canishunter22-250
01-06-2012, 09:26 PM
After trying to determine whether it would be practical and safe to use a motorized canoe for hunting on the rivers up here (Fort St. John to Yukon border), I decided to go ahead and buy one so I could find out for myself. I found one for sale in Vanderhoof, so I made the 14 hour round trip yesterday to pick it up. It's an 18 foot Frontiersman. The smallest outboard I have is an 8 horse Yamaha, so I figured that would have to do for now - even though the general consensus seemed to be that I was crazy to try something with so much power.
Well, I'm here to encourage anyone and everyone who has ever thought about using a motorized canoe for hunting/camping to go out and give it a whirl. I spent the afternoon testing it out in various situations, and it stood up to the test better than I ever would have imagined. What a fantastic way to get around and hunt on the rivers. You burn very little fuel, you travel quietly, and you see a lot of wildlife that you might not necessarily spot when roaring by in a jet boat (not to bash jet boats though; I’d have a hard time canoeing from Fort Nelson to the Tuchodi Lakes).
The 8 HP Yamaha was not overkill at all. I probably wouldn't get a larger motor, but I certainly wouldn't get a smaller one. I was able to easily manoeuvre the canoe wherever I wanted to put it, and it was extremely stable and safe. I was able to travel in a foot of water without running aground.
We used a GPS to figure out what kind of speeds we could get out of it and it looked something like this:
River Velocity: 8 km/h
Max Upstream velocity (out in the thalweg): 14 km/h - if I stuck close to the shore where the velocity was less, I could get 14 km/h at 2/3 throttle.
Comfortable upstream travel speed: 12 km/h
Downstream velocity: 25 km/h
We travelled 5 km upstream and then 5 km back down, and burnt under 1 litre of fuel – which is a pretty big consideration when you’re living on a student budget and under the reign of Fort St. John gas prices.
I'm really looking forward to getting out and hunting bears with this thing in the spring. I would have no worries about shooting a moose or elk and taking it back down the river in this canoe (as long as the moose was upstream of the truck).
As soon as it warms up in the spring, I’m going to paint a series of stripes in green, red, yellow, and navy from the gunnels to the keel on either side of the bow – so it looks like a big Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket lol
Here is a video link of the canoe in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhO_Q5QKKN4&feature=youtu.be
Well, I'm here to encourage anyone and everyone who has ever thought about using a motorized canoe for hunting/camping to go out and give it a whirl. I spent the afternoon testing it out in various situations, and it stood up to the test better than I ever would have imagined. What a fantastic way to get around and hunt on the rivers. You burn very little fuel, you travel quietly, and you see a lot of wildlife that you might not necessarily spot when roaring by in a jet boat (not to bash jet boats though; I’d have a hard time canoeing from Fort Nelson to the Tuchodi Lakes).
The 8 HP Yamaha was not overkill at all. I probably wouldn't get a larger motor, but I certainly wouldn't get a smaller one. I was able to easily manoeuvre the canoe wherever I wanted to put it, and it was extremely stable and safe. I was able to travel in a foot of water without running aground.
We used a GPS to figure out what kind of speeds we could get out of it and it looked something like this:
River Velocity: 8 km/h
Max Upstream velocity (out in the thalweg): 14 km/h - if I stuck close to the shore where the velocity was less, I could get 14 km/h at 2/3 throttle.
Comfortable upstream travel speed: 12 km/h
Downstream velocity: 25 km/h
We travelled 5 km upstream and then 5 km back down, and burnt under 1 litre of fuel – which is a pretty big consideration when you’re living on a student budget and under the reign of Fort St. John gas prices.
I'm really looking forward to getting out and hunting bears with this thing in the spring. I would have no worries about shooting a moose or elk and taking it back down the river in this canoe (as long as the moose was upstream of the truck).
As soon as it warms up in the spring, I’m going to paint a series of stripes in green, red, yellow, and navy from the gunnels to the keel on either side of the bow – so it looks like a big Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket lol
Here is a video link of the canoe in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhO_Q5QKKN4&feature=youtu.be