Since it doesn't look like I've drawn anything major (unless goat comes my way!), and I can't hunt sheep due to previous success, I'm looking for an alternative this fall.

I've been thinking about taking a few days to a week to take a canoe and float/paddle down some river and look for a black bear or a deer or so. Away from the crowds, happily paddling downstream, enjoying the views and the solitude, and maybe do some real hunting too.

Any suggestions for a (part of a) river? It shouldn't contain any major rapids, I'm not an experienced canoer. Should go through public land, I guess to enable the hunting, or is that rumour I heard about the river banks being public land a true fact?

Frans

I floated down the Smokey River for Black Bear. The Simmonette and Wapiti rivers also.

If you are not an experienced canoer, these rivers can be somewhat difficult to dangerous, especially in the spring. In the fall, they can be quite peaceful by comparison.

Check them out on a map and get some canoe river maps showing difficulty of rapids etc. if they are available.

You'll see lots of game along the Smokey if you hit the right section at the right time. We saw everything from bear to elk to moose to Mulies over the course of our trip.

You might consider a row boat. I have a small aluminum boat as well as a canoe. The canoe is faster but not easy to put much game into unless it's a freighter, rare in these parts. Land along a body of water is crown land for ummm I think 50 feet (I stand to be corrected). Any largish river going through crown land is great for that kind of hunt. We've hunted moose like that, unsucessfully due to the fact that we didn't get out of the boat every now and then and hunt. It gets so nice floating away that you forget to get out!! I'd think twice about shooting a big animal unless you were in a jet boat, because they are awfully hard to portage through the shallow spots.

I was thinking that would be a great way to get to some less travelled areas, and I've found a river on the map that does a big lazy loop that would bring a person almost back to their truck!!! That seems better than driving two vehicles perhaps a few hundred miles in order to arrange for drop off and pick up.

If you want some canoeing lessons let me know I could get you going straight in an afternoon.

the chef

Hello;
I've been thinking about this scenario for years, but in my business I either don't have the time or the money, or there's something else that has more priority, according to my wife.
My choice would be the Athabasca river between Hinton and Whitecourt, or even down to Athabasca. Besides being the closest river, for us Southerners, where one can still have an adventure like this, It isn't too technically demanding. I wouldn't do it alone though. There's just too much that could go wrong and the options are limited. During Sept., the water would be low, the bugs gone, and the scenery fantastic.
Grizz

How about the Clearwater? One could go in at the Cut-Off Creek Rd, and climb out at the Trunk Rd. Should all be Crown land. Don't know about rapids, etc.

Has anybody got any idea on how fast/slow one could go? If you also want to hunt, slow is better I reckon. Just haven't got a clue how fast a leisurely float is...

I'm looking to buy a nice stable canoe too, one that in a pinch I could handle on my own...

Frans

How about the Peace. Iwas thinking of doing it myself this year.

How far you can go in a day is totally dependant on the river-- Deep and fast you can easily go 30 miles or more slow and shallow can take a very long time as you have to get out and tow your canoe. Imagine towing a canoe/boat with an elk or moose in it, and that becomes one hell of a trip. I'd like to hear others ideas on this. I'd be willing and able to do a trip like that, it sounds like a nice adventure.

the chef

A few more ideas. With a motor on the canoe/boat you can go upriver and float back with your kill- that way you know if the river is passable or not because you have already gone up the river. The brazeau river looks interesting to me and it ends in a lake-you can cruise the shores. Camping along a river is very dirty and messy unless it has a hard bottom there is lots of mud/silt to wade thru between the bank and the water. It's hard to know what's just ahead so you might be shooting close to somebodies house another reason to motor upstream and float back down. I like the idea of the athabasca although it's a muddy river it's darned big and goes thru some great country. Really you don't have to go miles and miles all you have to do is get a mile or a few away from the yahoos.

Anybody interested??????

the chef

Chef,

you haven't got time for these frivolous endeavours. You are chasing the bighorn this fall! And unless you are very lucky, you will be climbing mountain after mountain, glass drainage after drainage, get blistered by the sun, and blistered on your feet, pelted by hail, engulfed by fog and rain, scratching your rifle and your soul, and come out a sheephunter!

As for rivers and rapids, one rapid would be one too many for my liking. The Athabasca is listed to have rapids Class I through III in the stretch between Hinton and Whitecourt. One canoe outfitter mentions the distance is 190 km, taking about 4 days to complete. That is without hunting of course.

Frans

Frans

The Clearwater from the cutoff creek road to the trunkroad is a very short stretch. It just seems long because of the trip over Corkscrew mountain.
As to the class 1-3 rapids on the Athabasca, that seems a bit optomistic by the guides (wink). I and friends did it several times for spring bear and fall Elk and Moose. We used 17 ft. "plastic" canoes.
3 days was easy from Hinton to Whitecourt for a quick trip, stopping to fish a bit as well as hunt, but you can take your time also. However we did take a couple little
3hp kickers for the last 20 or so slow water miles to Whitecourt, they moved the canoes at about 5-6 mph over and above the current speed.
A bar bolted across the back stanchion of the canoe and off to the side for the kicker worked fine. Also helped when we had game to pack. I just set the little motor on a piece of foam in the canoe for storage and it took up little room.
Another good bet is the Saskatchewan river from Nordegg to Rocky Mountain House.

hound

Hello;
The only negative thing, in my mind, on the north Saskatchewan trip is the Big Horn dam at Abraham Lake. Water levels can change very rapidly. Same with the Peace and its a lot further away. The Clearwater and the Red Deer are both basically very popular Kayaking rivers and besides being short runs, you won't find any solitude there. Last week end, you could barely drive up the Coalcamp road because of vehicles parked along both sides.
Grizz

Awwwww Franz you make sheep hunting sound so romantic!!!! You should come with me and pack out my meat!!!

I love hunting so much I'm always looking for a good trip and if it means drifting a river I'm up for it. As long as my mother inlaw will look after my kids while I get my "free meat"

The chef

Does anyone here have experience on the Peace?

Greg

Went on the peace a couple of times. Depending on the water level it is a nice river to float down. The downside is it used heavy by jet boaters. Did alot of hunting along its banks in differatn places and used to see alot of jets boats on it during hunting season.

I knew some fellows that used to canoe down the pembina from Jarvie to the Athabasca R. and then???? I'n not sure where they took out. They were hunting moose usually but always heard and saw elk and deer as well. It is a fairly small river and you could shoot ducks along the way. There is also good walleye fishing in the Pembina and particularly at the mouth in the fall.

I floated the Athabasca a lot of years back and had a really good time.

Hope you find a good float and let us know how it turns out.

Robin