• Happy National No Socks Day! 🧦🚫👣

Yes, I still paddle.

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Geraldton, Ontario
I've been taking a lot of chop busting from everyone over the last few months about my love affair with the square stern canoe and the little motor. So I thought I would just tune in to show you guys that I still can use a paddle.

The annual Save The Moose campaign is coming up in a couple of weeks, so me and my buddies thought it would be a good idea to scout the area where we weren't going to shoot a moose. We followed a series of old logging roads that got progressively worse until we had to quad the last 100 meters to a good spot to make camp.

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If you look carefully, you will see the snow coming down. Sept 28. Booooooo-urns!

I brought my new little fwend along for the party.

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I brought an old friend too, one that has been neglected for a while.

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The poor Chum was sitting on my roof racks all night, and the bottom was covered in ice and snow.

I began to paddle in earnest, and completely circumnavigated the lake in about 4 hours. I forgot how serene it is to have a whole lake to yourself, and just paddle with no particular destination in mind.

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You'll notice that the GPS is turned off. That's because I learned my lesson last year. If I name the lake, and someone from Southern Ontario is Binging the place, or Google-earthing it, they will find my post and then see that they can access it, and the next thing you know, there are five huge camper trailers and 25 Italians all hunting under one tag, invading my secret spot. So I will not name this secret moose repository, and I turned off my GPS so no-one could blow up the photo and analyze it.

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There is a little port that we cut a few years ago that takes us into a lengthy creek system. The picture below shows why I keep harassing the forest companies to give 200 meter buffers around ports. There is a standard 30 meter prescription, and every tree and their hillbilly cousins have been blown over. The port used to be here. However, the cutover is full of moose sign, with a nice hill to sit on and see for many hundreds of yards.

Due to work constraints, I will only be able to get out for two days this year, but perhaps this is the year when I will post a pic of my 20 foot cedar strip full of moose.

Anyone want to trade a quad for a cedar strip canoe? I'm thinking my life won't be complete until I have quad.
 
Go get em Mem.. Thats what our logo is lacking.. Robin needs to be hauling a moose! You mention 25 Italians? I would be so glad to find 25 sandwiches in the woods! In these parts an Italian is a sammich!
 
See Mem, life is better in a canoe!! Nice snow trekker that is life mate!!
 
If the Coordinates can't be bribed out of you with a Case of SPAM ? Then it must by a good spot !!!

:rolleyes:

Jim
 
Good idea on the Garmin......I had to revert to Swedish GPS to avoid friends
searching my Garmin for lake trout holes.

Canoes are a great moose retrieval tool but that deadfall sure would make for
difficult packing.

Our moose season was very slow due to warm September.
 
Based on your previous moose hunt trips reports, I might think people would make an effort to avoid any area you were planning on hunting. Following you guys seems like a sure way to not see any moose at all!
 
Personally I am appalled that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - a very accomplished paddler - has not introduced legislation to prevent the words "square stern" and "canoe" from being used in the same sentence!

When will this government finally take action!
 
Prospector16, I know we all have our opinions of how our governments are running but this site is not a place to start comments that border on politics.
There are plenty of other places to do that. Please refrain from bringing politics to the forum.

dougd
 
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Well it was meant to be a completely tongue-in-cheek comment - so let me rephrase it. Personally I don't think a "square stern" even is a "canoe".
 
Well it was meant to be a completely tongue-in-cheek comment - so let me rephrase it. Personally I don't think a "square stern" even is a "canoe".

Double dare you to go to the town of Grand Lake Stream and holler that on the street
You bettah duck
Grand Lakers are beautiful!
 
Personally I don't think a "square stern" even is a "canoe".
Not so very long ago on a lake not so very far from here there was a happy family of Chestnuts. Or they might have been E.M. Whites, or Old Towns, though some still swear they were Peterboroughs. In any case they were just like any old fashioned wood canvas canoes, set in their ways and the salt of the earthen portage and sparkling waters. Among the younguns' there was a handsome Prospector barely just 16. Feet. Well, one day a sprightly young cedar strip cruised confidently across the lake sporting a daring Evinrude behind her. Upon seeing this the handsome young w/c said to her "Gosh! You're new around here. But that thang on your behind makes you look silly." (Which really meant he was gobsmacked crazy about her.) She replied " You're boring. And dirty. Go away and don't bother me." (Which really meant she was lost in love with him.) They kept "accidentally" passing each other on the lake that summer and tossed insults across their gunnels. When his parents found out they told him "She's nothing but trouble son, she's a fast boat and will bring you nothing but heartache and hurt! Stay clear of her and her uppity family!! Keep to our own side of the lake with your own kind." That only made him fall further in love with her pretty painted cowling, polished sides and "oh good golly her transom!!" When her parents found out they told her " He's not good enough for you. He's from the wrong side of the lake. He'll never amount to anything and only bring you disappointment and reflect badly on our family. Good God girl! Think what the neighbours would say!!" That only made her fall further in love with his handsome hull, fine lines and "oh my word his tumblehome!! " On a moonlit night the two star crossed lovers quietly floated away never to be seen again. But over the years people would see strange young boats on distant waters resembling those two lovers, sleek muscled canoe types with tapered sterns and lovely transoms ... all sporting strong elegant motors. And this new generation eventually came to be accepted by the boating community, even though they were rather different.
But oh those transoms.
 
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Sung to the tune of "Baby Got Back" also known as "I like Big Butts".

I like big transoms and I cannot lie
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You otha bruthas can't deny
When a prospector floats on by
With a big arsed transom on the fly
You weak arsed paddlers start to cry
Cause I like big transoms, I cannot lie.

Shake it! Shake it!
Shake that Suzuki like a polaroid picture!

Anyway, Prospector 16, you just ain't seen enough square sterns. The one below with just paddles will bury your dainty little canoe.
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Paddling Pitt, that is the expidition model Snowtrekker, designed for very quick set ups. I have a short wall that does indeed have side walls. I'll be using it in two weeks.
Here is a side view of the expedition https://www.snowtrekkertents.com/expedition.html
And here's what mine looks like... https://www.snowtrekkertents.com/shortwall.html

Internal frames, kind of state of the art winter tents.

Odyssey, whenever you combine canoes and sex in prose, I have to go out and stroke my Chum. I just put her in the garage tonight, so I gave her an extra stroke or two to last her the winter season.


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Thanks for the links, mem. I sure like the weights of those snowtrekertents. For now though, I need to stick with my fairly new Woods 10 x 12 x 3. I recently purchased an internal frame for it, which gives me a lot more flexibility about where I can set it up. I set it up for the entire winter, so I still like to use a tarp for protection from UV rays, sparks and snow loads. This means that I still need to use some poles, or, with luck, find a place with perfectly placed trees. Do you use a tarp?
 
Looking forward to seeing a Moose rack spanning across the gunnels of that Square Stern !

Jim
 
Those tents do seem light. I would think the listed weights were w/o poles. Do they have floors? If not what are you using for a ground cloth? My wife just gave me the go a head to get a Frost River Campfire tent and she thinks we need another 18' OT guide too.
 
The snowtrekker weights include the poles. The canvas is seven ounce, so lighter than the normal 10. They were originally designed for the man-hauling, snowshoeing type of trekker, and there are many out there who still do that. I use mine for fall hunting and in the winter I goes in the sled behind my skidoo.
 
My Woods tent, termed the Prospector, is 17.6 oz, treated to be water repellant, rot resistant and flame retardant. It is 45 pounds, without the poles. A good tent, but if I were to start over, I might look at something lighter. I am not getting any younger or stronger.
 
Hot tents like the Snowtrekker usually do not have floors for safety reasons. When I had one we brought minicell floor blocks for part of the tent.
 
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