. We take turns with the shooter in front and the boat-handler in back. It's not very productive, but it's fun and challenging. Sometimes we stop and hunt the islands for quail. Always watching for the opportunity to bag an island deer as well.

I have also poled up the river with a load of duck decoys and another hunting partner (that was some work), to get to the good spots that are too far to walk/wade.

BTW - we found a couple shotgun cases that are waterproof and float. Kind of like padded dry-bags. Gives some peace of mind when poling with such a load.
 
And I know at least one forum member here hunts/has hunted that same area by going in through Low's Lake.

I think Seeker is referring to me. I spent a week at Lows Lake last year deer hunting out of my canoe. I cruised the shoreline early am and afternoons, and went into some back country on foot too. Nothing too serious though, a fun week in my canvas tent with wood stove.

My sons and I spend $50 every year on the Maine Moose lottery and hope to someday do a canoe in moose hunt in my 17' Prospector and that 16' Pal I have into Maine's big north woods.

I like that case you mad OM, what with all the left over canvas I have laying around, I need to make one too, good idea, Thanks

Lows lake last year,

 
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Rattlesnakes won't hurt ya!

Snakehunt016.jpg
 
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