I was not successful on my moose hunt in the BWCAW, but if you want a recap, read on.
Day 1, Optimism runs high, even though the weather forcast is not promising for the hunters, but the moose should love the weather. Cool and wet!! Hit the road at 4:30AM, hit the first moisture just south of Hinckley. We expected this, so no big deal. As we roll into Duluth fog is as thick as can be, 40 mph is too fast. We stopped in Two Harbors for a pitstop and one last hot meal. It was raining hard all the way into the Sawbill access. Our excitment was at a peak as we loaded the canoe. 3 big packs and two rifles and off we went on our first short paddle.
I’m not sure how a person gets in shape for paddling, but by the first short portage I was sure I didn’t do enough. After a quick easy portage(I’m thinking this isn’t so bad) we had about 2.25 mile paddle to our first potential camping site. After a quick walk through, we decided this central location would be our home for the next 5 days. We quickly setup camp and got our day packs ready to go. The rain had let up a bit so we were optimistic. A quick 5 minute paddle to our first 1/2 mile portage. I grabbed the canoe and my partner got the rifles and kill pack. 20 minutes later I had a very good burn in my neck an shoulders. Walking that far with 59lb canoe in ankle + deep water proved to be a workout for this fat kid. It’s funny how I loved seeing the light at the end of the portages. We then paddled a little over a mile into our next short portage. Short was good, but boy was it a rough one. This portage was in tough shape, add a couple “lakes” to traverse and a small river, we were finally on the lake we wanted to hunt the first couple days.
We beached the canoe and headed for the meadow that Slipsinker pointed us to. 2 hours later, we realized that hunting this country was going to be very tough. I’ve hunted some rugged country, but nothing like this before. It was very tough to move through the woods and being quiet was virtually impossible. We got to the meadow or so we thought right at dark the first day. The rain was pouring down and the wind was howling 15mph. I’m sure our calls weren’t reaching very far. We didn’t have much time to “hunt” this day, but we learned a few things. We headed out of this lake back to our camp. Portaging at night in a fog as thick as any I’ve seen was interesting to say the least. I would argue it wasn’t real smart on our part. I was simply worried about slipping with the canoe and getting hurt. After what seemed like a couple very long portages/paddles, we were finally paddling our last leg back to camp. I have a saying, darker than the inside of a cow. Well, it was darker than that at night up there. We were 20 feet from shore and couldn’t see the penninsula we were camping on. Needless to say, I was very happy to get out of the canoe that night and strip my wet gear off. I crawled into the fart sack and was out in about 5 minutes.
Day 2, We woke that night to thunder and lightning about 2AM. I thought, oh well, couldn’t be any worse than today. I was just slightly wrong. Day two brought us back to the same portages as day one, however with a night of sleep and the excitement of the hunt, they didn’t seem quite as bad going in. We hunted a couple different areas this day with a mix of fog, wind and rain about every 2 hours the cycle would rotate. We called over a meadow that turned into a lake. It was “perfect” moose country, grassy meadows with thick dark timber for cover very near by. However with 2-3 foot of water due to the recent dumpings in the area, our “perfect” spot posed many large challenges. We were unable to efficiently hunt the meadow simply due to the tick cover all around and the many “rivers” dumping into it. Every path we would take would be short lived by another river we simply couldn’t cross. The small amount of top soil in this region was maxed out and water was running everywhere. Day 2, no moose spotted, but I felt like we put in a legitimate effort.
Day 3, our portages grow more and more challenging. I’m guessing because the fat kid was….well fat. We headed back to our meadow after checking out an area we heard a large amount of trees cracking during our paddle out the night before. The initial hunt was fun, but only yielded a decent sized black bear at 20 yards. He/She was not happy we were in her house. Just like that, she was gone swiftly and silently. How an animal 200+lbs can move that quickly and silently is beyond me in that rugged country. We headed back to our meadow, greeted by a stiff east wind(in our faces, great for hunting). Along with the wind came rain drops the size the volkswagons. It was coming down hard. We stuck it out for a couple hours, but as the water levels continued to increase in our meadow, it became very apparent we were only going to shoot something if it was a true giant in this area. Cuz if we did, it would probably kill us getting it out. Day 3 ended back at the tent 2 hours earlier than planned. Soaked to the bone. I put on my last stitch of dry clothing. By the way, I’m pretty sexy walking around in the woods with just my under armour on. I’m not sure if it was that or the fact that all our gear was drenched that lead me and my partner into a hasty packing session and we headed for the entry point. Our tent was leaking at an alarming rate, so we decided we need a roof over our heads. Unfortunately the outfitter didn’t have cabins, so into Tofte we went. As I was gasing up the truck at the Holiday, I realized I was only minutes from a hot shower, boy did that hit the spot. I stayed up until about midnight that night drying gear.
Day 4, a renewed sense of enthusiam. We arrived at the outfitter about 30 minutes later than I hoped, but we only two portages this day. One short one right away, then a 2.5 mile paddle to what we discovered was a great portage compared to days 1-3 treks. The other good news, no rain. It was snowing…. I was leading Skip carrying the rifles when I cut a fresh set of cow and calf tracks. A great sign only 45 minutes into the day. We set down the canoe and slowly moved ahead on the portage. Due to the rains that night, these tracks had to be made that morning. We followed the tracks to the end of the portage stopping to call occasionally, then sitting waiting for a response or a bull to show. We decided to still hunt back to the canoe and then finish the portage out. On our way back in, right after the spot we had turned around, I find a monster of a track. Definitely a big moose. Again, we sat the canoe down and called. We waited again for a bit, then decided to let the area settle down. We slipped the canoe into the water and headed to the south end of the lake. Several spots along this lake, we found good places to park the canoe, crawl up into the thick blow downs and do some calling. No luck. As we work our way around the whole lake(it is a small lake), we discovered a normally dry creek flowing with enough water to easily paddle. This was again a “perfect” moose spot. Lush grasses, dark timber near by and access to two lakes. We slipped down the creek making little to no noise, calling every once in a while. No responses, but I really felt good about this area. Although we had the same problem as the last meadow. We would have to cut up a 1500lb critter in waist deep water potentially. We finished the creek trip out, waited while and headed back down stream hoping a bull had heard and made his way to the meadow. Well, no luck. By now it was lunch time so we pulled into an area and fired up the jet boil, ate some Ramen noodles and back to the portage we headed. We beached the canoe and slowly hunted and called all along the portage until we were back to the beginnning. No luck. We went back for the canoe, watching intently in case a big bull was just taking his time. Sadly, nothing showed. We headed back to the entry point, thankfully the stiff south wind we paddled against that morning had now switched to the NW. Out 2.5 mile paddle was a quite a work out.
Day 5, with the weather prediction of 35MPH winds out of the NW, our hunt would come to a close. I was not willing to risk the 2.5 mile paddle into our portage. I wasn’t comfortable the day before as waves were busting over the sideds of the canoe. That was only 20MPH. At this point, our spirit was beat and we decided it was time to head home. A full day earlier than planned. We arrived back home around 2PM and quickly started hanging everything we had from the garage door rails. Man was our gear wet.
In the time we were “in country”, the area received 7 + inches of rain. We averaged about 10 miles a day in portages/canoeing/hiking. I’m still sore a week later. Sadly my once in a lifetime hunt didn’t go as planned but like many things in life it was an experience I won’t soon forget. So if it sounded like I didn’t have fun, I DID. Yes, in some sick way. The BWCAW is as beautiful as they say, I just wish I could have gotten enough dry weather to take some pics/video.
Sorry you didn’t get to 
the big one!
You stuck ‘er out one day more than I would have! 
